– It makes it easier for the students

OsloMet uses NOA for digital attendance registration on the first day at school: 

– It is easier for students to register their attendance wherever they are when asked than to physically queue on campus, says Royne Kreutz at the Section for Digitalisation of Education at OsloMet. 

It is the first day at school at OsloMet, and on campus we meet Royne Kreutz who works in the Section for Digitalisation of Education. This week, around 10,000 students will use NOA to register their attendance on the first day at school. 

Royne's department is responsible for almost all the systems and tools that the students use. Including NOA (Notice of Attendance) which delivers the system for digital attendance registration, where the student receives a text message with a unique link and registers their attendance easily, simply by entering a code. The attendance is then transferred to FS using the integration with NOA, which saves the administration a lot of manual work afterwards. 

– The faculties, administration and, most importantly, the students – experience this as smooth and modern. And I think the students find it up-to-date, says Royne.

– Our section's mission is to digitalise in order to meet student needs. We will digitalise the areas where we see we can digitalise, provided that it gives better student experiences. It is the students we are here for! 

– The pandemic gave OsloMet a boost in digitalisation and in removing manual operations: Long queues of students became a challenge for enforcing infection control rules. This increased the pressure to achieve a change where we could avoid these queues. This is where NOA proved to be a very effective solution. 

But this has not always been the case for educational institutions. It was not long ago that manual attendance registration with queues, pen and paper ate into the student's time. 

Royne elaborates on what the student experience of attendance registration used to be like: 

– We don't have to go back further than before the pandemic. The manual attendance registration started for the students in a queue, often in the morning. Then there is usually someone at the other end who asks for name and ID. That queue can get quite long. 

– Those who then registered attendance for the students could probably appreciate this meeting with the students, saying hello and being able to welcome them - that was nice. But this is only one side of the experience. On the other side of the experience is the student, who is standing in that queue, who may be in a bit of a hurry and needs to catch something, perhaps the student has just gotten up in the morning - or it is the first day at school and there is a lot else on their mind. Then they may see it in a slightly different way. 

Royne explains that the educational institution got this manual variant trimmed to be as efficient as possible. 

– Maybe some people got it done in half an hour. But we see that the expectations that the students have are different, and maybe they are not as happy with this “half hour” in the queue. 

By using NOA to register first-time attendance during the start of studies, this manual process is completely eliminated. The students are pre-registered in NOA's administration tool for lecturers and study administration, and the students receive a text message at the start of their studies, which, with the help of a unique code, makes it possible for them to complete the attendance registration themselves. 

– We have also received feedback that there is less to administer from the faculties' side. So that's very good. NOA has also improved and developed the system in collaboration with the educational institutions' experiences, which we appreciate. 

– This old way with queues and papers, I don't think it has a right to exist in 2022. 

What is your experience with NOA so far? 

– In my department and role, we see all three sides: The organisation, the faculties and the students. If we are going to have attendance registration in the first place, then this is clearly the way to go. It's about us being able to meet the student and their expectations where they are. I think we are achieving that here in a good way. The lecturers are very happy with the solution, and there is good feedback that the system works. 

– And finally: It is not our experience that is most important, but the students' experience. If the organisation has to go the extra mile, it may be necessary so that over 20,000 students don't have to. Here we get the best of both worlds!