Creating or Updating Seating Charts
Attendance by Photo Page - Submitting Attendance
Classroom Photo/Seating Chart Report
Navigate to Attendance by Photo in the Teacher Portal to go to the Attendance by Photo page.
Navigate to Seating Chart in the Teacher Portal to go to the Seating Chart page.
Overview
Attendance by Photo is another option for submitting attendance. It allows teachers to create a seating chart which includes student photographs and take attendance using the seating chart. In a school with a Master Schedule, the Attendance by Photo page limits the classes that can be selected to those that the teacher can submit attendance for. Classes that are tagged not to take attendance in the Master Schedule (MST.ST = 'Y' or 'Z') will not appear in the dropdown. The 'Y' or 'Z' tag will also hide the Lunch Count information if that Portal Option is enabled for the school.
In the below example the teacher has created a seating chart for their 2nd period class in the Attendance by Photo page and they can use this page to take attendance.
This teacher also does not have their 3rd period class in the list of attendance periods because this class is flagged as a non-attendance section in the Master Schedule.
The Seating Chart page is designed to give the teachers the ability to create seating charts for any of their classes, regardless of attendance settings for the class. On the Seating Chart page there is no way to submit attendance or a lunch count (elementary schools).
In the below example the teacher's 3rd period non-attendance section is available in the Seating Chart period dropdown and the teacher was able to create a seating chart for the class. Also note that attendance cannot be taken on the Seating Chart page.
Both the Attendance by Photo page and the Seating Chart page allow teachers to be able to set up multiple seating charts, hide student names on the chart, show students' First Name Alias on the chart, hide gridlines, add animation and print a seating chart with or without the student pictures.
NOTE: The seating charts created on the Attendance by Photo page and on the Seating Chart page are unique and must be set up separately. A best practice would be to use the Attendance by Photo page for seating charts for classes where attendance can be taken and limit the use of the Seating Charts page to those classes where attendance cannot be taken.
Security ↑
| Table | Permission | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance (ATT) | Read Insert Update | Teachers need permission to the Attendance (ATT) table in order to see the Attendance by Photo node in the navigation and to submit attendance |
| N/A | No Additional Permissions Needed | Teachers do not need any specific permissions to see the Seating Chart node in the navigation |
| N/A | N/A | Admin and user accounts do not have access to the Seating Chart node, it is only available to Teachers |
| Attendance (ATT) | Read | Teachers need at least Read to Attendance (ATT) to have the Classroom Photo/Seating Chart report |
| Master Schedule (MST) | Read | Users accounts need to have at least Read to Master Schedule (MST) to have the Classroom Photo/Seating Chart report |
Creating or Updating Seating Charts ↑
The below directions go over how to create a seating chart in the Attendance by Photo page, but the steps are the same for the Seating Chart page.
Click on Attendance by Photo in the navigation. The following page will display.
For Attendance by Photo options click on the menu icon on the top right of the page. The following options will display.
- Create New Seating Chart – Select to create a new seating chart.
- Open Seating Charts – Select to open saved seating charts.
- Print Current Seating Chart – Prints the chart currently being viewed.
- Enable Animation – Selecting this option loads the chart in an animated style.
- Hide Gridlines – This option will hide the chart gridlines from displaying on the page.
- Show Student Alias Name – This option will display the student's first name alias.
- Hide Student Name – This option will hide the student name from displaying on the chart.
Click the Create New Seating Chart to create a new photo chart. If Period Attendance is being used, first select the correct class period and then select the Create New Seating Chart option from the menu. The following options will display. Enter the chart information and then click OK.
- Current Period – If selected the chart will show during the current period (Available for Period Attendance).
- Enter a Name – Add a name for the chart.
- Auto Assign Seats – This option will allow a teacher to mass assign the student photos by student name or randomly. It will also fill the photos on the chart across or down. This option will only use students who are still listed in the Unassigned Students column.
- Number of Rows – The number of rows the chart will display.
- Number of Columns – The number of columns the chart will display.
The newly created chart will display. To assign students manually to the seats, click the mouse on the student photo in the Unassigned Seats column and use drag and drop functionality to place the photo to the desired location on the chart. If the Auto Assign option was selected when creating the chart, the student photographs will be assigned automatically.
In a Flex Scheduling school, if a Teacher does not have permission for a Section(s) in a Period, those Students will not be available to add to the chart.
Default and Custom Seating Charts
The first seating chart created for a class using the computer-generated name (“Period 1”, “Period 2”, etc.) will be set as the "default" seating chart. The “default” seating chart will be the first chart to load when the Attendance by Photo form is accessed for a particular class.
A “default” seating chart is defined at the time of the seating chart's creation. The default seating chart's name must not be changed from the computer-generated name and a "default" seating chart can not already exist with that same name. The Current Period check box must also be checked on the New Seating Chart add form when creating a "default" seating chart.
Changing the name of a seating chart at the time of creation will result in a “custom” seating chart. If there is an existing “default” seating chart, any additional seating charts created with that same name will also be defined as “custom” seating charts.
Changing the seating chart after it has been created will not change that chart’s “custom/default” status.
To create a new “default” seating chart, any existing “default” seating chart with the same name must first be deleted. A new seating chart can then be created using the computer-generated name.
Note: If the Auto Assign Seats option was selected when the chart was created the photos will be mass assigned to the chart automatically.
The Hide Gridlines option can be used to display the chart in a shape other than a square grid.
To clear an individual student from the attendance by photo chart for a period, right click the mouse on the student photo on the chart and then select Remove.
To clear all students from the chart select the Clear Students button under the Edit Seating Chart area.
The following message will display. To clear all of the photos from the chart click the mouse on the OK button.
The chart will be cleared and the student photographs will be displayed in the Unassigned Students column again.
The Attendance by Photo page also displays a Profile and Calendar icon to the left of each student name. Clicking the mouse on the Profile icon will take the user to the Profile page for that student.
Clicking the mouse on the Calendar icon to the left of the student name will take the user to that student's attendance detail page.
Clicking the mouse on the More Information icon will display additional student-related information and attendance note information if available.
A popup box will display with additional student-related information and any attendance notes associated with the student. This information is read-only.
Clicking the mouse on the View Contacts icon will display a Contact List for the student.
Students who have a date in the SSA Date (Safe School Act) field on the Assertive Discipline form will display with a red SSA to the left of their name. If the teacher portal group has at least Read permissions to the Assertive Discipline page, teachers will be able to click on SSA and be taken to the Assertive Discipline page for the student. If the teacher portal group does not have permission to the Assertive Discipline page, SSA will still display in red but will not do anything when clicked on.
Attendance by Photo Page - Submitting Attendance ↑
After the photographs have been assigned to the seating chart and it has been saved, attendance can be taken on the Attendance by Photo page by clicking on an absence code letter that displays under the student photo. When a code is selected for a student, it will turn green which indicates the absence code has been recorded for the student.
The Missing Attendance button turns red when there is attendance missing. Clicking on the button will display which dates or periods (Period Attendance) the attendance is missing for.
The Dropped Students button will display students who have recently dropped from the class.
Classroom Photo/Seating Chart Report ↑
A Classroom Photo/Seating Chart report can be found under View All Reports. This report has options to Print a Classroom Photo or Seating Chart.
The Classroom Photo option will print a report of photos of the students in the class in alpha order. The Period and Course/Section information will display at the top.
This is an example of the report that prints when selecting the Classroom Photo option.
The Seating Chart option will print a report of student photos as configured on the Attendance by Photo page for the teacher and section selected.
When this report option is run from a Teacher account, only sections associated with the teacher will display on the option page.
When this report is run from View All Reports by an Admin or User account the report options will display all available Teachers and Sections to print as well as additional Filter options.
This is an example of the report that prints when selecting the Seating Chart option.
