- \n
- A seminar or in-person class session<\/li>\n
- Discussion Participation<\/li>\n
- Guest speaker presentations<\/li>\n
- Group work sessions<\/li>\n
- Labs or experiential learning activities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
If you intend to track attendance, keep in mind that students may have valid reasons for missing class. For example, some students with disabilities may miss a large number of classes for undisclosed health reasons or medical appointments. Students with complicated family needs may miss classes to support their loved ones at home. Attendance is one metric of engagement, but it is not the only metric. If you are concerned about your student’s engagement, connect with the student for a direct conversation about your concerns.<\/p>\n
Tracking Attendance in D2L Brightspace<\/h2>\n
The Attendance tool can be used to record and keep track of student presence and participation in a course. There are a few processes to involved to enable course attendance:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Setup your attendance scheme: <\/strong>Attendance information in Brightspace is calculated based on the Attendance Scheme. The default System Scheme in Brightspace has two attendance statuses: Present (100%) or Absent (0%). You have the option to create a custom Attendance Scheme with statuses that suit your course needs. For example, some instructors choose to use Present, Absent, and Excused. For more information on how attendance is calculated in Brightspace, see D2L’s How Attendance is Calculated<\/a>.<\/li>\n
- Setup an attendance register: <\/strong>Attendance registers are specific to an activity or event in the course. Instructors can create multiple registers to record student participation\/presence in course events.<\/li>\n
- Create a grading column:<\/strong> There is no way to link the attendance tool to an grade item in Brightspace. If you want to assign attendance grades to a specific activity, you will need to manually create a grade item<\/a>. The grade item would be a manual entry column where you can either enter grades directly, or import grades from a tracking spreadsheet.<\/li>\n
- Manually record grades:<\/strong> Grades must be manually entered or manually imported into the attendance grade column. There is no way to do automated grading of attendance in Brightspace. The attendance tool does not yet push to the gradebook in Brightspace.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Instructions are included below for accessing and configuring attendance in your course. For assistance with course attendance, please reach out to tlssupport.carleton.ca.<\/a><\/p>\n
Accessing the Attendance Tool<\/h2>\n
- \n
- Log in to\u202f<\/span>Brightspace<\/span><\/a>\u202fwith your\u202f<\/span>MyCarletonOne<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>credentials.\u202f<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
- On the\u00a0Brightspace<\/em>\u00a0homepage, locate your course in one of the following ways:\n
- \n
- \n
- \n
- Click on the course tile under\u00a0the\u00a0My Courses\u00a0<\/em>widget.<\/li>\n
- Click the\u00a0Course Selector Grid\u00a0<\/b>
![](\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/culearnsupport\/students\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2020-11-02-at-8.15.40-PM.png\")
\u00a0<\/i>and select the course from the drop-down menu. If you are enrolled in more than 20 courses, you can search for the course name using the search bar.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n- In the navbar, click <\/span>Tools<\/span><\/b>.<\/span>
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/brightspace\/instructors\/wp-content\/uploads\/tools-menu-2-1.png\")
<\/span><\/li>\n- Select <\/span>Attendance<\/span><\/b> from the drop-down menu.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Setting an Attendance Scheme<\/h2>\n
An attendance scheme defines the criteria for tracking attendance. When you create a new attendance register, you will need to assign an attendance scheme or use the default System Scheme. The default attendance scheme in Brightspace has two statuses: Present (100%) or Absent (0%). If you want to create a custom scheme for your course with additional statuses, you will need to create a new attendance scheme, and then apply it to an individual attendance register or set it as the new default scheme for your course.<\/p>\n
The Default Attendance Scheme in Brightspace<\/strong><\/p>\n
The default attendance scheme in Brightspace is called the System Scheme. The System Scheme has two statuses: Present (100%) or Absent (0%). The System Scheme is selected by default when you create a new attendance register. You have the option to set a different scheme as the default under the Attendance<\/em> Schemes<\/em> tab (see instructions below<\/a>).<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/brightspace\/instructors\/wp-content\/uploads\/attendance-schemes.png\")
<\/p>\nCreating an Attendance Scheme<\/strong><\/h3>\n
- \n
- Log in to\u202f<\/span>Brightspace<\/span><\/a>\u202fwith your\u202f<\/span>MyCarletonOne<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>credentials.\u202f<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
- On the\u00a0Brightspace<\/em>\u00a0homepage, locate your course in one of the following ways:\n
- \n
- \n
- \n
- Click on the course tile under\u00a0the\u00a0My Courses\u00a0<\/em>widget.<\/li>\n
- Click the\u00a0Course Selector Grid\u00a0<\/b>
\u00a0<\/i>and select the course from the drop-down menu. If you are enrolled in more than 20 courses, you can search for the course name using the search bar.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n- In the navbar, click <\/span>Tools<\/span><\/b>.<\/span>
<\/span><\/li>\n- Select <\/span>Attendance<\/span><\/b> from the drop-down menu.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Click the Attendance Scheme<\/strong> tab at the top of the page.<\/li>\n
- Click New Scheme<\/strong>.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/brightspace\/instructors\/wp-content\/uploads\/new-scheme.png\")
<\/li>\n- Enter a name<\/strong> for the attendance scheme.<\/li>\n
- Under Attendance Statuses<\/em>, you can customize the following:\n
- \n
- Symbol<\/strong> – Assign a symbol for each status. For example,\u00a0 A<\/em> for Absent<\/em>.<\/li>\n
- Status Full Name<\/strong> – Enter the names of the statuses (i.e. Present, Absent, Late)<\/li>\n
- Assigned %<\/strong> (optional)- If you enter a percentage in this column, the attendance status will count towards the percent attendance calculation).<\/li>\n
- Order<\/strong> (optional)- Adjust the order of each status.
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/brightspace\/instructors\/wp-content\/uploads\/attendance-statuses2.png\")
\n - Status Full Name<\/strong> – Enter the names of the statuses (i.e. Present, Absent, Late)<\/li>\n
- Click the\u00a0Course Selector Grid\u00a0<\/b>
- Click on the course tile under\u00a0the\u00a0My Courses\u00a0<\/em>widget.<\/li>\n
- On the\u00a0Brightspace<\/em>\u00a0homepage, locate your course in one of the following ways:\n
- Click the\u00a0Course Selector Grid\u00a0<\/b>
- Click on the course tile under\u00a0the\u00a0My Courses\u00a0<\/em>widget.<\/li>\n
- On the\u00a0Brightspace<\/em>\u00a0homepage, locate your course in one of the following ways:\n
- Setup an attendance register: <\/strong>Attendance registers are specific to an activity or event in the course. Instructors can create multiple registers to record student participation\/presence in course events.<\/li>\n
- Setup your attendance scheme: <\/strong>Attendance information in Brightspace is calculated based on the Attendance Scheme. The default System Scheme in Brightspace has two attendance statuses: Present (100%) or Absent (0%). You have the option to create a custom Attendance Scheme with statuses that suit your course needs. For example, some instructors choose to use Present, Absent, and Excused. For more information on how attendance is calculated in Brightspace, see D2L’s How Attendance is Calculated<\/a>.<\/li>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/brightspace\/instructors\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-08-at-1.54.26-PM.png\")
<\/strong>under the Delete<\/em> column.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/brightspace\/instructors\/wp-content\/uploads\/course-schemes.png\")
<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/brightspace\/instructors\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-22-at-4.14.48-PM.png\")
next to the attendance register you want to edit.<\/li>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/brightspace\/instructors\/wp-content\/uploads\/new-register.png\")
<\/li>\n