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Event and Exam Attendance

Made Easy Using Mobile

Devices

University of Toronto Mississauga

Office of the Registrar

July 7th 2014

Wendy Norman and

Cesar A Mejia

University of Toronto

Full range of undergraduate and graduate programs

80,000 students

10,000 staff

Tri-campus system

University of Toronto Mississauga

30 km west

2nd largest division of U of T

12,500 undergraduate students

Arts, Science, Business, Medical

Agenda

Taking Examination Attendance before FIPPA (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act)

Attendance Taking Risks

SEAT 1.0 (Student Exam Attendance Tracker)

SEAT 2.0

More Than Just Exams

ATS (Attendance Tracking System)

The Original Way (before FIPPA)

Signature Sheets – before The Freedom of Information & Protection & Privacy Act (FIPPA), we had one class list for every 100 students that was taken around the exam room for students to sign when student cards (TCards) were verified.

After FIPPA, we created a “quick fix” by attaching a signature sheet to the front of each examination paper

Accessibility Forms

Signature Sheet

Signature Sheet & List (Quick Fix)

Accessibility & Deferred

Risks of Taking Attendance

Attendance paper could be lost (FIPPA concern)

Students could see student # and name of others while signing sheet

Student might sign for someone else (accidently or intentionally)

Data organization and entry prone to errors and very time consuming

Petitions dependent on attendance could be delayed

Using a barcode scanner

Using a

Using a barcode scanner

Using a

Using a barcode scanner

Using a

SEAT 1.0

Student Exam Attendance Tracker (SEAT) Uses the exam timetable and student TCards to allow Chief Presiding Officers (CPOs) to scan attendance against the class list for a given exam.

Hardware Samsung UMPC Q1 Ultra, Intel A100 600Mhz, 1 Gig memory, 60 Gig HD running Windows XP. USB Infrared scanner.

Software WAMP – Windows Apache Mysql PHP 1.7.2

Setup Device must be synced to get updated exam timetable and save scan results to the server. Scanned data is stored locally. UMPC encrypted. BIOS password protected.

SEAT 1.0

SEAT 1.0

The process before each exam

Tablets are charged

Tablets are synchronized

Tablets are placed on cards and assigned to CPOs

The process after each exam

Tablets are charged

Tablets are synchronized

SEAT 1.0

SEAT 1.0

SEAT 1.0

SEAT 1.0

Attendance Results

Attendance Results

SEAT 1.0

Advantages

• Ability to quickly identify issues if the exam count is incorrect

• Report of who attended exam is quick to compile

• No paper attendance record which could be lost

Disadvantages

• We had to pick up the Device from each exam and sync the data with the server

• Device could be lost or broken

• Data may be lost due to improper use/tampering

SEAT 2.0

SEAT 2.0 Seat modified to use the wireless network allowing real time access to the exam timetable as well as recording attendance without syncing

Hardware The Samsung UMPC with USB IR scanner were used at first and then finally the Nexus 7 tablet with the Motorola CS3070 Bluetooth scanner

Software RedHat 5.9, Apache, PHP, MySql on a 1U Dell PowerEdge 1950

Setup Bluetooth scanners are paired with the tablets

SEAT 2.0

Tablets are changed once a day

The process before each exam

Tablets are placed on carts and assigned to CPOs

The process after each exam

Nothing

Nexus 7

SEAT 2.0

SEAT 2.0

Advantages

• Can now use UTORid and password which allows us to display student photos

• Network access allows real time data, No more syncing!

• CPO can now keep the tablets in the exam room due to better battery life and no data being stored on the device

• Battery life on Nexus 7 Tablet is much better and only requires charging overnight

Disadvantages

• Use of wireless network may cause issues if connection is lost

• Scanner may become unpaired if user holds down the wrong button

• Difficult setup for non-exam type events

Attendance Tracking System

Can be used by any UTM Staff to take attendance

Not tied to course lists or exams

Guest Lists allow restricted attendance

Can facilitate open events where everyone is welcome

Administration can be done by the user

Any tablet can be used (BYOD)

Scanning is intuitive

Where Do People Use ATS?

Term Tests

Seminars

Information Sessions

Orientation week events

Drop in appointments and advising

Ticketed Events with a guest list

Sports

ATS - Hardware

Nexus 7 with Google Chrome

Motorola CS3070 Bluetooth Scanner

Any mobile device with a web browser that is paired (Bluetooth) with a scanner can be used instead

ATS - Administration

Clients can create Events (with a Guest List or not)

Clients can give users roles such as Admin or Scanner access

Guest Lists can be used for multiple events

Attendance results can be downloaded to Excel.

Demo

Demo

Demo

Demo

Demo

ATS - Scanning

Scanners login using their T-Card and PIN

They simply choose the event and begin scanning (Only upcoming events from the day are visible)

Manual input is available if T-Card cannot be scanned

Attendance list can be viewed on the tablet

Multiple tablets can be used without needing to merge the lists

Demo

Demo

Demo

Demo

Demo

Demo

Demo

Demo

Demo

Demo

Attendance Numbers By Event

252

63

21 14 21 1

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Number of Events

Att

en

da

nc

e 0-100

101-200

201-300

301-400

401-500

501+

Size of Guest List

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600S

ize

of

Gu

es

t L

ist

Percentage of Events With Guest List

21%

79%

Guest List

No Guestlist

Different ways people are using ATS

Time To Scan

00:00:00

00:07:12

00:14:24

00:21:36

00:28:48

00:36:00

00:43:12

0 100 200 300 400 500

To

tal

Sc

an

Tim

e

Event Attendance

ATS – Future

Scan using camera

• Can be done with an App

• HTML 5 support for using the camera this way is still not there yet

Printable Tickets

• Tickets could be issued for recruitment events where students do not have a student card

Thanks!

Questions?

Wendy Norman wendy.norman@utoronto.ca

Cesar Mejia cesar.mejia@utoronto.ca