Teacher Guide

Managing attendance sessions in Canvas — step by step.

Contents

Overview Session list Create a session Mark attendance Status codes Student self-registration QR code attendance Why students are missing Ladok module code

Overview

The Attendance tool lets you document student presence at mandatory course activities directly inside Canvas. Every change is stored with a full audit trail. The workflow is:

Create a session for each mandatory activity (lecture, lab, seminar…)
Open the session's attendance sheet after the activity
Mark each student as Present, Absent, Excused, or leave as Unknown

Students can only view their own attendance — they cannot see other students.

Session list

When you open the tool in Canvas you land on the session list. Each row shows:

Session list

Date	Title	Mandatory	Student Registration	Module
2026-05-20	Lab Safety Introduction	Mandatory	Closed	LAB1
2026-05-22	Lecture 3	Mandatory	Open	—

Mandatory — attendance counts for grading / Ladok reporting.
Optional — informational only.
Open — students can self-register right now.
Closed — only you can record attendance.

Click Manage Attendance to open a session's attendance sheet.

Create a session

Click New Session (top right of the session list) to open the creation form.

Title and date

Give the session a clear name and pick the date. Both fields are required.

Example titles: Lecture 3 — Lab Safety, Seminar 2, Group work session

Start and end time (optional)

Used to set a time window for student self-registration. Leave blank if you will mark attendance manually.

Mandatory activity

Toggle on if attendance is compulsory. Mandatory sessions are highlighted with a red badge in both the teacher and student views, and are eligible for Ladok reporting.

Open for student self-registration (optional)

Allows students to register themselves as present. When toggled on, two extra fields appear:

Registration Opens — date and time from which students can register
Registration Closes — date and time after which the button disappears

Leave both time fields blank to keep registration open indefinitely once you enable it.

Ladok module code (optional)

Enter the Ladok module code (e.g. LAB1, SEM2) if this session maps to a reportable Ladok activity. Used for future Ladok transfer — not required for attendance tracking.

Submit

Click Create Session. You are returned to the session list where the new session appears immediately.

Mark attendance

Click Manage Attendance next to a session to open the attendance sheet.

Attendance sheet — Lecture 3

Student	Section	Status	Comment
Anna Svensson anna@example.com	—
Erik Lindgren erik@example.com	—
Maria Johansson maria@example.com	—

For each student, choose a status from the dropdown. The row colour updates immediately.
Add an optional comment (reason for absence, note for the student, etc.).
Click Save Attendance when done. You can return and update the sheet at any time — every change is recorded in the audit log.

Saving is all-or-nothing per submit. All visible rows are saved together when you click Save Attendance. You do not need to save after each student.

Status codes

Status	Row colour	When to use
Present	Green	Student attended the activity.
Absent	Red	Student did not attend and has no accepted excuse.
Excused	Yellow	Student was absent but with an accepted reason (illness, etc.).
— not set —	White	Attendance has not been recorded yet.

Student self-registration

When a session is open for student registration, students see a Register Attendance button in their view. Clicking it records them as Present automatically.

You can still override a self-registered status from the attendance sheet. For example, if a student registered but left early, you can change their status to Absent and add a comment.

Self-registration records "student" as the source in the audit trail — you can distinguish teacher-recorded from student-recorded attendance in the history table.

QR code attendance

Each session has a unique QR code that students can scan with their phone to register as present — without you needing to call out names or use the attendance sheet.

Opening the QR code

From the session list, click the ⬛ QR button next to a session, or open the session's attendance sheet and click QR Code in the top right. The QR page shows:

A scannable QR code linked to this specific session
The session title, course name, and date
A short instruction for students

Display this page on a projector or iPad at the start of the activity. Students scan it on arrival with their phone camera — no app required.

Printing the QR code

Click Print on the QR page. The printout includes the session title, course, date, QR code, and student instructions. All navigation chrome is hidden automatically in print mode.

What students see when they scan

If the student is signed into Canvas on their device → they see a confirmation button → one click registers them as Present.
If the student is not signed in → they see a page telling them to open Canvas first and then scan again.
If the student has already registered → they see an "Already Registered" message. No duplicate is created.
If the session is closed for self-registration → they see a clear message that registration is unavailable.

Regenerating the QR code

Click Regenerate QR on the QR page. A new random token is generated immediately — the old QR code stops working. Use this if a QR code has been shared beyond your classroom (e.g. photographed and forwarded to absent students).

Regenerating invalidates all printed copies. If you have distributed paper printouts, they will stop working after regeneration. Reprint if needed.

Prerequisites for QR registration to work

Session must have student self-registration enabled. The QR page shows a warning if it is currently disabled.
The registration window (Registration Opens / Closes) must be active, if set.
The student must have opened the Attendance tool in Canvas at least once so they are enrolled in the system.

Why a student might not appear

Students are added to the attendance sheet the first time they open the tool in Canvas. A student who has never opened the Attendance tool in this course will not be listed — even if they are enrolled in Canvas.

Ask students to open the tool early in the course (e.g. as part of course introduction) so that they appear in the attendance sheet before the first session.

There is no automatic Canvas roster sync in the current version.

Ladok module code

The Ladok Module Code field on each session links that session to a reportable activity in Ladok (e.g. a lab component or seminar series). It is informational in the current version — Ladok transfer is being prepared but not yet active.

Setting codes now means sessions will be ready for automatic transfer when Ladok integration is enabled.

Questions or problems? Contact your system administrator. → Student guide