Barcode scanning system keeps track of

Barcode scanning system keeps track of students

Forget roll call. An innovative attendance scheme is using barcodes to record student presence during a specialist tech class. The scanning system’s not only proving popular with students but also it’s identifying patterns of lateness and absence, writes Anthony Hill.

I originally developed this system while teaching in the Middle East where I was faced with a sea of veiled female teacher training college students, who were impossible to differentiate as they were all in identical black abayas. It does, however, transition well into more open circumstances and I’ve been using it for my specialist ICT classes at Queenstown Primary, where I see every one of the school’s 600 students.

On entering the class, each person picks up a named worksheet for their session, which has a barcode on it. They scan the barcode with a handheld wireless scanner. This then shows up on a spreadsheet class monitor with the student’s name and time of arrival. It also records whether they are on time and the percentage of classes that they have attended so far. At the end of the lesson, they scan out in the same way, recording their time of departure, and return the worksheet for marking.

Barcode basics

The scanning in and out has become an easy and accepted ritual. Most students scramble for the scanner and it’s not seen as onerous. Since scanning a barcode can be done incorrectly – like being too close, too far away, at a bad angle, and double scans – it’s a learning curve for some to handle the process. If a student needs to leave the class, they have to scan out, so this could double as a fire register. Since I teach hundreds of students across the school, the process is definitely helping me to learn their their names and identify faces as they sign in and out each day. The barcode is the student’s MoE number. The worksheet is produced as a mail-merge document that pulls their number, class room, and name from a master sheet. During last term’s extra Covid restrictions, I also included an assigned computer seat number on the sheet to promote distancing. The mail-merge was printed as one job for all classes, sorted by class and student name. The actual barcode is just the raw MoE number represented as a barcode font (Free 3 of 9 Extended Regular Font).

Barcode blanks

I always print a couple of extra blank sheets for the newly transferred students who periodically appear with no warning. In that case, I give them a blank sheet while I look up their number. Then I add them to the spreadsheet master list, register their attendance for that day, and add them to the separate mail-merge master list for next week’s printing. I manually sign them out for the day and have a personalised sheet for them the following week. In the past, I have made a personalised cover page for a booklet. I just staple on the front as a cover but this year I have gone for a single sheet per session. The biggest problem is when the school moves children around classes without telling me. I usually hold off creating my master list until the last minute but admin still always manage to fiddle with things! Each class spreadsheet has the whole school list, with a subclass list, so all I have to do is update the subclass list with the changes.

Barcode benefits

One of the main advantages of the system it that it’s easy to identity missing students, as well as patterns of lateness or absence (the students have just come from their home rooms, so should not be straggling). Other benefits include: • Scanning provides a clear opening and closing of the class session; • The system offers a lead in to a discussion about things such as code, scanning, tracking, mail merge, vLookup, accountability, and data mining; • The process helps me learn names amongst the 600+ contacts; • It gives an impression of an organised and prepared lesson; and • Using technology in this way, makes it feel like an ICT class.

I developed the system many years ago and have revised the core spreadsheet over time, and even produced a version that could handle very large classes. It is currently in a form that I am unlikely to further modify for my own use, but the spreadsheet system has been made available as open source and is available for other people to change freely (with cc attribution, non-commercial). Anthony Hill teaches digital technology at Queenstown Primary School.

For more information, check out Anthony’s YouTube channel, twictnet, at youtube.com/user/twictnet