How Do I Use Blackboard Learn's Attendance Tool?

Attendance Workshop Video

Watch the video recording (19:28) of the "Bb09: Integrate Attendance Data Into the Grade Center Using the Bb Learn Attendance Tool" workshop.

PLEASE NOTE:

Workshop Slideshow and Written Instructions:

View he workshop slideshow for "Tracking Attendance in Bb Learn".

Both Blackboard Learn Original and Ultra include the same Attendance tool. For each session, you mark students as present, late, absent or excused. A column is automatically generated in Grade Center and can be included in a “Totals” column for final grades. Check out this video demo to get a brief overview.

Blackboard’s Attendance tool can be used with or without feeding into the final grade. Upon activating the Attendance tool, a Grade Center column is generated. The Attendance column, by default, will be set to 100 points possible and “Include in Grade Center Calculations” will be set to “Yes”. If the attendance tool is connected to the grade center the 100 points CANNOT be changed.
 

Using Blackboard Attendance Tool with Weighted Grading

If you use Blackboard Learn’s weighted grading column, as with all grade-related columns, you will need to add the Attendance column to the “Selected Columns” list in the Weighted Total column and set the desired weight percentage.

Using Blackboard  Attendance Tool without Including it in the Gradebook

If you wish to use the Attendance tool to keep a record of students’ status for each class session, but you do not wish to include attendance in the gradebook, you will need to change a couple of settings as noted below:

1. Click on attendance (located in details and actions)
    

2. Click on the gear Icon in the upper right hand corner to access settings.

3. Click the toggle next to Use attendance as a grade to off. It should look like this:

   Open

   

4. Click Save.

The attendance will no longer be associated with your gradebook, but students can still see their attendance by clicking on View your attendance under details and actions 

Open

What Do Students See?

Students can view their attendance history in the gradebook by clicking on Attendance or by clicking on attendance under details and actions. 

The attendance history page allows a student to see a breakdown of attendance records for each class session. An overall score is displayed at the top of the screen (noted by the arrow in the screenshot below) along with total sessions Present, Late, Absent, and Excused.

Learn More

For more information on the Blackboard Attendance Tool, visit Blackboard Instructor Help or request a consultation with an Educational Technologist.