Audience: Franklin University faculty accessing courses in Canvas.
Disclaimer: The results and functionality of the following article only apply to the audience listed above.
Topics
- Overview
- Instructions for Taking Attendance using Attendance Automation
- Instructions for Handling Student Drops and Re-Addition to a Course Section
Overview
As a Franklin University instructor, you are required to make sure timely attendance is recorded each week for your course section. In support of taking attendance, Franklin University has created an automated attendance process to help reduce the burden of recording attendance each week. If your course section is currently part of the attendance automation system you will receive weekly communications beginning Week 2 of your section. To confirm that your course section is part of the attendance automation process, please check with your Lead Faculty.
Please note, even if your course section is part of attendance automation instructors will always be able to record and update attendance manually, by following this procedure for Manual Attendance Taking.
Instructions for Taking Attendance using Attendance Automation
1. Starting on Tuesday of Week 2 in your course section, (by 4:00 pm EST), you will receive an automated email with a table (see Figure 1, below) showing you what the automation believes the record of attendance for the previous week should be based on the student’s Canvas activity in the section (e.g., submission of assignments, participation in discussions, quizzes/exams, email communications from Canvas to you as the instructor).
2. Confirm that this attendance data is correct in the table.
- If all attendance records are correct, then DO NOTHING and the attendance automation system will automatically record the attendance listed in the table for you by Wednesday evening (starting at 4:00 pm EST).
- If any entries are incorrect, you have 24 hours to log into Self-Service and record the correct attendance for those students that are showing incorrectly (please follow the current procedure for Manual Attendance Taking). Please note, if those entries are not submitted within the 24 hours period, then the automation will put in the incorrect attendance values. If you experience any technical issues during the process, please contact the Help Desk.
Further Considerations
- Keep in mind the information in the table is only based on activities the student does in Canvas. Activities outside of Canvas are not observable (e.g., Zoom meeting sessions, using external courseware, etc.). If your course section has activities outside of Canvas, then the table information may be incorrect from time-to-time.
- Whatever you, as the instructor, manually enter in Self-Service will never be overwritten by the automated attendance system (i.e., what you as the instructor says, goes). Also, you as the instructor, can change the attendance at any time during the course section.
- If you have extenuating circumstances for any student, please use the special designation. “Special” is treated the same as “in attendance”. If later you need to go in and mark the student absent, you can always do so.
- Lastly, please pay close attention to those students who will be marked absent. As you know, multiple absences will typically result in an administrative failure (or Z grade) for the student. One of our goals with the attendance automation system is to minimize accidental drops.
Figure 1: Attendance Automation Email & Table
Instructions for Handling Student Drops and Re-Addition to a Course Section
Franklin has recently automated the re-add process for any student that is dropped from your section.
The process for re-adding a student is as follows:
- If a student is dropped from your course section, you will receive an email notification identifying any student(s) that have been administratively dropped from your course section due to non-attendance (see Figure 2, below).
- If you believe the student should be re-added, click the Re-Add Student button. Please note, you may want to proactively discuss this with your respective Lead Faculty.
- Once you click Re-Add Student, you will be taken to a new page (see Figure 3, below).
- On this page, select the reason the student is being re-added to the course section, and then click Re-Add Student (see Figure 4, below). Please note: If the dropdown does not have an accurate enough description, feel free to use the other and enter your own response.
- The student will then be automatically re-added to the course section. This process will take 0-12 hours to complete, depending on when you re-add the student.
Two Important Additional Points
1. Once you click “re-add Student”, the attendance automation system will automatically go into Self-Service and update the last attendance record for that student from an “A” to an “S”. If any other attendance records for this student need to be updated, you will need to log into Self-Service and manually update them.
2. The Re-Add Student link will only be active for 72 hours from receipt. If a student needs to be added after the link expires, you will need to send an email to the Registrar’s Office (registrar@frankin.edu) asking for the student to be re-added (the default process) and provide a reason for documentation.
FIGURE 2: Automated Drop Notification Email
FIGURE 3. Re-Add Student Page
FIGURE 4. Reason for Re-Adding Student