Taking Attendance

Attendance for classroom sessions can be taken using various methods:

• Classic Method
• Time Sheet Method
• Upload Method

The sections below cover each method.

Classic Method

The classic method has been around since the introduction of the face-to-face activity. To take attendance using the classic method:

1. Go to face-to-face activity in question.
2. Click on the "Attendees link" next to the session in question
3. Click on the "Take Attendance" link at the bottom of the list of attendees. (See Note 1 below)
4. Take attendance by marking each user as "No show", "Partially Attended", or "Fully attended"
   1. If a user has partially attended the session, you can specify how much of the session they have attended using the hh:mm format.
   2. You can optionally add a comment in the "Remarks" column to state for example that the user showed up late or left early.
5. Click on the "Save attendance" button at the bottom of the table. 

Note 1: You can not take attendance for sessions that are in the future. You can only take attendance if the session is in the past, in progress, or scheduled to start within the next 15 minutes. If the session is scheduled to start more than 15 minutes from now, the "Take Attendance" link will not appear. 

Time Sheet Method (New in 3.5.12)

The time sheet method was introduced in 3.5.12. It needs to be enabled by Dual Code. When enabled, it becomes the method for taking attendance in all sessions.

The time sheet method allows an administrator the fill in time sheets prior to accepting them. Once the time sheets are accepted, the information is pushed to the same tables as the "Classic Method". As such, any data entered using the "Classic Method" prior to switching to the "Time Sheet Method" will remain available. 

To take attendance using the time sheet method:

1. Go to face-to-face activity in question.
2. Click on the "Attendees link" next to the session in question
3. Click on the "Enter timesheet" link at the bottom of the list of attendees. (See Note 1 below)
4. Take attendance by marking each user as "No show", "Partially Attended", or "Fully attended" for each date. Note that if a session has multiple dates in it (e.g. a week long session that spans over 5 days),  you would be able to enter timesheets for each day. But if the session only has 1 date, the user interface is very similar to the "Classic Method" user interface.)
   1. If a user has partially attended the session, you can specify how much of the session they have attended in the following format: hh:mm
   2. You can optionally add a comment in the "Remarks" column to state for example that the user showed up late or left early.
5. Click on the "Save timesheet" button at the bottom of the table. 
6. When the time sheet for all dates have been entered, you can come back to the previous page and click on the "Approve timesheet" button.
   1. By approving the time sheet, the data entered in the individual time sheets is aggregated to track the overall attendance of each individual user.
   2. The time sheets needs to be approved in order for a user to be marked as "complete" and to receive a learning record.

Note 1: You can not enter time sheets for sessions that are in the future. You can only enter time sheets if the session is in the past, in progress, or scheduled to start within the next 15 minutes (by default). If the session is scheduled to start more than 15 minutes from now, the "Take Attendance" link will not appear. 

Upload Method

The attendance records can easily be imported into the Dual Code learning environment by uploading a CSV (comma separated value) file. This methodology is described in great detail in the "Importing Attendance Records" article.