Qwickly Attendance has been designed to be powerful, yet straightforward. Most users can jump right in and start using it immediately without much direction, but here are some best practices for getting the most out of Qwickly Attendance.
  1. Add Qwickly Attendance to the Course Menu. This creates an easy access point to take attendance without having to dig into the Blackboard tools menu for both faculty and students (The student view of attendance allows students to see their own attendance record and provides the link to check in, when a faculty member chooses to use student check in).
  2. Set Up Qwickly Attendance for the first time when using it in each course. The first time you visit the tool in a course, you'll need to complete the settings for the course. This can be as simple as clicking submit to accept the default settings. If you need to make changes later, you can visit the settings screen at any time. You will not be able to take attendance in a course until this set up is complete.
  3. Start taking attendance. After your initial set up in the course, you will be automatically taken to the attendance taking screen when you visit Qwickly Attendance. Qwickly Attendance offers multiple ways to take attendance. Based on your school's configuration, you can take attendance with a student list or allow students to check in on their own computer.

How to Customize Your Settings in Qwickly Attendance

  • Click Attendance to get to the Main Attendance Page.

  • Select "Settings" which will take you to the main settings page of Attendance.

  • First, you will want to choose a Default Style.

    • The List setting displays all students in alphabetical order. To take attendance you can freely click "Present" "Absent" "Excused" or "Tardy" for each student. You can also comment on a student's status.

    • The One By One setting shows one student at a time. You can click freely the status of each student, and click the arrows to move from student to student.

    • The Accessibility Mode displays all students in an alphabetical list optimized for keyboard navigation.

     

  • Next, you will want to choose a grading method. You can choose from Total Points, which defines a total number of points that attendance will be worth. Per Session, which defines a total number of points for each class. No Gradebook Column, does not create a grade center column in Black Board.

  • Next, you decide when using Student Check In, if you will require a PIN number or not, then if using Check In, how long the Check In will be.

  • Next if a student is Absent, you can choose if they receive an email regarding their date of absence.

  • System Attendance Statuses are built in statuses you can use to take attendance. You cannot modify system statuses.

    • Turn a Status on or off to have it hidden from your attendance sheet.

  • Custom Course Statuses, add custom statuses to your attendance sheet. This means you can add statuses like Extra Credit or Participation to give students extra points.

    • Order, gives you the order that you want your new custom status appears on the Attendance Sheet when you take attendance.

    • Name, give your new custom status a specific name, that will appear on the Attendance Sheet.

    • Points, This is used for grading. Enter the percentage of points a student should receive if they receive that status for the day. For example, if a day is worth 2 points 100% of the points would be 2 points, 50% would be 1 point. Typically Present is worth 100% and Absent is worth 0%. Enter only numbers in this field, decimals are accepted.

    • Absence, Enter the percentage of an absence a student should receive if they receive that status for the day. For example, 100% Absence would give the student 1 full absence. If you wanted to create a Tardy status in which 3 tardies = 1 absence, you would enter 33.3%. Enter only numbers in this field, decimals are accepted.

    • Color, Click the block to set a custom color to show up in the attendance record.

    • Delete, click the "X" to delete the custom status at any time.

  • After doing all of these steps, click Save Settings.

How to take Qwickly Attendance

  • Click Attendance to get to the Main Attendance Page.

  • This will bring you to the main Take Attendance Page.

    • The first step to Take Attendance, you will choose to use the Current Time or you can Custom your time that your Attendance will be taken.

    • Next you can give your Session a title, this step is optional.

    • You will then click which method of taking Attendance you will use.
    • List: The List setting displays all students in alphabetical order. To take attendance you can freely click "Present", "Absent", "Excused" or "Tardy" for each student. You can also comment on a student's status.

    • The One By One setting shows one student at a time. You can click freely the status of each student, and click the arrows to move form student to student.

    • The Accessibility Mode displays all students in an alphabetical list optimized for keyboard navigation.

  • Next you will take the attendance of your students, using one of the three methods: List, One By One, or Accessibility Mode.
    • List

    • One By One

    • Accessibility Mode

  • After you have taken Attendance you will click Submit Attendance to enter your Attendance into the Records Sheet.

    • After you click Submit Attendance it will bring you to the Main Attendance screen again, and say "Attendance has been taken".

  • Another way to Take Attendance is Check In. Check in allows students to check in on their own devices, and prevents you from taking it manually.
    • First you will click on Start Check In.

    • A screen will come up with a set of numbers, at this time the student will be able to take his or her own attendance, this set of numbers will appear on their attendance screen until the time you set is up or you end the check in.

    • After Check In is complete, it will then redirect you to the Main Attendance page.
  • Click View Record to review the Attendance you have taken.

  • The Attendance Record screen shows all attendance records you have taken in the past.

    • If you have made a mistake with someone's attendance or need to change a student's attendance, you can edit by just clicking on the colored box.

    • Click the correct status when the editor comes up, also you can add or edit comments form this view.

    • After you choose the correct option, you then click Save Record.

    • The attendance of the student will automatically change once you clicked Save Record.

    • If needed, you can delete the Record of Attendance for a day and completely redo it, by clicking the "x".