Card Reader System and Student Attendance Dr Giles Tewkesbury MBE Associate Head (Student Experience) School of Engineering

Card Reader Project 420 card readers have been installed in 25 Buildings. 4 July 18 - UEB Approved in principle 18 July 18 - EPG approval for Expenditure 14 Aug - 14 Nov - Installation (3 months) Card Reader system has been operational since Week 1 of TB1: 910,520 Cards have been Scanned so far 20,795 Unique Students have used the card readers 100,502 Events Registered 782,831 recorded absences (since Week 7 of TB1) Non valid card scans stored from 9 Feb 18

Card Reader System Architecture Closor (Non-Attendance Service) CMIS Azure Functions (APIs) Azure SQL Server Database Ingestor (Ingestion & Registration service) Eventor (Event collection) Registery APIs SAMS Administration Forms MyPort Reporting Service APIs Manual Data Entry SEQ Debugging Database

Card Reader System Architecture - Eventor The Eventor collects relevant Information from the timetabling system. CMIS 4800 events each week (only events with rooms that have card readers are collected). 143562 student associations to events collected each week. Azure Functions (APIs) Azure SQL Server Database Eventor (Event collection) Registery APIs On future events: A Complete refresh is performed every night Daily refresh are performed every 20 minutes during the day. Stops refreshing events 30 minutes before the start time.

Card Reader System Architecture - Ingestor The Ingestor takes card scans from the 420 card readers and marks students as ‘Attended’. It also handles: Setting the lights / sounds Health Checks Other card scans Firmware upgrades Azure Functions (APIs) Azure SQL Server Database Ingestor (Ingestion & Registration service)

Card Reader System Architecture - Closor (Non-Attendance Service) The closor marks students as ‘Not-Attended’ Events with Zero Registrations are ignored ! Azure Functions (APIs) Azure SQL Server Database Registery APIs SAMS Non-Attendances collected since week Week 7 of TB1 In TB1 it was only implemented for School of Engineering. 333123 non-attendances registered (297534 Since start of TB2) The following Event types are ignored: Distance Learning, Drop-In, External Speaker, Field Trip, Interview, Placement, Personal Individual Tutorial, Self Directed Studies, Sign Up Tutorial, Virtual Learning Environment Manual Data Entry

Card Reader System Architecture Closor (Non-Attendance Service) CMIS Azure Functions (APIs) Azure SQL Server Database Ingestor (Ingestion & Registration service) Eventor (Event collection) Registery APIs SAMS Administration Forms MyPort Reporting Service APIs Manual Data Entry SEQ Debugging Database

MyPort integration Attendance indicators on MyPort: Detailed attendance record Unit based Total attendance Further information Click on attendance indicator Here are some students with good attendance (100%): 845504 , 875336, 842553, 757215, 814348, 799994 Here are some with 80% attendance: 846658, 844961, 845253, 803217 20%: 850582, 815917, 834599, 850703 0%: 368574, 845699, 800749, 652923 (Aprox %s) You can check their detailed attendance info at: https://attendance.port.ac.uk/sams/viewStudent.php?st=831456 for now..

My Port - (further details) Reasons I forgot my card I lost my card I forgot to scan my card My card would not scan I was ill The event was cancelled I had travel problems I was told not to attend Other 9% 5% 34% 18% 14% 1% 2% 15% I had travel problems??? I attended a different group Personal reasons.

Explanation of Attendance Data collected Attended Absent * Zero Attendance Event types null Required : Lecture, Seminar, Tutorial ... Optional : Drop-in, Sign-up-Seminar, Field trip... * nulls could be due to zero attendance, timetabling errors, card readers not working, staff cancelling or moving sessions without informing timetabling or other unknowns.

Initial insights: Attendance data is not 100% accurate (Based on the raw data…) Attendance data is not 100% accurate Students are Falsifying Attendance Students are forgetting their cards Overall attendance across the whole university is as low as 40% - 60% Thousands of events are scheduled and have zero attendance

Falsifying Attendance ENG Spot Check: 1st Check (week 31- snowing!) 2nd Check Level Av Class Size Student Scans Falsified Attendance 3 156 35 2 62 1 4 221 75 22 26 5 192 57 18 86 Zero students have been caught falsifying attendance for a second time.

Trial Temporary cards 10% of Engineering Students used the Trial Temporary card Service. 330 Temporary cards were issued to 201 unique students >⅓ of the cards issued were not returned 130 Cards were not returned. Cost of lost Temp cards = £55 1122 attendances were registered using Temporary cards (in Engineering)

Events with Zero Attendance Events with 1 or more attendees Events with zero attendees 1258 758 356 423 483 392 387 430 CMIS week Number Ignored (due to 0 registrations) Closed Total % 28 356 3861 4217 8.44% 29 423 3587 4010 10.55% 30 483 3598 4081 11.84% 31 758 3382 4140 18.31% 32 392 3738 4130 9.49% 33 387 3705 4092 9.46% 34 430 3506 3936 10.92% 35 1258 2091 3349 37.56% Note: This is early provisional data and may be subject to change.

TB2 Card Reader Attendance at Compulsory Events % Note: this is for TB2 weeks 1-12 (CMIS weeks 24-35). This is provisional data and may be subject to change.

The Way Forward... Learner Analytics!! Deal with falsifying attendance & improve data accuracy Software to perform Spot Checks Temporary card issuing at admin offices Remove manual editing of data in SAMS Address Non-Attendance issues Understand the issues Identify students at risk early Propagate access to attendance data Reporting / spreadsheets Dashboard integration Data analysis (AI) Learner Analytics!! student mental wellbeing in relation to retention, improving attainment

Any Questions?

Trial attendance vs achievement data for Level 3 2015-16 First Sitting Mark % Attendance %

Good students perform better Students progressing to integrated Masters Degrees 44 Students % of Students 24 Students 28 Students 21 Students Card Reader Trial

Operation of system Blue light indicates session is open for registration Opens 30 min before scheduled start time. Closes at session end time. Green light flashes with a short beep to indicate card has been read Red light will show if student is not scheduled in that class.

Disciplinary Action for Falsifying attendance First offence – email warning (put on student file) Second offence - Further email Third offence– Contract of conduct imposed and put on student record (minor offence) Third offence – Allegation of Major offence submitted in writing to the Academic Registrar. (Major offence)