Introducing Qwickly Attendance Plus: Now piloting an upgraded version with exciting features for attendance tracking

Detailed reports, new check-in options in Blackboard

Instructional Technology is pleased to announce the pilot of Qwickly Attendance Plus in Blackboard Ultra courses. Featuring mobile check-in and advanced reporting, Qwickly Attendance provides faculty with tools to identify student absences and send email notifications automatically. The Qwickly Attendance Plus pilot will take place November 4, 2024 through May 25, 2025.

Qwickly Attendance was launched at UMBC in 2016, providing an easy tool to take attendance and synchronize points to the Blackboard gradebook. One popular feature of Qwickly allows faculty to set up attendance self check-ins -- in the upgraded version, a rapidly rotating QR code appears on the screen instead of a PIN, reducing the possibility of false attendance. Students can use the Qwickly Attendance mobile app to check in from their smart phone or check their attendance records on the go.

Another exciting new feature in Qwickly Attednance Plus will convert student activity in Blackboard to attendance records. When we consider attendance in an online course, login is often the first metric considered. However, proposed federal regulations for attendance in distance education suggest tracking student activity including LMS activity such as discussion posting and test taking. Qwickly Attendance Plus will automatically derive attendance status for students based on their engagement with specified course activities during a designated period and mark attendance accordingly.

Additional features of Qwickly Attendance Plus include:

Check-Out: Add an option for students to check-out at the end of a class meeting.
Forgive Absences: Specify how many absences are excluded from grade calculations.
Schedule Sessions: Create attendance sessions in advance for the entire semester.
Hyflex Support: Create context for attendance location (in-person vs. remote).
Location Confirmation: Specific locations create approved zones for attendance tracking.
Concurrent Check-in for Groups: Take attendance for any or all groups in a single session.
Updated Reporting: Review and identify attendance trends.

We invite faculty to explore the new features during the pilot. Upon conclusion of the pilot, Qwickly is expected to revert to the normal attendance application. Faculty feedback will help inform future adoption of the upgraded features.