Description
The Attendance/Roll Call tool can be used for taking attendance in Canvas courses. With the Attendance tool, instructors can keep track of course attendance by taking roll electronically in online or face-to-face courses.
Instructions
You may need to enable the Attendance/Roll Call tool in your course. To do so:
- In the left-hand course navigation, select Settings, then select the Navigation tab.
- Find Attendance in the list of disabled pages. Select the three vertical dots on the right hand side.
- Select Enable. This will move Attendance to the list of enabled pages.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page, then select Save.
To use the Attendance/Roll Call tool:
1. In the left-hand course navigation, select the Attendance tool.
Note: The Attendance link does not display for students, so you do not need to hide this link in the Navigation tab within Course Settings. After the first time you take roll call, Canvas automatically creates an assignment for Roll Call Attendance and adds a column to the Gradebook. The attendance tool is configured by default to allow taking roll seven days a week. However, the attendance tool will only calculate grades in the gradebook out of the total number of days roll has been taken.
Can I use Attendance for grading?
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When you take attendance using the Attendance Roll Call tool, Canvas automatically adds it as an assignment. The default point value for attendance is 100 points. You may change this point value by selecting the Assignments page, then editing the Roll Call Attendance assignment.
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The status set for each student is associated with a percentage value. Statuses include present and on time, not present, late, and unmarked (excused absence).
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To specify a lateness percentage, move the slider bar. By default, the lateness bar is set to 80%. The lateness percentage indicates the attendance score a student will receive if they are marked late. For example, a student with one presence (100%) and one lateness (80%) will have an average attendance score of 90%.
Note: If you want to change the value of Attendance in your course, or if you want to remove Attendance from the Gradebook completely, currently you must take roll call for at least one student before you can make any changes in Roll Call. Learn more about how to change the value of Roll Call Attendance. See
How do I edit the Roll Call Attendance assignment for more information on changing the point value and creating a weighted assignment group.
Can I Exclude Attendance from the Final Grade?
- If you do not want the Roll Call Attendance assignment to appear in the Gradebook as a graded assignment, you can edit the Attendance assignment and change the assignment type. Students can still view the assignment but it will not appear in their grades.
- To remove the assignment from the Gradebook, edit the attendance assignment, then in the Display Grade as menu, select the Not Graded option. At the bottom of the window, click the Save button. Note: Once you have changed the assignment type, you cannot change it back to a graded assignment.
- Alternatively, if you do not want the Roll Call Attendance assignment to be calculated in the final grade, select the Do not count attendance toward final grade checkbox.
Can students view their attendance?
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Although students cannot view the actual attendance tool, if you are using attendance for grading, they can still view their attendance score in their Grades page and view their attendance report. You can prevent the assignment from triggering notifications by setting a
manual posting policy for the assignment.
Can I allow students to self-record attendance?
Can I export the Attendance data?