How to Make a Presence in Moodle in 4 Steps
If you have installed Moodle to develop an online learning system, you have to learn how to create a presence in Moodle to record student attendance in classes or specific lessons.
However, as one of the best Learning Management Systems (LMS), Moodle does not come with a built-in feature for recording students who are absent from class. So you need to use a plugin. Therefore, you will need to use a plugin.
So, how do you create a presence in Moodle using a plugin? What plugin do you need? Follow the complete tutorial below!
Table of Contents
How to Create Presence in Moodle Easily
To create presence in Moodle, we’ve divided the process into four main steps: (1) downloading and installing the plugin, (2) creating an attendance list, (3) adding attendance details, and (4) adding students to the presence.
Step 1: Download and Install the Presence Plugin
Since the Moodle does not provide a built-in attendance feature, you need to add this feature using a plugin. Here’s how to download and install the Moodle presence plugin:
- Download the Attendance plugin from Moodle’s official website at https://moodle.org/plugins/.
- Follow the tutorial for installing a plugin in Moodle until completion.
You can add this plugin whether Moodle is still in development on localhost or already in production. Once you’ve successfully installed the Attendance plugin in your Moodle, just to create the student attendance list.
Step 2: Creating an Attendance List
To create an attendance list in Moodle, you must have Administrator access. If you already have that access, here’s how to create an attendance list in Moodle:
- Log in to Moodle as Administrator.
- Activate Edit mode in the top right corner.
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Go to the My courses tab > select the material you want to add attendance to. If you don’t have one, create a lesson by following the tutorial on how to create a class in Moodle.
- Click Add an activity or resource
- Select Attendance. This feature appears after you install the previous plugin
- Enter the attendance information and settings. For testing purposes, you can simply add a Name, then click Save and return to course
Now you have successfully created your presence. Next, you need to add attendance details. What details do you need to add?
Step 3: Adding Attendance Details
You need to specify various details for the attendance, such as its validity period, the number of repetitions, and its end date. Here’s how to add attendance details:
- Click the Attendance that you have added
- Click Add session to add attendance specific details.
- In the Add session section, add (1) the valid attendance start date, (2) valid attendance hours, and (3) create an event calendar.
- In the Multiple sessions section, check (1) session repetition, (2) add what days the presence is valid, (3) how many times a week it repeats, and (4) the time limit for the presence to be active.
- If you have done, then click Add.
- The daily attendance display is as below. To take student attendance, click the Play button on the desired day.
- Take attendance by selecting the P/L/E/A options for the desired students. You can also add notes in the Remarks section:
P = Present, when the student is present.
L = Late, when the student arrives late.
E = Excused, when the student has a valid reason for absence.
A = Absent, when the student is absent without any information
- If you have made a presence, please click Save and show next page.
In the example above, the list of students appearing in the attendance is still one person. If you haven’t added students to the course yet, there is no list of student names.
Therefore, you need to add students to the course or subject so their names can show up in the attendance.
Step 4: Adding Students to Attendance
Before adding student names in the attendance list, you need to add the students to Moodle first. Once that’s done, follow these steps:
- Make sure Edit mode is still active, then go to the lesson you want > open the Participants tab.
- Click the Enroll users button
- In the Select users section, select the students who registered for the lesson. This student name option appears when you have added students in Moodle.
- In the Assign role section, select Student. Then click Enroll users.
- After successfully adding some students, it will look like this
- When you enter attendance, the names will automatically enter with a display like the one below. Next, you can take attendance for each student, then click Save and show next page
If attendance recording is complete, you can download the attendance data from Moodle. To do this, click Export, select the data you want to download, choose the desired file format (e.g. Excel), and click OK.
Have you succeeded in creating a presence in Moodle?
Once you’ve completed the steps to create attendance in Moodle and add students to the attendance system in Moodle, tracking student attendance becomes much easier.
Beside adding attendance features, for enhancing the appearance of your LMS website, you can easily change the theme in Moodle as well. There are many free themes available in the Moodle plugin directory.
Moodle itself is one of open-source LMS that facilitates the development of online learning systems. However, building such systems requires technical expertise.
Developing classroom or learning management systems is one of the specialties of the Tonjoo team. Some examples of Tonjoo’s work include eLOK UGM and FutureSkills. If you need assistance in developing an online class website, feel free to contact us.
Anisa K. Juniardi
Spending the last 5 years immersed in the world of web development has shaped a professional perspective on technology. The primary focus is deconstructing development workflows and the latest web technologies into practical guides. Firmly believing that complex technology becomes far more valuable when communicated clearly and backed by deep research to support the developer community.
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