Clickers: Taking Location-Based Attendance

Overview

You can take course attendance within PointSolutions Web. Using this method, you can also enable location-based attendance.

Please note that this attendance method will only work with mobile app responses (not physical clickers). 

For additional step-by-step instructions and tips for using PointSolutions in the classroom, faculty can register for OIT's Self-Paced Clicker Training Resource on Canvas.

Jump to Video: PointSolutions: Activate Location-Based Attendance in the Web App

Instructions

Take attendance using PointSolutions Web:

1. Go to the PointSolutions Instructor site at instructor.turningtechnologies.com, and from your Courses dashboard, select the Canvas course you want to take attendance in.

Screen capture showing Point Solutions Instructor account interface with active courses displayed. A sample course is highlighted.

2. Once you've selected the course you want to take attendance in, select Attendance in the course navigation menu. 

Screen capture showing PointSolutions Instructor account interface with Attendance button highlighted in Course navigation menu.

3. Optional*: You can enable location-based attendance. Within Attendance, click Attendance Settings. From Attendance Settings, you can choose to do location-based attendance. This setting is optional and should only be used if all your students are in the same physical location for the course. 

*If you do not want to use location-based attendance, skip to step 4.

Screencapture highlighting Attendance Settings option from within the Attendance menu.

3a. To enable location-based attendance, first toggle this option on in Attendance Settings.

Screen capture showing mechanism for turning location-based attendance on.

3b. Once you have enabled location-based attendance, add the physical address for your class meeting location and select your desired radius. Students and participants must enable location services on their mobile devices to use location-based attendance. After you’ve finalized your location-based attendance settings, click ← Back to Attendance.

Screen capture showing setting customization fro location-based attendance, including radius and physical address options.

4. When you are ready to take attendance, select Open Attendance. This will notify all the students on the roster that course attendance is open.

Screen capture showing the location of the "Open Attendance" button in Attendance menu.

5. Once attendance is open, your course participants and attendance data will appear in a list. This screen does not automatically refresh, so you will have to click the Refresh button to see students check-in. If needed, you can also manually check them in after closing attendance. When you’re ready to close attendance, click Close Attendance.

You can export the attendance data at any time to an Excel spreadsheet using the Export button.

Screen capture showing location of Close Attendance, Refresh, and Export buttons, as well as a sample of what incoming attendance check-in will look like from the Instructor view.

 

Video: PointSolutions: Activate Location-Based Attendance in the Web App