Documentation

What Attend U is

Attend U is a mobile app specifically designed for attendance taking. While it can be used to keep track of participants to any sort of meeting, its interface is geared more towards a classroom setting.

Who Attend U is for

Designed for in-class use, Attend U is best described as a teacher's tool. However, it does require students to own mobile devices with cameras and browser software, so it may not be suitable for teachers of younger pupils.

Why use Attend U

It is easy enough, even if time consuming, to take attendance the old way: with pen and paper. However, most institutions today would require the tedious transfer of these paper records to a database.

It is easier to make this transfer if the information is stored electronically in the first place. However, this often requires a more complicated attendance taking process.

Attend U bridges this gap by providing a quick and easy way to take take attendance electronically, while streamlining the transfer of this information elsewhere.

Your first day with Attend U

Start off by allowing Attend U the permissions it requires and accepting the EULA.

Next, tell Attend U about your students. To do that, tap "Students" from the main menu and use the "New Student" button. You can also use the "Import" button to supply a Microsoft(R) Excel(R) file containing the names of your students, one on each line.

Once you have entered all your students, you are ready to register the courses you teach. To do that, tap "Courses" from the main menu and use the "New Course" button. Each time you register a course, Attend U will let you choose who among your students are enrolled in it.

Starting a Session

Before you can take attendance for a session of one of your courses, you must schedule it in Attend U. To do that, tap the right arrow next to the course you want the session to belong to. Next, use the "New Session" button to create a new entry. You can take attendance for a session when it is due.

Scheduling Multiple Sessions

You can also have Attend U automatically schedule your sessions for you. To do that, use the "New Schedule" button to start the scheduling wizard from the session list for a course.

The wizard will first ask you to list your sessions for one day. Next, you will need to fill in the first and the last day of your schedule. Finally, after you enter how often your daily schedule is to be replicated in this program, Attend U will automatically convert it into sessions.

Taking Attendance the Attend U Way

Attend U takes a self-service approach to taking attendance that requires virtually no effort on your part. When due, tap the right arrow next to the session you want to take attendance for. This will bring up the session page.

The session page will show a QR code along with instructions on using it. You will typically place your device on a stand at this point. Your students will then have their devices scan the QR code as they enter the classroom.

To check herself in, a student will first need to use her device to join the same Wifi network with yours. This will likely already be the case, but Attend U will guide her if otherwise. Next, she will need to scan the QR code to identify herself and automatically check in. Once identified, Attend U will remember her for the next session.

Wifi Options

Attend U requires Wifi connectivity. But fear not, it is easy to set it up.

If your device is already connected to a wifi network, Attend U is smart enough to use that. If not, Attend U will create a temporary one for you. In the rare case that both fail, Attend U also provides an online option. To go online, use the "Online" button in the session page.

Note that Attend U will kindly ask you to watch a brief advertisement before going online to cover the service costs. It is not required, but if you want to support further Attend U development, you are also encouraged to click the ad.

Attendance Reports

Attend U can generate for you a Microsoft(R) Excel(R) file containing your attendance report. This is a near-universal file format you can use to carry this information anywhere.

To retrieve the attendance report, tap and hold the name of a session to select it. Select any other sessions you want included in your report. Next, use the "Export" button to instruct Attend U to generate the file. You will then be prompted on what to do with it.

Preparing for Another Semester

Completing one semester to begin another, you may be teaching different courses and students. To keep taking attendance, you will want to update Attend U with this information.

You have already learned how to enter new students. To delete existing ones, tap and hold the name of a student to select her. Select any others as you require and use the "Delete" button to delete them. The "Forget" button will have Attend U forget about their devices and ask them to re-introduce themselves next time they check in. You may also want to do that when a student changes her device.

Updating your courses is similar. Select and delete any courses you do not teach and create new ones as required. In addition, selecting a course will also provide an "Enroll" button you can use to shuffle your students among your courses.

Tips and Tricks

• Made a mistake? You do not have to delete a student, course or session to correct it. Simply tap its name to edit it.

• Too many students? To look for a student, use the magnifying glass next to the "New Student" button.

• Need to add or remove a check in manually? Tap the right arrow next to the session and you can manually alter its attendance information. Note that you can only do this after the session is over.

• Need to customize your attendance report? Tap "Options" from the main menu to see how Attend U can help.

Further Resources

If you still have questions, please feel free to check out our Frequently Asked Questions section.