Attendance module
History
Attendance was originally a Moodle block developed by Russell Jungwirth in the Fall of 2003.[1] In the Fall of 2005, Dmitry Pupinin picked up the reins and released version 1.0.2, his first version of the Attendance block.[2] In May of 2007 Dmitry released a new version 2.0 suitable for Moodle 1.8. This release was a dramatic restructuring of code that resulted in a significant module along with a small block.[3] Dmitry continued to develop the Attendance module and block through 2010. In the November of 2010, Artem Andreev updated the code to version 2.2[4] to add common and group session options and some user interface improvements. Artem then released version 2.3 that gave the ability to add multiple attendance instances in a single course (e.g., one instance for laboratory activities and another instance for lecture periods). In July of 2011, Artem released Attendance version 2.4.0[5], a rewrite of the code as a module only for use with Moodle 2.x. Users with Moodle 2.0 or higher should use the latest update of Attendance 2.4 (branch MDL_20) available here:
Installation by Moodle Administrator
To install Artem's version of the attendance module, follow these directions. Installation can only be completed by a user having write access to the file structure on the computer hosting Moodle and with administration rights for your installation of Moodle.
Download and Unzip Files
Download the latest zipball of the Attendance module using the link above and unzip the file. When you unzip, you should have a folder with a name like andreev-artem-moodle_mod_attforblock-175cd46. This folder must be renamed attforblock.
Language Files
The language file used with the module is contained in the attforblock/lang/[language pack]/attforblock.php file where [language pack] is the Moodle indicator for the language pack you are using. If the language pack contains an underscore, for instance, "en_us" then the module will first check in the attforblock/lang/en_us/attforblock.php file for a phrase. If the phrase does not exist in that file, then it will check in the "parent language" file which in this example is attforblock/lang/en/attforblock.php. You may wish to edit the language files for localized preferences. For instance, you might consider replacing each occurrence of 'Attendances' with 'Attendance' since some dictionaries say that attendances is the plural form of attendance while others say there is no plural form. Similarly, you may elect to change the spelling of enrolment to enrollment.
Note that the date format is also controlled by the language file you install. If you prefer Month/Day/Year format, for example, you will want to edit the attforblock/lang/en_us/attforblock.php file to make the changes shown below as well.
- $string['strftimedm'] = '%m/%d';
- $string['strftimedmy'] = '%m/%d/%Y';
- $string['strftimedmyw'] = '%m/%d/%y (%a)';
- $string['strftimeshortdate'] = '%m/%d/%Y';
- $string['strftimedmyhm'] = '%m/%d/%Y %H:%M'; // line added to allow multiple sessions in the same day
Mod Installation
If you look at your Moodle installation, you will see that among the many subfolders in the Moodle folder you have a folder named mod/. Installation is completed by copying the attforblock folder into your moodle/mod/ folder. Don't forget to change ownership and read/write/execute privileges to the copied files to match the rest of your site.
Once you have completed copying files and changing privileges, you need to log into Moodle as the administrator and go to the Site administration-->Notifications link. This will indicate that you have installed a new plugin and has a button to click for Moodle to update the database structure. Once you have updated the database structure, the Attendance module is ready for use.
Using Attendance in a Class by a Teacher
Adding Attendance Activity
After the attendance block and module have been properly installed, you (the teacher) must add attendance as an activity to each course you wish to keep attendance in. This is done by first ensuring that you are in the edit mode and then selecting, "Attendance" from the "Add an activity..." pull-down menu. Note that you may only add the attendance activity once per class and it may be located in any of the section blocks. Because attendance is for the entire course, it seems logical to put it in the top box (the one that always shows).
Once you have added the attendance activity, you are ready to start using the attendance module. However, the section link that was just added in the preceding paragraph is the "clunky way" to work with the attendance module. Of course, we DO want students to be able to view their attendance records, just not with that link. There is a second, better, way to accomplish this using the Attendance block. Select "Attendance" from the pull-down menu in the "Blocks" block. This will create a block with teacher options to take attendance, report on attendance, or change the attendance settings. The same block will instead have an attendance report for students.
Setting Attendance Categories and Grading Options
Now it is time to set your attendance options. Select "Settings" from the attendance block. This brings you to the letters, descriptions, and grade (points) to assign for the four attendance options. By default these are Present, Absent, Late, and Excused. You may prefer to change the descriptions (e.g., change the word Late to Tardy), change the order, or change the way points are counted so make appropriate changes here to the names, order, and grades. Be sure to click the "Update" button when you are done.
Adding Sessions
Next it is time to add sessions. Note that there is a restriction here. You can only have one session per day. Since you can only have one attendance activity installed (which means that you cannot have a lab attendance activity and a lecture attendance activity) and can only have one attendance session per day, if you have more than one class session per day you will have to be creative in taking attendance. And if you have more than seven class sessions for a single class in a week--then you are overworked!
To add class sections, click the "Add" tab (second from left) at the top of the page (if you left the attendance page, select any of the three links from the attendance block to return to the attendance page and gain access to the "Add" tab). You have two options here, to add a single session or to add multiple sessions. The single session is self-explanatory as well as time consuming to use when you have many class sessions so I will go straight the more useful option, how to add multiple sessions.
Under the "Create multiple sessions" label choose the date for the first session you wish to add followed by the date for the last session you wish to add. Next select the days of the week on which the class meets. The final option, frequency, may look confusing but it is actually straight-forward. If your class meets every week (the normal situation) then you want a frequency of 1 week which is the default. If your class meets every other week, then you want a frequency of 2 weeks, and so on. When you click the "Add multiple sessions" button, your sessions will be created and you will see a message indicating this.
Taking Attendance
Now head to the attendance tab. Here you see the list of all attendance sessions you have added. You can delete an individual session by clicking the X to the right of it. (Personal note, it sure would be nice if there was an option to select a few sessions and delete them all at once--I use the multiple sessions option to put my sessions in for the entire semester and then have to go and remove sessions for vacation days one at a time.) You can edit a session (change the date or add a description) with the standard hand icon to the right of the session, or you can take attendance for a session by clicking the green radio button to the right of the session. Sessions where attendance has already been taken do not have the green button, but instead the description is a link that takes you to the screen to modify the attendance record for that session.
You will note that when taking attendance the column headings for attendance state are links. If you click one of these column headings, all students will have their status changed to the status you selected. Thus, if everyone is absent (God forbid!), you merely click the A and it will change everyone's status to absent. If Little Johnny is the only student absent, you would logically click P to set everyone to present and then go down to Little Johnny and change his status to A. Enter remarks as appropriate (e.g., the reason for an absence if known or the minutes late if someone is tardy) and click OK to complete taking record.
Reports
Finally, you have the reports. This is, again, obvious. One of my colleagues prefers to take record on paper and transfer it to Moodle. She suggested printing the monthly report before the start of the month and then taking record on this report. It has an added advantage because you have each student's picture with the record sheet. Of course, that is only useful for students who actually put photos of themselves in for their picture.
A final note here. If you added the attendance block as recommended, you may wonder what it looks like for students. It is completely different--showing a summary of their attendance record and having a single link for them to view the details of their personal attendance. Another reason why I think the attendance block should always be added when you use the attendance module.
Give advice to developer
Have an idea about new features? You need something? Please add your idea or vote for existing at Attendance Module on UserVoice page!
See also
- Attendance module forum
- Download Dmitry's version of module
- Attendance block page
