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Roll Call Attendance Overview

Last modified 6/12/2024

The Attendance (Roll Call) tool is used for taking attendance in Canvas courses. It can be used for online or face-to-face courses.

Roll Call as Assignment 

Note

After the first time instructors take attendance using the Roll Call tool, Canvas automatically creates a "Roll Call Attendance" assignment. Instructors will see this assignment in the Assignments tool and as a column in the gradebook. To avoid attendance calculation errors, instructors should not delete, rename, or unpublish the assignment. If the assignment is deleted, the Roll Call tool will not be able to take attendance. 


By default, the "Roll Call Attendance" assignment is worth 100 points and factors into student's final grades. If you do not want attendance to automatically be calculated this way, you will need to go into Roll Call settings and check the box that says "Do not count attendance toward final grade." To learn more about the Attendance Roll Call tool, see Canvas's instructor guide.

Roll Call in the First Assignment Category

Warning

When Canvas makes the Roll Call assignment, it is dropped into the first category. As a result, if you are using weighted groups, it can make a difference for students grades because as it calculates the grades, it divides 100 by the number of days recorded. For example, if you attend the first day, but miss the second day, you’ll have a 50%.


How to Get Help

Technical assistance is available through the Illinois State University Technology Support Center at:

Instructional assistance and knowledge for Canvas are available through the Illinois State University Center for Integrated Professional Development:



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