Taking attendance at events and programs is nothing new. Whether it’s for keeping track of numbers or to turn in expense reports, sign-in sheets become part of the programming tradition. But, what if you took attendance to the next level? A few days ago I wrote about using a swipe-card system with student IDs to automate the sign-in process. The benefit to this is the amount of data that comes out of just looking at these sign-in lists. However, there are other ways to keep track of students – even if it means hand entering sign-in sheets.
By tracking attendance per-student, there are many ways to look at attendance patterns. Do you have 100 people attending your programs or 10 people attending 10 programs each? Do you have more first year or continuing students? Is a residential community or off-campus population more represented? Are there any patterns in GPAs or conduct issues with students who attend programs? Do certain majors attend certain program? Yes, those are a lot of questions and there are plenty more to ask.
Having specific data also helps with follow up and future promotion. If a student attends a resume workshop you can follow up and recommend an interviewing workshop. If a student attends How to Choose a Major you can follow up in a few months to see if they have chosen a major and remind them of the resources available. Or, if you really want to get ambitious, ask follow-up questions a month after a program to see what knowledge was retained or behaviors impacted.
What was once the tedium of taking attendance now becomes a treasure trove of assessment data and student engagement opportunities.
