2019

Faculty - Qwickly Attendance Tool in Blackboard: Setup and Take Attendance

This course tool enables faculty to take attendance that is automatically graded in the Blackboard Grade Center. Faculty can take attendance using an attendance list on screen or allow students to check in on their own browser, with a PIN and countdown timer.

Part 1: Create an Attendance Button/Link on the Course Menu

1. Click the plus sign (+ button) at the top left of your course menu and select Tool Link . If you do not see the plus sign ensure that edit mode is set to ON.
2. Type in the Name (required). This is the name that will appear on the button. For example, you could type "Attendance." 3. Select the " Qwickly Attendance" tool from the "Type" drop down list. 4. Check the "Available to Users" box or leave it unchecked to keep hidden from students. 5. Click Submit .
6. The Attendance button/link will appear at the bottom of the course menu. You can move it to another location on the course menu by placing your mouse just to the left of the Attendance link as shown here. Notice the up and down arrow.
7. Click and drag on the up and down arrow to move it to the desired location. You will notice an arrow cross when you are doing this.

Part 2: Set up Attendance

1. Click the newly created link on your course menu.
3. Click Begin Set Up.
4. Select the default style you want. The default style is the way the students appear to you. Either as a list, one student per page, or in accessibility mode.
6. Decide if you want to show absences on the take attendance screen, show unavailable students, and round grades to nearest whole number
5. For Grading, you have the option for No Grade Center Column, Total points, or Per Session. Total Points and Per Session will automatically create a column in the Grade Center that will update based on the total number of points or points per session. Note: Qwickly Attendance is unable to calculate decimals (i.e. 2.5) accurately in Blackboard. This is a bug with the program. Please use whole numbers.
6. You have the option to allow students to check in or not. This will give the students the opportunity to mark themselves as present for class (you can require a pin, or no pin)
7. Click "Yes Email on Absence" if you would like to notify the student that they were marked absent. You can edit the email that is sent to the students.
8. Under Attendance Statuses, you can turn off any Status you do not want to use by clicking the button to the left of the status name (the button says 'On' but clicking it will turn it off.
9. Under Custom Course Statuses, you can create your own status. (ex. Late). NOTE: If you want to make your own Status, click Add Status
10. When finished, click Save Settings

Part 3: Take Attendance

Follow the directions on Qwickly's website to learn how to take Attendance.

Students Using Qwickly for the First Time

If you make your Attendance link available for students to click on, they will get the message below if they have never interacted with the Qwickly tool before.

If they choose Accept, they will be accepting for all courses now and in the future.
If they chose deny, it will deny for all courses now and in the future.
- To change a deny to accept, students just need to re-click the attendance link where they will get the same message below again and they can accept. Until they accept, they will get the message below each time they click on attendance link.