The University is utilising our existing virtual learning environment within Moodle as a system to record and monitor student attendance at all timetabled learning activities across all Divisions. Moodle attendance capturing has been used successfully across the institution since 2019.
The first phase of functionality is a positive development in monitoring and supporting our students’ wellbeing. By making it easier to record attendance, we’ll be able to better identify where students need support.
Access to better reporting on attendance will also help us meet the requirements of various different bodies (e.g. UKVI) and inform future planning decisions.
When do we start using it?
We are rolling this out from 26 September meaning student attendance can be recorded in Moodle for all timetabled credit bearing modules.
Drivers for change
The primary driver for change is to ensure we can meet our University compliance requirements; and the need for increased monitoring as a result of changes to regulations.
As you may be aware our preferred – and long-term – solution for attendance monitoring is a third-party system (Presto) that integrates directly with KentVision. Earlier this year as work on the third-party solution progressed; it became clear it would require more time to complete the integration work with KentVision ready for the start of term.
As a result, a decision was made to develop an interim solution using the KentVision system to directly record student attendance. The functionality within KentVision was developed and was ready to deploy. However, the unresolved performance issues of KentVision that were observed during the clearing period meant that this approach was considered to be too high a risk.
Instead, we have tested and developed our third option solution utilising our existing virtual learning environment within Moodle as a system to record and monitor student attendance at all timetabled learning activities across all Divisions.
Colleagues across IS are concurrently making positive progress in determining the root cause of the system performance issues that were recently observed during the clearing period. Several changes have already been made to the search function within KentVision – improving the overall system performance. We will share further updates with colleagues on this as soon as possible.
How does the system work?
Students log attendance using Moodle at the start of timetabled activities (credit bearing modules only).
At the start of each timetabled event, the lecturer or session leader will need to open Moodle and click on the attendance activity to display a password code to the students within the first few minutes.
Students will then have 20 minutes to mark themselves present from the scheduled start time of the session, using either the password code displayed, by clicking on the attendance activity on their Moodle module, entering the password and then marking themselves present.
Both staff and students access the system through Moodle using a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer.
Training and further information – Please share
Please feel free to share this with others in your teams who may be interested to hear about this work. We know this functionality will be of interest to lots of colleagues and we want to ensure that everyone is aware of what’s happening.
Register Your Attendance with Moodle – Student video guide
Moodle Attendance for Teaching Staff – SharePoint guide for teaching colleagues
Moodle Attendance guidance for admin teams – SharePoint guidance for professional service colleagues.