As a lecturer, I am having problems logging student attendance. What should I do?

The following guidance has been put together to explain some of the more common reasons why students may not be visible on the Attendance Management System and what to do in these circumstances. Work arounds are provided where possible. Whilst it may take extra time to resolve the issues below there will be a positive impact throughout the University and on future sessions with the students.

Scenario 1: You have a teaching session, and a student is missing off the Register in the Attendance Management system.

There are many reasons why a student may not appear in the Attendance Management System. For a student to appear on the register:

• in QL Student Records system, the student needs to be enrolled and their enrolment status is Enrolled (ENR)
• in QL Student Records system, the student needs to be enrolled on the correct course and module for that teaching session
• in QL Student Records system, the start and end dates of the course / module for that student need to be correct, such as the end date is not in the past or the start date is not in the future
• in the Timetabling system the student needs to be timetabled for that session. This can be checked by using the timetable website to view the student timetable.

Workaround: If the Student is enrolled at the University, the Lecturer can manually add the student to the session by clicking on the ‘Add Student’ button on the session in the Attendance Management system.

Action Required: The Lecturer or the student will need to report the issue to the IT Service Desk so Student Records or Timetabling can check the underlying data.

Scenario 2: The Lecturer cannot add a missing student to a session on the Attendance system – i.e. the Student can’t be found in the Attendance when the Lecturer does a search.

For a student to be in the Attendance Management System, in QL the student needs to be enrolled and so their enrolment status is ENR.

Action Required: Please check that the student’s enrolment status is fully enrolled ie. ENR.  If so the Lecturer or the student will need to report the issue to the IT Service Desk so Student Records or Timetabling can check the underlying data.

Scenario 3: In the Attendance System, you have students listed on a session who should not be at that session i.e a student is on the wrong session.

This issue indicates that the underlying timetable data is incorrect. The Attendance System takes this data from the Timetabling System which IT Services cannot correct so these issues need to be reported directly to Timetabling team to arrange for the data to be corrected with the Timetabling. It is also worth noting that the incorrect session will appear in MyEngagement.

Action Required: The Lecturer will need to report the issue to their timetabling contact tim@northampton.ac.uk copying in the relevant Subject Lead or Faculty Manager

Scenario 4: The teaching session cannot be found in the Attendance System.

A session will only be displayed in the Attendance System if there is at least one student with an enrolled status on that session. If the teaching session does not have any enrolled students it won’t be displayed. Another reason could be that the teaching session has not been timetabled for students so it is important to confirm both before logging an issue with the IT Service Desk. Please note that some Distance Learning (DL) courses are not currently timetabled and therefore not available in the Attendance System.

Action Required: The Lecturer will need to report the issue to the IT Service Desk so Student Records or Timetabling can check the underlying data or the integration can be checked.

Scenario 5: In the Attendance System, session data is incorrect such as the Lecturer name or location of the session.

The Attendance System takes this data from the Timetabling System and IT Services cannot correct this data so these issues need to be reported to the Timetabling Team.

Work Around: The Lecturer can manually edit the details of the session in question and override the location and Lecturer name in the session.

Action Required: The Lecturer will need to report the issue to their timetabling contact tim@northampton.ac.uk copying in the relevant Subject Lead or Faculty Manager.

Scenario 6: Students are listed as inactive in the Attendance system

Action Required: The Lecturer or the student will need to report the issue to the IT Service Desk so Student Records or Timetabling can check the underlying data.

Scenario 7: A student wants their attendance corrected on a timetabled session.

A Lecturer can update a register up to 10 days after the session original start time so it is important that the student contacts the Lecturer in this time so any changes can be approved and the register can be updated by them.

Scenario 8: A number of drop-in sessions are available. A student only needs to attend one of the sessions, not all of them.  How should their attendance be recorded? 

The drop-in session will appear in the student’s timetable so it is important their attendance is registered against the drop-in session the student is scheduled to attend.  If the student attends a different drop in session to the one in their timetable, they still need to be registered as attending against the scheduled session in the student’s timetable or they will be recorded as not attending.

Important Information:     

1. It is useful to note that Lecturers have ten days from the session start time to make any updates / adjustments to a register before it is locked. It is important that Lecturers use this time to make any adjustments to student attendance because after 10 days the register will be locked preventing any changes
2. When either a student of lecturer log an attendance issue with the IT Service desk it is important the following information is supplied:     
   • Student IDs of any missing students
   • The attendance session details including course / module code, date and time of the session
   • The name of the academic who is teaching the session
   • Specific details of the issue.

Where can I get support with this if I need any help?

There are lots of ways to contact IT Services:

• You can report an issue in person on the Student Information Desk on the ground floor of the Learning Hub
• There is also a self-service portal where any kind of issue relating to IT can be logged
• You can check or change your password by following these instructions
• You can also call them on 01604 893333

You can visit IT Services on the ground floor of the Learning Hub: 

• Mondays to Thursdays 8.30am to 5pm 

• Fridays 10am to 5pm. 

You need to collect a paper ticket from the kiosk, and wait for your number to be called. You can wait in IT's service area, behind the glass screens to the right of the Student Information Desk.

You can also call the IT helpdesk on 01604 893333: 

• Mondays to Thursdays 8am to 5pm 

• Fridays 8am to 9am, and then 10am to 5pm. 

You can also raise a ticket in the IT Portal at any time.