Poll Everywhere Attendance Management and Canvas

This guide assumes you already have a Poll Everywhere presenter account provided by UIW. If you do not yet have an account, instructors and staff can request one by completing the Poll Everywhere Account Request Form.

Poll Everywhere’s Attendance Management feature provides a fully automated way to track student attendance based on participation and physical location. By combining attendance check-in with interactive activities, instructors can eliminate manual roll calls, encourage on-time arrival, and gain insight into how attendance influences engagement. This guide explains how to use Attendance Management during your course sessions, with or without syncing data to Canvas.

How Attendance Works with Poll Everywhere

When Attendance Management is enabled, instructors enable attendance within their Poll Everywhere account and define one or more geofenced locations where check-in is permitted (like a classroom or building). Students use their mobile device to verify they are physically present in one of those zones. Once verified, they must respond to any activity during the session. The combination of a successful check-in and response counts as a recorded attendance event.

Students who participate without checking in will still see the activity, but they will receive a 0% attendance score. No location data is stored or transmitted, it's verified on the student’s device only for real-time check-in.

This process allows instructors to connect physical presence and engagement without managing rosters manually. Locations can be reused across sessions, and attendance records are built automatically in the background.

Get step-by-step setup instructions with Getting Started with Attendance Management for Instructors.

Instructional Benefits

Automate attendance - No need for spreadsheets or
Engage students early with a check-in poll that’s part of the learning experience.
Encourage timeliness by using attendance to open or anchor class sessions.
Track participation trends with built-in reporting tools in Poll Everywhere.
Grade export to Canvas after you setup a connection to your course.

This method is ideal for in-person or hybrid settings where attendance and engagement happen together. To ensure your students are ready, instructors should also share: Getting Started with Attendance Management for Students.

Optional: Sync Attendance to Canvas as a Gradebook Column

The following step is optional, Poll Everywhere can still track and report attendance within the Poll Everywhere portal via Cardinal Apps, should you prefer not to sync with Canvas.

If desired, instructors can export attendance scores into Canvas using the Poll Everywhere integration. Once your Poll Everywhere account is connected to your Canvas course, attendance and participation scores can be sent to the Gradebook as assignments.

To learn how to connect Poll Everywhere to your Canvas course, follow the Canvas and Poll Everywhere Integration Guide.

Tips for Using Attendance Management

You can create up to 10 attendance locations which apply to all your future polls while the attendance option is enabled.
If you don’t want to use the attendance feature, you can toggle it on and off within your profile settings. This is useful if you need to deploy activities without involving the attendance layer.
Make sure students are logged in with their UIW email to be properly identified. It's recommended students use the mobile app to stay logged in.
Pair attendance with an instructional poll (e.g., warm-up or check-in question).
Use the Attendance Report to analyze presence and participation after class.

Troubleshooting Poll Everywhere Attendance Issues

If students are receiving errors when trying to check in for attendance with Poll Everywhere, the issue is usually related to how their device reports location. The following sections outline the three most common causes and how to resolve them.

Reason 1: Location Services Are Turned Off

Poll Everywhere needs permission to access a student’s physical location. If location services are disabled on the student’s browser or app, they won’t be able to check in successfully.

On mobile devices, go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and ensure the setting is turned on for the browser or Poll Everywhere app.
This setting is not in the app itself—it must be adjusted in the phone or browser settings.
See the official student setup guide: Getting Started with Attendance Management for Students

Reason 2: Not Connected to UIW WiFi

Devices using cellular data often report incorrect locations due to how location is triangulated from towers. Even if a student is physically in class, their phone might report a location miles away (like Dallas or Houston).

Students should connect to the uiw-students/uiw-employeesWiFi network using their UIW credentials.
- The uiw-guest network will not always work with this feature.
This network provides accurate, campus-based location verification.
If students can’t connect to WiFi, direct them to contact the Help Desk for further assistance.

Reason 3: A VPN Is Enabled

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) route traffic through servers in different geographic locations, which confuses location-based check-in systems. VPNs, or services like them, are increasingly common among students. A student using a VPN might appear to be in another city or country to the Poll Everywhere activity.

Ask students to disable their VPN during class time if they're having check-in issues.
This only needs to be done temporarily to allow accurate location reporting.

Recommended Fixes to Share with Students

Ensure you have shared "Getting Started with Attendance Management for Students" with student prior to using attendance in Poll Everywhere.
Enable location services for your browser or the Poll Everywhere app.
Connect to uiw-students/uiw-employees WiFi whenever on campus.
Disable any VPN or location-masking software during class.

Poll Everywhere Attendance FAQ

Do I have to be physically at the location to set attendance tracking?

No. You can set a check-in zone using the map interface without being at the physical location.

How many check-in locations can I create?

You can create up to 10 saved locations. These can be reused across polls and sessions.

Do I need a new location for every new poll?

No. Once enabled, all saved locations are active for all polls automatically—no extra setup needed.

Can students still respond if they don’t check in?

Yes, but they’ll receive a 0% attendance score if Attendance Management is turned on.

Does Poll Everywhere store or share student location data?

No. Location data is only used at the time of check-in and stays on the student’s device.

Can I use this with asynchronous or remote students?

This tool is designed for in-person attendance. You can still use Poll Everywhere without Attendance Management for remote engagement.

Is connecting to Canvas required?

No. You can use Poll Everywhere’s attendance reports on their own without syncing to the Canvas Gradebook.