How to log your attendance

Staff will request that you log your attendance at all teaching sessions for a unit, such as lectures, seminars, tutorials, practical sessions, labs, and skills sessions. They will also ask you to log attendance at supervision sessions on project and dissertation units: these sessions are not timetabled but you are expected to book and attend some 1:1 sessions for supervision. This is part of BU’s policy and process for managing students’ academic engagement.

Usually at some point in the session the teaching staff will give you a 6-digit code to enter in the Jisc attendance system. Alternatively in smaller groups, staff may complete the register by calling out names or checking you in themselves (if they know everyone in the session).

• Get your device ready when you come into the session – switch on and connect to the internet/BU Wi-Fi. 
• Go to the Jisc attendance system (Add a shortcut or bookmark on your device for quick access)  
• Click Log in, enter your BU email address, and when prompted enter your BU username and password. 
• Enter the 6-digit code and click Check-in. 

If you are a student on an apprenticeship programme and you arrive after the start time of the session, your attendance will be marked as 'arriving late'.

For other students, if you have only missed a small amount of the session, you can still be marked as attending. The staff may display the code later in the session or show it again towards the end of the session; if not, you can ask for it. You will only be able to use the code to check into the system during the session – the code will not work after the session.

If you miss most of the session and arrive close to the end of it, this does not count as attendance. In these circumstances teaching staff can refuse to give you the code, or, if you are able to access the code, they can adjust the register to show that you did not attend.

If you can do so without disrupting the session, tell the staff member in the room and they may be able to record your attendance themselves. Otherwise, please log a request with IT Services to be added to the register. IT may need to check with the teaching staff to confirm your attendance.

Speak to your Programme Leader or Level Lead and they will confirm arrangements for logging your attendance.

Please report the issue to IT (https://itservices.bournemouth.ac.uk or call on (01202) 965515 or freephone 0808 196 2332).

We won’t take action on your attendance just because you miss a single session or a few sessions over a semester. Your Programme Team regularly reviews your academic engagement by looking at your attendance and other engagement information. If they are concerned about your engagement, they will contact you and initially ask you to speak to them or your Personal Tutor about support and increasing your engagement. You can find out more information about how we follow up on low attendance on the BU website.

If you have low attendance over a period of time and you do not respond to communications about this so that we can support you to increase your attendance, we may withdraw you from your course – however our aim will always be to support you to engage with your studies. It is really important that you respond to any communications from us about your attendance or other low engagement.

Your attendance only counts if you are present for most of the session: you should not use the code if you arrive very late or leave shortly after the start of the session. If you use the code in these circumstances, staff can adjust the attendance record to show you as 'not attending'. 

It is really important that our attendance data is accurate, because we use it to support students who may be in difficulty and to help us provide a good learning experience at BU. Please do not share the session code with anyone who is not at the session or who arrives very late. Please do not ask others to provide the session code to you if you are not present or have missed most of the session.

You should only be marked as attending a session if you attend most of it. All students are required to comply with the BU Academic Engagement & Attendance Policy, which states that students must not falsely indicate their presence at a session or assist other students in doing so. In serious cases, disciplinary action may be taken for sharing or asking for session codes. If you feel under pressure from other students to provide codes and are not sure how to deal with this, please speak to your Personal Tutor or Programme Leader/Level Lead for support.

Teaching staff can refuse to give the code, or adjust the register to show that you did not attend if they are aware that you have not attended most of the session. For example, if you leave early after collecting the code or do not arrive until the end of the session.

We are doing this because attendance and wider engagement are very important in helping you to successfully complete your studies and get the most out of life at university. Low engagement, including low attendance, can be an indicator that you need support. Logging and reviewing your attendance helps us to support you and other students.

Find more information about academic engagement and why we follow up on low engagement, including low attendance on the BU website.

Your individual attendance data is used by staff to understand more about how you are getting on with your course and your learning development. It will be used to support you in getting the most out your studies. Both your Personal Tutor and your Programme Team will have access to your attendance data, along with other information about your academic engagement. This information may be referred to when you are speaking to your Personal Tutor or your teaching team. When you meet with your Personal Tutor, you will be able to review together the data about you which is held in the Jisc learning analytics (engagement data) system, where attendance data is combined with other information about your use of Brightspace and your assessment marks data to give an overview of how you are engaging in your course and progressing with your learning.  

If you are not attending or not attending very many sessions, we will contact you to check that you are ok and find out whether you need any support or information to help you engage with your course or deal with any issues you are facing. This is part of our BU engagement review process, where your Programme Team regularly reviews your academic engagement by looking at your attendance and other engagement information and contacts you if they have concerns. Visit our webpage to find out more information about our process for following up on low academic engagement, including low attendance. If you have low attendance over a period of time and you do not respond to communications about this so that we can support you, we may withdraw you from your course – however our aim will always be to support you to engage with your studies. 

If you are on a course accredited by a professional body or an apprenticeship course, the attendance data will also be used to check that you are meeting attendance, engagement and learning requirements set by regulatory bodies for these courses.  

If you have a student visa, your attendance data will be used within the BU engagement review process to check that you are meeting the condition of your student visa to engage appropriately with your studies. 

We will use your data along with all other students’ attendance data for statistical analysis to understand more about patterns of student engagement and attendance and what we need to think about in planning and delivering our courses and making arrangements to support students.