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Canvas

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  • Canvas
    • Access Canvas
    • Import Content into Your Canvas Course
    • Upload Your Syllabus
    • Share Your Syllabus
    • Review the Course-Launch Checklist
    • Publish Your Canvas Course
    • Understanding Your Canvas Courses Menu
  • Get Started In Canvas
    • Basic Computer Specifications for Canvas
    • Canvas-Supported Browsers
    • Customize User Display Settings
    • Customize Your Notifications
    • Your Canvas Dashboard
    • Customize "My Courses"
    • Get Started With The Calendar
    • Canvas on a Mobile Device
    • Link Canvas Courses
  • Design Your Course
    • Options To Organize Content
    • Set Up A Homepage
    • Import Content Into Your Canvas Course
      • Remove announcements when copying a Canvas site
    • Course-level Settings
    • Modify Your Course Menu
    • Get Started with the Rich Content Editor
    • Get Started With Modules
    • Get Started With Pages
    • Get Started With Files
    • Student View
    • Share Your Syllabus
    • Library Content
    • Add Media In Canvas
    • Canvas Commons
  • Assignments and Grades
    • Get Started With Assignments
    • Get Started with Quizzes
      • Building a Quiz and Grading a Quiz
      • Quiz Options for Managing Accommodations & Supporting Academic Integrity
    • Get Started with Google Assignments
      • Create a Google Assignment
        • Get Started with the Google Originality Checker
        • Compare Google Grader and Canvas SpeedGrader
        • Compare Google Rubrics and Canvas Rubrics
    • Introducing New Quizzes
      • Migrating Classic Quizzes to New Quizzes
      • Building a New Quiz
      • Accessibility & Accommodations in New Quizzes
      • New Quizzes Support for Academic Integrity
      • Grading New Quizzes
    • Get Started with Respondus LockDown Browser & Monitor
      • Enabling LockDown Browser
      • Enabling Respondus Monitor
      • Student Respondus LockDown Browser & Monitor Guide 
    • Get Started with the Gradebook
      • Posting Grades and Feedback
      • Student-Facing Grade Notifications
      • Troubleshooting in the Canvas Gradebook
    • Take Attendance In Canvas
    • Student View Of Grades
    • Get Started with SpeedGrader
      • Addressing Bias in SpeedGrader
    • Grading Schemes
    • Rubrics
    • Peer Review
    • Canvas Discussions
      • Discussions: Navigating the Interface
      • Discussions: Locating Groups
      • Discussions: Anonymity & Privacy
  • People and Groups
    • Add People To Canvas
    • User Roles + Permissions
    • Get Started With Groups
    • Get Started With Analytics
  • Model Canvas Courses
  • Canvas Guide for Students
    • Changing Your Display Name and Setting Pronouns
    • Syllabus Search Student Guide
    • Using the Immersive Reader
    • Google Assignments Student Guide

Take Attendance In Canvas

Updated on October 17, 2024

The Roll Call Attendance feature in Canvas allows instructors to indicate who was present, absent, and late for each class session.  Students can be viewed in a list or arranged in a seating chart.  As soon as an instructor takes attendance using the Roll Call feature, Canvas creates a column in Grades showing a percentage, which it updates each time attendance is taken.

 

By default, points are distributed as follows:

  • Present: 100%
  • Absent: 0%
  • Late: 80%

Best Practices

  • Use the seating chart early in the semester to make it easier to get to know students.
  • In large classes where students are less visible as individuals and TA support might be available, use Attendance to reinforce expectations and policies.

The Attendance tool is subject to certain limitations:

  • Reports from Attendance produce a spreadsheet that shows the whole class list for each session, rather than a single list with a column for each session, making it difficult to use for overview and calculations.  Use of reports is not recommended at this time.
  • There is no straightforward way to indicate when an absence is excused.  Below the links to Further Information, see some suggestions for addressing this concern.

For further information, see these guides from Instructure:

  • How do I configure the Roll Call attendance tool for my course?
  • How do I take attendance using Roll Call?
  • How is Roll Call attendance graded in Canvas?
  • How do I run Roll Call attendance reports for my course?

 

Excused absences

Here is one recommended way to handle excused absences in Canvas with respect to grading:

1. Mark the student present in Roll Call, then click more.

2. Click on Add badge.  A badge functions like a marker to indicate something about the student’s participation in the course that day.

3. Create a badge called “Excused Absence.”  Choose an icon and a color for the badge, and click Save Badge.  (Note: Any icon will work, so choose the one that makes most sense to you.)
custom-badge-excused

4. Click on the Excused Absence badge.  The badge will change to the color you chose when you created it.  This can serve as a record that the student’s absence was excused, and the student will receive the same grade as if they were present in class.

Another method

Conversely, you could:

  1. Mark the student as absent in Attendance.
  2. Award the student an “Excused Absence” badge
  3. Change the student’s grade in Grades to a dash (no grade given) or full credit.

Click on Grades in the navigation menu.

Adjust the grade of the student.  If attendance is out of 100 points, it could be changed from 0 to 100.

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Troubleshooting in the Canvas Gradebook
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Student View Of Grades
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