Attendance from seating plan?

For years, I have used name cards to randomize student seats to give everyone a new partner each class and simplify taking attendance (collect cards from empty seats). I then open up my Attendance tab in idoceo, find the day's attendance column, and mark absent all of the names on the cards I've collected. Quick and simple.

A recent accident involving tea and cards from 6 classes, however, has me looking for an alternative, so I've been exploring idoceo's Seating Plan feature. Nice! I can easily randomize seating each class day, and students simply look at the projected seating plan to see where they will be sitting.

Unfortunately, taking attendance is now more complicated. There seems to be no way to mark students absent from the Seating Plan, so I do it old-school, calling out names using idoceo's Attendance column feature. Although idoceo simplifies this process, it still takes precious class time. 

In a perfect world, I'd be able to click a name in the seating plan to mark attendance using the icons (absent, late, excused absence) that I've already created. Idoceo would then note the date, create an attendance column for that date (or simply find an attendance column already created), and mark the student's attendance accordingly. Attendance could then be done while students are engaged in some class activity. 

Is this possible? Is it something that might be considered for a future idoceo update? Idoceo's seating plan feature has a wide range of useful options...attendance would make it even more useful in the classroom.

 

HI there,
 You can take attendance from the seating plan.

  1. Add an attendance column
      Select column > Attendance
      In the attendance configuration you can set the default status for new attendance columns as 'all present'
so you only have to focus on absent students.

  2. Double tap on a student to toggle state from present/absent or long tap for Late/Absent

Oh, wow. This is better than I had hoped for! So many options! I especially like the option of using an attendance column that I've already set up in another tab.

Students also seem to like the new seating plan and attendance system,. They can now easily verify their own attendance, and they (and I) don't have to worry about accidentally taking their name cards home.

Thanks for the fast reply, and the great seating plan and (new?) attendance system!

It's been there for quite a while but glad you find it useful.
I'm not sure if you're in the Beta tests but our next version of iDoceo, available this week, will let you
add  Desks, Objects and shortcuts.
You won't have to add a 'Me' student, unless you want to.

  

That seating plan looks intriguing—and ideal for the varied seating plans I need for my various classrooms at different unis. Can't wait for this to go live. I've seen references to idoceo betas in other posts...what do I have to do to join?

You will receive an invitation from Apple/Testflight in a few minutes.
This Beta is now ready but you will also receive notifications on the next ones.