adding "excused" 50% to attendance

[spettijohn]

How do I add another option in the Attendance module that is "excused" absences worth 50% of the total points? 

[kblack · Accepted solution]

Hi  @spettijohn  Welcome to the Canvas Community.  I'm sorry to say that the attendance tool has very little customization, and it has long been the subject of many complaints in this Community.  (You can read over many of them, including your specific issue, within the many pages of comments here:  https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/1090-attendance-overhaul .)

About the only thing I can recommend--if you do not otherwise mark tardiness--is to adjust the setting for tardiness to 50% and explain this to your students.  The tardiness adjustment ("lateness value") is covered here:  How do I use the Roll Call Attendance tool in a course?  Otherwise, I'm afraid there is really no solution to this.  What some of the faculty at my institution is take attendance using Canvas and place it into a weighted assignment group worth 0% of the overall grade and, in the meantime, keep track of things that attendance won't allow them to. They'll then create their own attendance assignment and manually input a grade for it at the end of the term.

I hope this helps a bit, Shasta!

[spettijohn]

Thank you very  much Ken for your prompt response. I have been using tardiness exactly as you suggested, so at least I know it's doable. 🙂 Just wondered if there was a more "authentic" way. 

I will continue with 50% tardiness until Canvas comes up with something else. 

🙂

~Shasta

[kblack]

Happy to help, Shasta!

[dillmanbiology]

Hi, Just having an excused option would be great. Thanks.