Attendance Tools in Canvas

Canvas provides multiple options for tracking student attendance, depending on your needs. Whether you prefer a manual check-in system or an automated attendance record based on student activity, Canvas offers built-in tools to support different instructional approaches.

This guide focuses on two built-in options for tracking attendance in Canvas. Other methods, such as third-party tools, methods, and integrations, may also be available but are not covered here.

Compare Attendance Tools In Canvas

Feature Roll Call Attendance New Analytics - Online Attendance Poll Everywhere Attendance How it Works

Instructors manually mark students present, late, or absent within the Attendance menu in a Canvas course.

Tracks attendance automatically based on Instructor-defined activity criteria (e.g., course access, discussions, submissions). Attendance is taken within the New Analytics menu in Canvas,

Instructors launch a live poll (typically a multiple-choice or open-ended question) during class. Students respond using their devices, and their responses are logged. Attendance can be inferred based on participation and downloaded as a report. If using the Canvas integration, results can sync to the Gradebook.

Pros

Provides a structured attendance register.
You can assign attendance as a grade in the Gradebook with an automatic grade book column.
Supports a customizable seating chart for in-person courses.
Allows instructors to adjust lateness values.
Exports attendance reports to a .csv file at the course and account levels.
Students cannot access the tool directly but can view their attendance score in Grades.

Automates attendance tracking in Canvas without manual input.
Customizable 'attendance' criteria set by the Instructor (e.g., page views, submissions, discussions)
Provides insights into student engagement.
Offers filtering options by student, section, and date.
Useful for monitoring online participation.

Encourages live student engagement.
Requires students to respond while at an approved geographical location.
Responses are timestamped and exportable.
Can sync participation to Canvas Gradebook.
Doubles as a learning activity.

Cons

Requires manual marking for each student.
May not be ideal for online courses.

Does not automatically assign attendance as a grade.
Attendance is based on standard course access, which may not reflect varying views on 'actual' participation.
Data updates every 24 hours, so recent activity may not be immediately reflected.

Attendance is based on poll responses, not Canvas logins.
Requires setup and occasional troubleshooting.
Students must use their UIW account and may face device issues (VPN, Wi-Fi, etc.).
Grade sync must be configured separately for each course.
Not suitable for asynchronous attendance.
Not all Poll Everywhere configurations are supported for attendance

Ideal for...

Face-to-face or hybrid courses where instructors need direct attendance tracking and grading.

Online or hybrid courses where engagement-based attendance is preferred.

Courses that already use Poll Everywhere for engagement, instructors who prefer an active learning model for tracking presence, or sessions where traditional attendance is impractical.

Attendance Resources

Roll Call Attendance (Canvas)

Use the following resources to learn how to use the Roll Call Attendance tool in Canvas:

New Analytics: Online Attendance

Use this resource to learn how to track online attendance through New Analytics in Canvas:

View the Online Attendance report

Poll Everywhere (Attendance and Grade Sync)

Poll Everywhere can be used to take attendance and sync results to Canvas. Learn more: Poll Everywhere Attendance Management with Canvas