aPlus+ Attendance is a Canvas-integrated attendance-tracking tool that enables teaching teams to manage student check-ins and track attendance. From an instructor standpoint, the check-ins can be administered manually using custom statuses, or you can allow students to sign in using a specific alphanumeric or QR code within a specified timeframe.
This article includes a basic aPlus+ Attendance overview, plus configuration and usage instructions. For details on using aPlus+ in your class sessions, see our Using aPlus+ in the Classroom (Instructors) article.
Before You Start
You will need:
- Access to Canvas
- Instructor role in the Wharton course that will use aPlus+ Attendance
For help with either of these, contact your Wharton Computing representative.
See also:
Getting Started with aPlus+ Attendance in Canvas (Instructors)
Navigating aPlus+ Attendance in Canvas (Instructors)
Absence Requests
Students can use aPlus+ Attendance to request absences for days they will be unable to attend class. As the instructor, you'll need to ensure that you have your sessions appropriately configured on the timetable so that students can request an absence.
Penn undergraduate students, including Wharton undergraduates, may report absences using the University's Course Action Notices (CAN) system. Please be aware that graduate students cannot use CAN to report absences, and that CAN is not an absence request tool. If teaching a cross-listed graduate/undergraduate course, only your undergraduate students should be directed to use CAN.
Time Factors for aPlus+ Attendance Absence Requests
Students can request an absence using aPlus+ Attendance two weeks before a particular session and up until the end of the term.
The quickest way for an instructor to view a student's absence request is to click on either the Students or Reports tab in aPlus+.
Using the Reports tab as an example, you'll see that clicking on it takes you to Attendance Summary by default:
Via the Attendance Summary, you'll see the various statuses resulting from student actions (in the case of absence requests and code-based check-ins) and those you manually assigned to students. Most statuses beginning with the word "Absent" have been submitted by the student.
To alter a status (e.g. changing it from "unexcused" to "excused"), navigate to the Sessions tab and select a session by clicking on it.
In the example below, the July 5th session is selected:
Now, in the session view for July 5th, you'll find various students and their accompanying statuses. If you click on a status for a student, you'll then see the option to choose a different one:
Once you make the status change selection, scroll back up to the top of the page and click the blue Save button to confirm:
Note that you do not have to "accept" the absence request and that no action is required on your part once a student submits an absence. These instructions are for instructors who choose to make any needed changes.
For details on the student absence request workflow, please view our Getting started with aPlus+ in Canvas (Students) article.
Questions?
Troubleshooting tip: If you are using Safari and encounter any access issues, please refer to our Using web browsers with Learning Tools article regarding using Safari with Canvas learning tools. If you have trouble in Chrome, try using a different browser, like Firefox.
Please contact your Wharton Computing representative for support if you need more assistance.