Welcome to the AfterSchool21 Help Center

Find answers fast: Ask a question, search for keywords, or explore articles below.

Search

How to Track Participation with a Barcode Scanner

Your Out-of-School TimeTracker / AS21 software allows for easy recording of participation, including whether a person was "present" or "absent."
 
This article describes how to track "present" participation using a barcode scanner.
 
To begin, click Participation in the left-hand navigation menu.
 

Participation Menu.png

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Click Enter for activity.

Selecting the Activity/Session and Date of Participation 

This opens the Record Participation for Activity form. 
 
The form has dropdown menus for selecting the Activity and Session for which you are recording participation. Any field marked with a red asterisk is required.
 
If the activity for which you are recording attendance is not in the drop-down list, users with the proper security role can add it to the Activities section of the system. 
 
 
Select the desired Activity and Session.
Participation Activity and Session.png
 
Select the date of attendance using the calendar control icon or type the date in the date field. 
 
Click Next Step.
 
Some dates on the calendar will be crossed out and are not selectable. Crossed-out dates represent dates not within the date range of the Session's Schedule or that the site is closed, as defined in the Site Calendar section of the system. Dates in previous or subsequent months are sometimes visible but not selectable; use the arrows at the top of the calendar to move forward or back between the months to select those dates.
Participation Select Date.png

Additional Information about Calendar Dates for Scheduled Activities

For Scheduled activities, sessions are established for specific dates. If you choose to enter participation on a date that is not one of the specific dates the Session was scheduled for, the message below will appear.

You may change your selection to a date the session was scheduled to be offered by clicking Select another session/date, or you may add this date to the session schedule and continue to add participation by clicking Schedule and continue. 
 
A warning will appear at the upper right if the site is closed on the selected date. 
 
To continue recording participation, pick a different date.
 
After the correct date is confirmed, the next screen is where you will scan barcodes for those who have attended the selected activity on the selected date. 

Enrolled / All Participants filter 

The Enrolled Participants filter is selected by default if you have selected to record participation for a Scheduled activity. If any participants are enrolled for the selected activity, their Status column has a blue "Enrolled" label. Participants appearing as Enrolled were previously signed up for the activity and are expected to attend.
 
If you plan to scan barcodes from an activity roster, use the Enrolled Participants filter.
Enrolled PArticipants.png
 
You can also select the All Participants filter to view a list of all participants.
 
If you plan to scan barcodes from a list of bar codes or ID cards or scan attendance in real-time, use the All Participants filter.  
All PArticipants.png
 
The Enrolled Participants filter is not present for Unscheduled activities. This is because Unscheduled activities do not have an expected list of participants, and therefore, no one is enrolled. 
 
Select the Enrolled Participants or All Participants filter.
 

Session Times / Current Time Toggle

Next, consider how you want to record participation. When participation is recorded in the system's database, a Start time and End Time for each participant are always recorded. By default, the session's Start Time and End Time are used. These times can be adjusted to meet your attendance recording requirements.

SST_Barcode_StartEndTime.png

Do you want to note the participant's presence without tracking exact times, or is it crucial to record precise start and end times for accurate duration tracking?

You can adjust the recorded times by using the Session Times/Current Time slider.
 
Current Time is ideal for real-time participation tracking, like scanning attendees in and out at events using a barcode scanner. The first scan records the time as the Start Time. A second scan for those marked Present records the time as the End Time. If only one scan occurs, the End Time defaults to the session's End Time, assuming everyone left at that time. Thus, using the Current Time setting ensures accurate participation time tracking. 

The Session Times option is ideal for scanning barcoded rosters where attendance was previously noted. Scans with this setting will mark participants as Present without altering specific times or duration.

Use the toggle to select Session Times or Current Times, depending on how you want to record participation for this activity.
AS21_Barcode_Slider.png

Important Note about Scanner Settings:

Before scanning a barcode, be sure the scanner's message terminator is set to either Enter, Carriage Return, or Line Feed. Follow your scanner's instructions to set it correctly, or contact support for assistance.

Using the scanner to record participation

You are now ready to begin scanning barcodes. Scanning a barcode automatically marks the participant as Present; it cannot be used to set a different status for a participant (e.g., Unexcused Absent).
 
After scanning a barcode, three things will immediately happen:
  1. A status modal window will quickly flash open and close 
  2. The scanned person's name will appear below the Search field as in the image below. (Note if the person was not enrolled for the activity session and you are scanning with the Enrolled Participants filter on, their name will not be visible until the All participants filter is selected.) 
  3. The person's Status will be updated to Present. 
 
You may immediately scan another barcode for the next present participant.
SST_Barcode_Present.png
 
A count of participants' participation status is shown. The Present count will be updated as additional participants are scanned.  
SST_Barcode_Statuses.png

Continue scanning until all present participants have been recorded. 

If needed, the participation data can be modified. These include modifying Status, Start Time, End Time, and Notes for a group of participants or for an individual participant.

If no modifications are needed, click Done at the bottom of the screen.

If enrolled participants are not marked as Present, a prompt may appear. See the last section of this article for more details. 

Verify the Start Time and End Time for those scanned as Present. Are they accurate? If not, select all that are not and click the Set statuses/times button below the participant list.

SST_Barcode_SetStatusTime.png

You can change the times by clicking in the time fields and adjusting the hours, minutes, and am/pm. You can also manually type the time into the time fields. 

Click Now to quickly change the Start Time or End Time to the exact time you are recording attendance.

The system will not allow you to select an End Time that is before the Start Time. 

Track Participation Time.png

You can also enter Notes about the event's participation for those present. These notes will be applied to each person selected and will be visible in their participant record's Participation section.

When you are done, click Save Status to update the Status, Start Time, End Time, and Notes for the selected participants.
notes1.jpg

Updating Status for an Individual Participant

To update an individual's Status, Start Time, End Time, and Notes, click on their name to open a form. This may be needed to mark someone Present that did not have a barcode, or needed a different Note than the rest of those marked as Present.

Click on Student Name Track Participation.png

Follow the steps described above to update their Status, Start Time, End Time, and add any individual Notes if desired.

Click Save Status when done to save changes for the individual.

Multiple partipant trakcing done.png


Then click Done at the bottom of the screen to save all selected participants' status, times, and notes.

 

 

Set Status for Remaining Participants of a Scheduled Activity

When Done is clicked for a session of a Scheduled Activity, if any participants are still marked with a blue "Enrolled" status after recording those who were marked as Present, a Set Status for Remaining Participants modal window will open as shown below. 

If you want to update the remaining participants to "Unexcused Absent" (for example), update the data fields and click Save Status. Then, click Done at the bottom of the Select Participants screen again.

If you want to leave the participants with an Enrolled status, click Skip this step. This will take you back to the main Participation screen.

Track PArticipants Student Still marked as enrolled.png

Updated

Was this article helpful?

0 out of 0 found this helpful

Have more questions? Submit a request