Are you still in school or taking online classes? If so, does your online school have a student attendance tracking system? Most schools have some system in place to track attendance. In many cases, attendance is even a crucial part of the final grade! But we’ll get back to that.

These days, many more students have had to adjust to classes held online.

Teachers have had to get more creative to get material across to their students. Particularly, higher-level courses seem to be easier to move online. For elementary school children, online classes are sure to present more of a challenge.

Surely, some bigger schools or more established institutions must have some sort of system to track attendance. Yet, when holding a class online, it might also be tough to actually take attendance. This is where Vacation Tracker comes in.

At Vacation Tracker, we take pride in our long and varied list of customers. Teams from well-known brands and organizations have adopted our leave-booking tool. However, it can be used for more than just tracking leave. Some smaller learning institutions can use Vacation Tracker for student attendance tracking.

In today’s article, we will run you through how a team from a small business school has been using Vacation Tracker for attendance tracking.

What Do We Mean By Student Attendance Tracking?

First of all, being a student is a bit like having a full-time job. You have to be at a certain place at a certain time, and you are responsible for certain deliverables. Different learning institutions will have different tools to communicate with their student body. E-learning institutions will often opt for tools that are web-based. In these online schools, students can be from all over the world. In general, they are studying remotely, and also likely part-time. This means that they are being pulled in different directions, by work and family duties. However, they need to also be committed to their studies if they intend to succeed.

In some cases, student attendance is not tracked at all. Students can pop in and out of classes as their please. However, this does not work in classes where group discussions are at the heart of the course. In “focus group” type classes, attendance is key because the class is centered around the sharing of knowledge.

Indeed, teachers can make use of attendance tracking software to plan their course material. It may also be helpful in determining which student needs a make-up course or any other type of additional help.

Ultimately, student attendance tracking can help to properly evaluate who’s diligently attending their classes. It can also help highlight who isn’t taking their classes seriously.

Who Can Benefit From Student Attendance Tracking?

Any e-learning institution could benefit from student attendance tracking. Firstly, any team of teachers can use it to plan their vacations and days off. This is extremely useful in order to plan for a substitute teacher to come in, in advance. Therefore, the uses of Vacation Tracker are certainly not limited to schools that offer online classes.

However, when it comes to attendance tracking, e-learning institutions could probably reap more benefits from online attendance tracking software. Brick-and-mortar schools can take attendance in person. Yet, it can always be helpful to track students online. Particularly for smaller, seminar-based classes, some teachers may choose to veer away from traditional attendance tracking methods.

Unfortunately, attendance tracking software, or just leave management software, can be rather expensive. That is why some teams have turned to Vacation Tracker for their attendance and leave tracking needs.

The Pros Of Having An Attendance Tracking Software

As previously mentioned, we know of one vocational business school that has used Vacation Tracker for student attendance tracking. The small-scale school in question set up its Vacation Tracker account by creating a Team for each teacher, who each taught a specific class. It’s also important to note that they used Slack as an integral part of their communications amongst themselves and their students. It made it easier to continue the discussions outside of class. Then, it also facilitated work on group projects.

Next, they set up various Leave Types, such as “Away on Vacation”, “Sick Day”, or “Parental Leave”. These accounted for all of the reasons that their students would miss class. Class participation and attendance were really important at this school.

Of course, it was also important for team and group work. As in most business schools, the projects were group-based. Therefore, when someone was absent at a work-session, their absence was felt. Just like when an employee doesn’t show up for work, it can impact team productivity.

In this instance, students of this small institution all had their Slack and their Vacation Tracker access. Hence, they would be able to input their attendance information on their own. They do so by requesting a Leave. Once the Leave Type and date have been submitted, an Administrator, or a teacher, in this case, can approve the request. Once approved, the Leave Type is visible on the administrator Dashboard, to the teacher, and to the rest of the team.

Another benefit of tracking attendance in this manner is that Vacation Tracker records all of this data. Subsequently, teachers can print reports and have peace of mind that all of their student’s absences have been tracked.

Why Did These Schools Choose Vacation Tracker?

Alas, keeping track of students that are spread across the globe requires the right tools. It also requires that the teachers be consistent in inputting their latest attendance information. Therefore, the tool that any institution selects needs to be user-friendly and easily accessible, from any device. If it isn’t, it runs the risk of becoming quickly obsolete.

With Vacation Tracker, it is easy to make requests, changes, and add comments. This Slack-integrated application comes with a web-based Administrator Dashboard that keeps logged attendance records organized and visible. Moreover, users can access most of the Vacation Tracker functionalities without ever leaving Slack.

Indeed, Vacation Tracker offers automatic and customizable Notifications to keep everyone on a team informed. It’s easy to set up, and even easier to use.

Try Vacation Tracker Today, For All Your Student Tracking Needs!

In a nutshell, student attendance tracking apps can be overwhelming and expensive. With Vacation Tracker, you get a leave and vacation management tool, which also doubles as a student attendance tracking app.

What’s more, it doesn’t cost a thing to test this creative use of our Slack-integrated software with your pupils. Try a 14-day Vacation Tracker trial to see if it meets your requirements and meets your school’s needs!

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Kristina Ousmanova

Kristina recently left behind fast-paced life of Human Resource Business Consulting to freelance as a Content Writer. A regular Vacation Tracker contributor, she can be found working remotely from her home in Montreal, usually while eating a variety of snacks.