New technology can ensure quality attendance in higher education

- A small digital revolution for both students and those of us responsible for attendance registration, says system manager Kevin Benjamin Zeppo Adriaansen at the University of Agder.

Since the fall semester of 2017, the University of Agder has been using Notice of Attendance for its students, where the students themselves check in on their lectures in the NOA app. According to system manager Adriaansen, this has improved everyday life for both students and administrators.

There are about 1300 students using NOA at UIA today; the largest course has about 200 students, and one can imagine how much time it will take for the lecturer to conduct roll call and manual registration of attendance and absence. Important teaching time can disappear here.

Before NOA was introduced at the university, paper lists were the norm. Whether it was a roll call or the students themselves signing up on rotating lists, it proved to be a cumbersome way of working. When the lists came back to the administration, they had to be entered manually into Excel. There are requirements for documentation of attendance and if you are unfortunate enough to experience paper lists going astray - you can risk having to pay a massive fine.

Adriaansen is clear in his speech when asked about the importance of attendance registration in higher education:

"We don't do roll call for fun, it is absolutely necessary for professional education to ensure that the student has been present and attended the necessary training before they go out into the world of work and work with people"

- Kevin Benjamin Zeppo Adriaansen, System Manager University of Agder

By using NOA, educational institutions such as the University of Agder can ensure that students have participated in the necessary training as they move on to the world of work.

It can be costly not to have your sewing things in order, but for those who use the tool for digital attendance registration, this is not a concern. NoA has made it possible for UiA to carry out the actual registration digitally where each student registers their own attendance via their mobile phone, and the old paper lists are now digitized and available in the cloud for lecturers and administration.

Each lecturer has access to their class lists directly, and will have the possibility to go in and manually add those who do not have the possibility themselves.

One of the biggest issues that Adriaansen highlights is the latest update to the system in the fall of 2019, where NOA implemented integration with FS, the core system for all student data for the University of Agder and the entire college and university sector. This means that all data needed for the digital attendance registration now comes directly into NOA, so that current users do not have to import all information manually. Better uploading and synchronization ensures better flow.

We thank the University of Agder for the trust and opportunity to publish reference statements. We look forward to further cooperation and joint development.

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