Best Practices in Attendance

Dunwoody is an attendance recording institution; this is a typical practice for technical colleges, as an attendance requirement reflects the industry standard. The following best practices are recommended for faculty to maintain compliance with Dunwoody's Attendance Policy:

Timeliness & Accuracy

It is essential to mark your course attendance both accurately and promptly, as attendance can have a significant financial impact on our students, delay a support request, and influence college, department, and program-level decision-making.

  • During the first 10 days of the course, record attendance within 3 hours of the end of the class period or by 7 a.m. the following business day for evening classes. After Day 10, record attendance within 24 hours of the scheduled course period.
  • All students in an asynchronous course should have a weekly attendance mark no more than 24 hours after the course's listed date.
  • Attendance that is recorded more than 8 days late may result in disciplinary action.
  • Take attendance only once the class period has started; do not enter it beforehand.
  • Double-check that the attendance is being recorded for the correct date of the class period.

First Week Attendance

Attendance for on-campus and synchronous (including those portions of hybrid and hyflex) online courses should be recorded no more than 24 hours after the course. 

Attendance for asynchronous and hyflex online courses is recorded based on a student's academic engagement. All asynchronous online courses are to have a Day 1 activity (introduction board, syllabus quiz, etc.) to ensure timely reporting to the College of ALL students in the course no more than 24 hours after the start of the course. Faculty may alter the attendance of a student if they academically engage after the first 24 hours.

Faculty are expected to maintain consistent communication with their leadership team to ensure the accuracy of course rosters and to respond proactively to any notable attendance concerns. Academic leadership is responsible for making decisions and completing the necessary paperwork to remove a student from a course.

Attendance Taking for Distance Education (Online) Courses

The frequency of marking academic engagement in online courses will be at least once per week of the course. Online courses utilize the full 7-day week for student engagement. Thus, student work submitted on a Saturday or Sunday counts as part of the previous week (i.e. the academic online week runs Monday through Sunday) except for the last week of the semester, which ends on the last Friday. 

The frequency of marking attendance and academic engagement in hybrid or hyflex online courses will be at least once per week for asynchronous academic engagement and each synchronous session. 

Classifications of Present/Absent and CIY/CIN will be used to discern the location of the student in hybrid or hyflex courses for awarding purposes from the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

  • CIY/CIN - used when the student academically engages online
  • Present/Absent - used when the course meets physically on campus or synchronously online 

Attendance Options and Applications

  • Present (P): Applied when the student is physically present in an on-campus course or attends a synchronous course session.
  • Absent (A): Applied when the student is not present for an on-campus course or does not attend a synchronous course session.
  • Absent Excused (E): Excused absences count as a regular absence, are counted in attendance calculations, and may affect academics.
    • Faculty may apply an Absent Excused for situations such as work, illness, family emergencies, etc.
    • Many faculty use this to denote when a student has communicated with them about their absence
  • Check-In Yes (CIY): Applied when the student has met the academic engagement requirements of an asynchronous course, an on-campus course not physically meeting for a day (course expectations moved to asynchronous delivery), or an internship. A Check-In Yes represents academic engagement and is equivalent to a Present (P).
  • Check-In No (CIN): Applied when the student fails to meet the academic engagement requirements of an asynchronous course, regularly scheduled synchronous or on-campus course session moved to asynchronous delivery. A Check-In No is equivalent to an Absent (A).
  • Attendance Not Required (NR): Applied for instances when classes aren’t held on behalf of the faculty or college (i.e. campus is closed, faculty is absent, classes are canceled for approved reasons).
    • For College or Department events that affect normal course delivery, such as Career Fairs, instructors may use the check-in system (CIY/CIN).
    • Attendance Not Required (NR) should be used for students who are added during the drop/add period and miss a course session due to their registration date.
    • NR should also be used for a student who misses a class for a field trip for another course, but this MUST be prearranged before the day of the field trip.
    • NR is counted as an absence for purposes of the 14 day, 10 day and 7 day No-Show report but does not count against the student for attendance award purposes.
  • Tardy:
    • Applied accordingly when a student arrives late, leaves early or both. Record the number of minutes the student missed the class.