The Roll Call Attendance tool in Canvas is an important and simple tool for tracking student attendance and persistence. Especially in the fully online learning environment, we strongly recommend student attendance be recorded in EVERY SESSION OF EVERY COURSE, even if it isn’t part of the student’s grade. Tracking attendance makes it easier to identify students who may be disengaged from the course or struggling to meet the course requirements.

TAKING ATTENDANCE

To take attendance, go to the “Attendance” link on the left hand navigation and confirm you are on the correct date for the session you are entering. Click the circle-shaped status icon to set a status for each student. Statuses include present and on time (green), not present (red), late (yellow), and unmarked (gray).

By clicking the “More” link next to an individual student, you can view that student’s attendance statistics or assign an attendance-related badge such as “Excused Absence” or “Great Participation,” etc. (To create your own badges, click “Manage Badges.”)

GRADING ATTENDANCE

The first time you take attendance, the Roll Call Attendance tool will create an assignment in the Gradebook. This assignment WILL NOT appear in the gradebook until you take attendance for the first time. Once this gradebook assignment appears, you can change the point value (the default is 100 points) or assign it to a new grading category/group. To avoid Attendance calculation errors, never delete, rename, or unpublish the Attendance assignment.

The statuses you set while taking attendance (red, yellow, green, etc.) determine the students overall grade using a basic proportion. For instance, if the point value is 100, and roll call has been taken twice, a student with one present value (100%) and one lateness value (calculated at 80%) will have a score of 90 points, or 90%. The Roll Call Attendance grade column will update every time you take attendance throughout the semester, keeping a running total.

If you wish to take attendance but not have it count as part of the student grade, click the gear icon (1) on the Attendance page, select “Roll Call Settings,” (2), and then check the box next to “Do not count attendance toward final grade.” You can also adjust the score for being late in this area. By default, the value for being late is 80%. So if a student is late, the student will receive 80% for the day instead of the full 100%. Move the slider to change the percentage value students receive for lateness.

BONUS! Here is a great Canvas-related YouTube Channel you may find useful. This link is to a video tutorial on using the Roll Call Attendance tool: Taking ATTENDANCE in CANVAS LMS