6. Sessions and attendance
The dated class meetings of the semester, taking attendance, and keeping an eye on students at risk.
Sessions
A session is one dated class meeting — “Session 5 · Tue 14 Oct · 09:00 · Room B201”. Sessions come from the class’s weekly schedule, across the semester’s teaching weeks, skipping holidays and other non-teaching dates.
The Head of Program handles sessions for their courses in Sessions:
- Generate sessions per course, or Bulk-generate for every class in the program that has a schedule but no sessions yet.
- Check them. If the schedule changed, clear a course’s sessions and generate again.
- Publish the course. Publishing shows the course — sessions and syllabus included — to students.
Publishing a course’s sessions can’t be undone, and it’s only possible once the course syllabus has a complete grading scheme (assessment weights adding up to 100%).
Each session can carry the topic from the course’s session plan (the weekly syllabus) and, for online sessions, a meeting link (Online learning).
Taking attendance
The lecturer opens the class and then the session’s Attendance:
- The class list appears. Mark each student Present, Absent, Leave or Campus duty.
- Save, then lock the session once it’s final.
Rules:
- Sessions are locked in order — a session can only be marked after every earlier session has been locked.
- A locked session can only be reopened by requesting an unlock with a reason; the Head of Program approves or rejects it.
The attendance rule
Attendance rate = attended sessions ÷ marked sessions
Attended counts present and campus duty. Absent and leave both count as missed. Sessions not marked yet are left out.
Each student is judged against their minimum attendance (80% by default; a study program or faculty can set its own, and each student keeps the value that applied when they were admitted).
What students see
Learning Management › Attendance shows each course with the student’s rate and a standing — on track, at risk or below the minimum — plus how many more sessions they can miss. Opening a course shows every session, numbered, with its status.
Reports
- Reports › Attendance Recap — attendance per class, against each class’s minimum.
- Reports › Attendance Risk — students below their own minimum (after at least three marked sessions), so advisors and the program can step in.
The minimum attendance is for visibility only — it doesn’t block anything automatically, such as sitting an exam.
When something goes wrong
| Problem | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A course’s sessions can’t be published | The syllabus’s grading scheme doesn’t add up to 100% | Complete the assessment weights in the syllabus, then publish |
| The lecturer can’t mark a session | An earlier session isn’t locked yet | Lock the earlier sessions first, in order |
| A locked session needs a correction | Locked sessions are final | The lecturer requests an unlock with a reason; the Head of Program approves it |
| The dates are wrong after a schedule change | Sessions were generated from the old schedule | Clear the course’s sessions and generate again (before publishing) |