Monitoring Student Attendance. FEDA Paper

DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 406 548 CE 073 802

AUTHOR Barwuah, Adjei; Walkley, PhillTITLE Monitoring Student Attendance. FEDA Paper.INSTITUTION Further Education Development Agency, London (England).REPORT NO ISSN-1361-9977PUB DATE 97

NOTE 30p.

AVAILABLE FROM Further Education Development Agency, Publications Dept.,Mendip Centre, Blagdon, Bristol BS18 6RG, United Kingdom(6.50 British pounds).

PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022) Reports Research (143)JOURNAL CIT FE Matters; v1 n9 1997EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS *Attendance; *Attendance Patterns; *Attendance Records;

Foreign Countries; Influences; Postsecondary Education;*Recordkeeping;' *Research Projects; *Systems Approach;Technical Institutes; Vocational Education

IDENTIFIERS *United Kingdom

ABSTRACTThe Further Education Development Agency conducted two

research studies of issues related to recording student attendance andresponding to student absence. In the first study, absenteeism in fivefurther education (FE) colleges in Britain was examined to determine the maincauses of student absenteeism and administrative systems/procedures toaddress the problem. The second study evaluated the systems used to recordstudent attendance at eight FE colleges representing a broad geographical,size, and structural mix. The findings of both studies were analyzed, and thefollowing conclusions/recommendations were formulated: (1) althoughelectronic systems of recording attendance can underpin FE colleges' responseto absenteeism, such systems are still in an early stage of development andmust therefore be used with caution; (2) FE managers must produce acomprehensive strategic plan for dealing with student absence; (3) if anelectronic monitoring system is chosen to monitor attendance, all staffshould be involved at the procurement stage, staff should be trained in usingthe system, and the system should be reviewed/evaluated continuously(including by obtaining input from teachers and students); and (4) FEcolleges should review the causes of absence and establish clear statementson attendance policy for staff and students. (MN)

********************************************************************************

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be madefrom the original document.

********************************************************************************

Further EducationDevelopment Agency

Pit

FE MATTERSFEDA paper.

0

BEST COPY AVAILABLE2

U. . DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION1,e,

Ott' of Educattonal Research and ImprovementED TIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION

CENTER (ERIC)This document has been reproduced asreceived from the person or organizationoriginating it.

0 Minor changes have been made toimprove reproduction quality.

Points of view or opinions stated in thisdocument do not necessarily represent

PERMISSION TO REPRODUCEANDDISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL

HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

; TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

Further EducationDevelopment Agency

Monitoring student attendanceAdjei Barwuah and Phill Walk ley

FE MATTERSFEDA paper

Published by the Further EducationDevelopment AgencyCoombe Lodge, Blagdon, Bristol BS18 6RGTelephone 01761 462503Fax 01761 463140 (Publications Department)

Registered charity no: 1044145

Series edited and designed by the FEDApublications departmentPrinted by Blackmore Press, Shaftesbury,DorsetPhotographs including cover illustration:courtesy of Cadbury College

ISSN: 1361-9977

© 1997 FEDA

All rights reserved. No part of this publicationmay be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic, electrical, chemical, optical,photocopying, recording or otherwise, withoutprior permission of the copyright owner.

2 FE MATTERS FEDA paper

Acknowledgments

FEDA thanks the following people for theircontribution to the publication: Martin Johnson,Anna Reisenberger, Jill Attewell.

FEDA is grateful to the colleges listed below forthe assistance and information they gave to thetwo projects.

Tackling absenteeism:

City of Westminster College

College of North East London

Hackney Community College

Newham College of FE

Stanmore College

Additional information from:

Coleg Afan

Knowsley Community College

Richmond upon Thames College

Evaluating systems of recording student attendance:

Bridgend Technical College

Cadbury Sixth Form College

Calderdale College

Coventry Technical College

Croydon College

Portsmouth College

Royal Forest of Dean College

Spelthorne College

4

ContentsOverview 5

Research objectives

Strategic management

1. Why record attendance and follow upabsence? 7

Reasons for recording attendance

Responding to absenteeism

Introducing an electronic system

2. Electronic systems 13

Register systems

Choosing an IT-based register system

Planning and policy

Suppliers and service

Relationship of register system tocollege-wide MIS

Use of data

Staff perception

Student perception

3. Conclusions and recommendations 27

Glossary 29

References and bibliography 30

5 FE MATTERS FEDA paper 3

Overview

Research objectives

The Further Education Development Agency(FEDA) has recently undertaken two researchstudies to explore issues around recordingstudent attendance and responding to absence.

'Tackling absenteeism' involved analysing thesituations in five different colleges to identifythe main causes of student absenteeism, andthrough examining the administrative systemsand procedures with which the collegesmanaged the problem to propose successfulapproaches. Each of the five participatingcolleges was visited to discuss the problem ofabsenteeism with relevant management staffand to gain insight into the monitoring systemsand procedures in use. Three other collegessupplied documentary information.

In the second study, 'Evaluating systems ofrecording student attendance', eight collegestook part. These were selected to represent awide geographical, size and structural mix. Theaims of the project were to identify keyconsiderations for colleges choosing a registersystem, provide a snapshot view of systems inuse and to isolate factors that allow forsuccessful implementation. Following a briefingsession for participating colleges, one day wasspent in each college observing the system inoperation and discussing issues with a range ofstaff. Initial observations were circulated anddiscussed with college correspondents prior to aworking day together in London to discussissues that had arisen from the research and toexamine final recommendations.

This report summarises the main findings ofboth of these studies. The first section looks atthe issues behind absenteeism and possibleresponses. This is followed by a section on thedifferent types of system in operation in thecolleges participating in the second researchstudy, which also sets out key considerations inestablishing an effective attendance system tounderpin other aspects of the college response.

Strategic management

All colleges should have an informationsystems strategy which is clearly linked to theirmission statement and corporate plan. Thisshould include clear and well worked outManagement Information Systems (MIS) andregister policies allied to adequate resourcing,clear expectation of outputs and training of staffand coherent thinking about why the college isembarking on a particular register system.

The register system is a key management toolwithout which it is extremely difficult to run thecollege efficiently and make timely and accurateresponses to external agencies. Some collegesare already deriving powerful managementinformation from analysis of their register data.

Early identification of absence and strategies todeal with this can prevent the students involvedfrom having to drop out. Using patterns ofabsence to identify students 'at-risk' can alertmanagement to the need to adjust the supportservices or its methods of curriculum delivery.

Because curriculum and other initiatives thatchallenge the conventional notions ofattendance and absence (such as modularisedprogrammes, non-tutored workshops anddistance learning) are an increasing part of allstudents' timetables, systems for dealing withattendance and absence need to be regularlyreviewed. The 'volunteer' status of learners inFE (particularly adults) also has to be borne inmind when systems are devised.

Reactions to absence by management, tutorial,pastoral and administrative staff must beco-ordinated before a response is made.Efficient administration based on electronicsystems may be the best way to underpin this.

Types of systems

While paper systems are a means of capturingdata, they do not allow for quick and easyanalysis of the information.

Data capture into electronic systems can takemany forms. The most common method is theuse of clerks to enter data captured on forms.

FE MATTERS FEDA paper 5

The use of barcoding can speed up thismethod and reduce errors. The introduction ofswipe cards or optical character/mark readersneeds careful implementation and properongoing supervision.

Installing a swipe card system involvessubstantial initial investment. Ongoingmonitoring is essential and success may dependon a major change of college culture, since thesystem passes ownership of registration fromthe lecturer to the student.

Ensuring staff commitmentStaff should be consulted from the beginning ondecisions relating to the introduction andoperation of a new system to ensure theircontinuous commitment. It is important thatthey have ownership of the system andunderstand its necessity and benefits, whichmust be realistic and achievable.

A powerful and college-wide communicationsnetwork is a precondition for operating aneffective register system. Once the system is upand running, the management shouldcontinually review its operation with the staff.To ensure that it is properly installed as thecollege's registration system, the old registersshould not be held on to as an 'underground'alternative for staff.

Data collected must be seen to be used andunnecessary requests for information avoided.Staff should be offered relevant and practicaltraining for sharing data.

Access

Register systems must be able to interfacedirectly with the college's MIS. Standalone or'one-way' systems will not speedily deliver theinformation needed.

All staff should be able to access analysed dataat the level appropriate to their needs. Paperreporting should be an interim solution on theway to full on-line accessibility.


Procurement

Software and system suppliers must deliverwhat they claim to offer. Any system without anactive user group represents an implementationrisk. During procurement a college shouldrequest from the supplier a list of all currentlyinstalled systems and then select random sitesfor visits.

Computerised register systems will save moneybut this should be regarded as a long-term aim.Adequate resources must be available at theimplementation and settling-in stages.

7

1. Why record attendanceand follow up absence?Retention of enrolled learners is a key objectivefor all colleges. There are sound practical,financial and ethical reasons for this. Otherstudies (for example, Student retention case

studies of strategies that work, FEDA, 1996)demonstrate that colleges successful at retainingstudents have adopted a many-faceted strategyto achieve this. Features of a successfulretention strategy include quality in a numberof key areas, notably induction and studentsupport, as well as a positive, constructive andsupportive college culture. Another area ofimportance for retention is having systems torecord, monitor and support students as theymove through college (see Student tracking,FEDA, 1996). Key among these are systems torecord attendance and respond to absence.

While recording absence does not prevent it, afailure to do so is a serious weakness. It isremarkable how little common ground there ison this subject among colleges and howunderutilised are electronic systems to supportthe monitoring of attendance and absence.

Reasons for recording attendance

Recording attendance is not an option but alegal requirement. It is also essential forproviding crucial management information onwhich decisions about budgeting and planningcan be based and it provides early warningabout the failure of either a course or a student.

It is linked to funding mechanisms (if a studentis absent for four weeks the Further EducationFunding Council (FEFC) considers them to havewithdrawn and funding is withheld) and is akey element in pastoral care as well as a mainindicator of the quality of advice, guidance andcounselling services. Absence may be the firstsymptom of a variety of problems for a studentwhich could include personal and financialproblems as well as difficulties with the course.

Recording attendance also relates to securityissues: the absenteeism project, carried out inthe first research study, revealed one case in

which a new swipe card system was explainedto parents and students entirely in terms ofsecurity. Finally, recording attendanceconnects with an important marketing issue:the ability of colleges to retain students andlimit absenteeism.

Why monitor attendance?Once attendance data has been recorded it canbe used to monitor patterns of absenteeism.Colleges participating in this research reportedthat absenteeism has been a problem for aboutten years. It is considered a problem because it:

correlates highly with under-achievement and unsuccessfulcompletion of studies

can be a precursor to non-completion,and thus have an impact on retention

can serve as an index of studentdissatisfaction with the college provisionor with the guidance and support

is expensive to follow up (in terms oftime and other resources)

hampers students' efforts to attainqualifications

Colleges need to find out the reasons behind thestudent's absenteeism. These could range from:

personal problems (such as domesticresponsibilities, personal crises)

problems with a course of study (such asassignment deadlines, difficulties inadjusting to self-directed learning orparticular teaching styles)

financial problems (such as paying forchildcare, exam fees or equipment)

transport problems (to college, orbetween college sites)

support problems (such as lack offamiliarity with or access to guidance orsupport services, or lack of a crèche)

8 FE MATTERS FEDA paper 7

Lateness and absence

A college needs to establish a standardapproach to distinguishing between absenceand lateness. Here is how two of the collegesdefined absence:

'Failure to attend a taught session which is partof a student's agreed learning programme.'

'Non-attendance at any timetabled andregistered class contact session as a result ofany form of inability to attend that session,including forgetfulness.'

Among the participating colleges there was alack of corporate policies on lateness andguidelines on when attendance should berecorded in the course of a class session.

'The college has no guidelines on whenattendance may be registered; it is a functionleft to the discretion of individual tutors.'

The decision about when attendance is to berecorded is often left to the subject tutor. Onecollege reported that attendance is usuallyrecorded within the first 15 to 30 minutes of theclass, and even this is subject to the discretion ofthe subject tutor or the faculty responsible.Another college reports, however, thatattendance is manually recorded at thebeginning of each session. Consequently, anyaction on lateness is varied and dependent onthe views of either subject teachers or facultycourse teams. This means that lateness may ormay not be recorded in registers and that anyformal response to lateness may be a function ofthe historical differences in management stylesbetween colleges or between faculties withinthe same college.

Responding to absenteeism

The responses triggered by student absence arevery varied across the sector. The summariesthat follow illustrate this and also indicate thevarying levels of development of a strategy onabsenteeism among the participating colleges.


College

Interim and permanent procedures regardingabsenteeism, lateness and non-performance arein the process of being designed. These willinclude standard letters aimed at students notattending classes or frequently coming to classlate. The emphasis will be on clearer rules andshorter, faster procedures.

College 2

Initial action: This tends to be aimed at gettingthe student back to the college to explorepossibilities of resolving any problems,especially since the problems might be'personal'. Initially, a tutor speaks to the studentto ascertain the reasons for absence.

Subsequent action: This varies and could be atelephone call, a request for written explanation,and so on. Action may be dependent uponcourse requirements or faculty ethos. If reasonsfor absence are found to be personal, studentsare referred to student counsellors; if they areproblems requiring learning support, they arereferred to learning centres. In the case of adultswhose problems may be more varied andcomplex, a review and re-evaluation of learneragreements and learning programmes may beadvisable. The college is looking at trends inabsence and devising monitoring procedures.

Disciplinary action: There are no college-widesanctions for dealing with absence and theprocedures of individual faculties are ofteninfluenced by their awareness of the problem.

College 3

There is as yet no college-wide system fordealing with absence. Individual departmentstake various actions to get students back toclass. The current proposal is to devise a letter togo to absentees. The action may vary betweencollege centres. On one site it is referred to astudent adviser in the first instance, especially ifthe cause of absence is known or suspected.Disciplinary action is considered if absence hasa direct bearing on academic performance or ifit affects eligibility for a particular qualification.

9

College 4

Students are expected to give writtenexplanation for their absence. After threeabsences, lecturers are expected to inform thestudent's personal tutor, who in turn may bringthe problem to the notice of parents. Thecollege's efforts are aimed at bringing thestudent back on to the course and also toprovide an opportunity for reviewing thestudent's needs, such as counselling, learning orfinancial support. In extreme cases, dailymonitoring of students may be undertaken. Thecollege has introduced three initiatives toreduce absence:

Absence Monitoring Scheme: dailyinput into the computer on studentattendance and weekly reports toindividual students' pastoral tutors

Alarm Report: flagging up students whohave been absent for at least three daysor students with a regular pattern ofabsence for the past four months

targeting attention on the mostvulnerable areas of the curriculum, forexample, GCSE, A levels

College 5

Initial action: three days' non-attendancetriggers the following:

a telephone call or a departmental letterfrom the course lecturer to the student

the course lecturer completes a forminstructing the course administrator tocontact the student; this action is takenin all instances except where a studentsends notification of absence before classor before contact is made by the lectureror course administrator

College actions are meant to:

highlight the importance of attendanceto the student

discover the reasons for non-attendance

establish a date for the student's return

10

enable the college to send work to thestudent if appropriate

Subsequent action: Where contact is made, thecollege provides student support in the form ofcounselling and guidance.

Disciplinary action: Any disciplinary action is atthe discretion of lecturers and personal tutors.Students are, however, made aware of theacademic and financial implications ofinadequate attendance.

College 6

Initial action: For full-time students, a report ismade to course tutors for follow-up action onsecond or third absence; for part-time students,the report goes to the Director of Study. Collegeactions are meant to support students to enablethem to obtain qualifications. In the case of16-19 year olds, this may mean enlistingparental assistance and co-operation inproviding a disciplined structure of learningand attendance for students.

Subsequent action: This action whether it be, forexample, of a counselling, review or guidancenature, will depend upon the merits ofindividual cases.

Disciplinary action: Warnings are used only forfull-time 16-19 year olds. The college has beenmaking greater efforts to follow up absence ofpart-time students in order to reduce drop-outrates and to give appropriate support tostudents in difficulty. Suspension, exclusion andexpulsion are not options the college exercises.

College 7

Initial action: The lecturer completes a standardform which is sent home to the student andcopied to the senior tutor and the student'stutor. The lecturer may also phone the student.Ideally, this happens after the second absence,but not all lecturers are very conscientiousabout it.

Subsequent action: The tutor may contact thestudent and also put him/her 'on log' untilattendance improves.


Disciplinary action: If a log is issued the studentmay have an interview with the senior tutor anda formal warning may be issued. As a lastresort, a student may be asked to leave.

College 8

Initial action: Tutors meet students individuallyto find out what their problems might be.Students are then referred, if necessary, tostudent advisers, especially if absence is relatedto health, drugs or finance. This action has beenfound not to be frequent enough and could beimproved upon. If students are on day release,an immediate report is sent to the sponsoringorganisation. Students who are 16 and older areexpected to phone in on the day of absence.

Subsequent action: After four weeks of absence,letters are sent to students from course teams.At this point a student is presumed to have leftunless he/she gives good reasons to thecontrary. There is an academic disciplinaryprocedure in place that could be applied. Somestudents have their studies terminated. Otheraction includes:

organising support from peers foracademic purposes

course team review and self-assessmentto improve quality assurance

Disciplinary action: Verbal then first and secondwritten warnings are issued. As far as possiblesuspension, exclusion and expulsion are notresorted to except where a student is involvedin illegal activity.

Individual actionDealing with absence is not just anadministrative challenge. When reasons forabsence include many financial and personalfactors, college responses must be carefullytailored to meet the needs of each individualcase, including a tutorial and pastoral response.

If the college does not have an agreedframework on all three stages initial action,subsequent action and disciplinary actionthen lecturers and tutors are carrying majorresponsibility without adequate support.Moreover, the students may experiencedifferent practices in different courses, whichcan be confusing at best, and at worst,insufficiently responsive to their needs as wellas undermining of tutors' efforts.

An electronic register system instantly overcomes the problem of how to monitor attendance at untutored activities

io FE MATTERS FEDA paper

11

Introducing an electronic system

All of the considerations outlined above as towhy recording attendance is important (seepage 7) have meant that methods of recordingattendance have been the subject of greater andgreater attention. Expanding numbers,modularised programmes and activity in openlearning centres have all changed the nature ofthe issues in recent years, as has the FEFC's ownaudit requirements. The FEFC, in its circular94/29, defined withdrawal as when:

'the student has not attended classes for at leastfour continuous weeks, excluding holidays,unless there is auditable evidence of anintention to return.'

As a result, colleges have been seeking moreeffective ways of capturing attendance data andresponding to it.

Many paper-based systems (marking registers)can capture data moderately effectively butresponding to such data can be difficult andanalysis lengthy, with the results often out ofdate by the time they are ready.

All of the colleges in the study of absenteeismused a system which requires attendance to berecorded on paper registers by subject lecturersduring each session; electronic systems (swipecards) were confined to recording attendance atlibraries and other open learning centres.

Some colleges had no mechanism for recordingattendance for activities held outside of college:

'The current system of operation does not allowfor registration of attendance to be done outsideformal class sessions.'

Many colleges have responded to the problemof recording attendance at untutored activity byusing electronic means and this has been thetesting ground for much of the earlydevelopment of electronic systems for colleges.

These systems offer the potential to collate datainstantaneously and often to provide instantanalysis. They also remove the need for astandard approach on distinguishing betweenlateness and absenteeism since they record

actual registration time, so lateness isautomatically noted. This is importantinformation since records of punctuality are akey factor in assessing students, particularly forthe service sector. However, while they aregradually replacing the paper-based systemsthey are still relatively new to the sector.

Before selecting which electronic system to useit is essential to undertake a thorough needsanalysis based on clear objectives. This shouldbe followed by a systematic procurement policyto include trial periods, visits to other workingsites to observe systems under considerationand ensuring access to user groups. It is alsovital that consultation takes place with staff andstudents prior to setting objectives andprocuring the new system.

Setting objectivesKey purposes of an attendance system can be to:

provide management information forforward planning

monitor course viability

provide early warning of studentproblems

provide auditable evidence

improve site security

improve room and resource utilisation

All of these purposes, and more, can be met bya fully-developed electronic system. Suchsystems, if properly used, can provide instantdaily analysis of attendance, including trendsover time.

However, a number of factors need to beaddressed before decisions on systems aremade. These include:

method of registration to be used(electronic and other)

issues surrounding the development of acard system

links between sites

12FE MATTERS FEDA paper 11

links between registration system andcollege-wide MIS

resources available for purchase andmaintenance of the system

introducing proposals to both the staffand the students

managing the change-over to the newsystem

allowing for evaluation and reviewfollowing a trial period

management of the system and linkswith senior management

In the second part of the research, differentsystems were observed in practice in theparticipating colleges. Their experiences,reported on in the section that follows, illustratesome of the ways in which to address theseissues. At the present stage of development andfor commercial reasons it is not possible torecommend a particular system. However, theexperiences of these colleges should help to givea clear idea of requirements from a system, andways to achieve successful implementation andfuture operation.


13

2. Electronic systems

Register systems

A selection of different systems was observed inoperation in the second research study. Thesewere the FEMIS Registration Module, the SIRSsoftware (operating with swipe card and EARSdata collection), the Compass proprietarysystem, the Microcompass Register Module(within College 2000) and the COVTECHsystem. (See the glossary on page 29 for anexplanation of these system terms.)

All of these systems collect data which iscapable of being analysed; the main differencesare in the quality of analysis (which dependsupon the reliability of the data) and methods ofdata capture.

Outlined below, are the systems used by each ofthe eight participating colleges.

Compass

The college operating Compass, a PC-basedMIS, had installed it to replace the COVTECHregistration system. Compass is currentlyoperating in only about 20 sites across thecountry. Some problems have occurred in thatprevious FEMIS data cannot be accessed: onlycurrent second year information wastransferred on to Compass.

The data capture system was similar to thatfound in several project colleges which useclerk-input of information:

registers are brought in from four sitesinto a central inputting unit

daily registers are distributed to thestaff workrooms and to thedepartmental staffrooms

clerks input manually into a register file

At the time of the visit, the college wasexperiencing difficulties using the system tocollect and process register data. At this stage,nothing is loaded into student files. Also, speedof data input is slower than COVTECH and the

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 14

system is unable to keep up with the speed ofkeying. No timetable information is held onMIS so no cross-checking is possible on the staffsubmitting the registers. Only manual checksare possible, and these are delegated to schoolsof study.

Also, there is no record of the registers whichare in use. Coded registers are issued to schoolsof study but only those handed in for datainput are logged on MIS. Theoretically, a lecturecould run all year and if a register is neverhanded in, no record of it would exist outsidethe school.

The system has:

a register file (made up of all thoseregisters received centrally)

an entry file (for each time the registeris taken)

an attendance file (each student namehas a 52-character entry line)

There is also a file containing one record perstudent per event. With the vast amount of datathis entails it is small wonder that the systemruns slowly.

Reports on attendance are produced only onrequest from staff. Nothing is sent to parentsabout attendance so no regular print-outs go totutors and there is no on-line access. UnderCOVTECH there had been tutor group reportsbut, as the college stated, under Compass:

'present reporting facilities are not up to it.'

Some use is made of percentaged attendancesfor parents' evenings.

Some Open Learning/Access facilities on threeof the four sites have swipe card readers, butthese are not used for tracking. This is aconsequence of the initiative being curriculumnot management-led. Also, the data collected isnot really usable, since the swiping system isnot monitored or disciplined.

FE MATTERS FEDA paper

COVTECH

One of the participating colleges had beenoperating the COVTECH register systemsuccessfully since 1990. Paper registers areissued by schools of study and numbered froma number allocation given by central MIS.Registers cannot run unless they are linked to arelated programme in the main MIS programmedatabase. Data is keyed into the system becausethis seemed more reliable than other forms ofdata entry. Originally this input was centralised;now it is devolved to nine schools of study eachof which has two administrative assistantsfamiliar with the system.

The college also has a swipe card system forLibrary/Open Learning facilities. There areconsiderable problems getting clean enoughdata from this system. There are also problemswith optical readers. Data from the two systemsis therefore kept separate.

MicrocompassIn June 1995, the principal and MIS staff in thiscollege introduced the newly-adoptedMicrocompass system to all heads of school. Inlate August, an instructional pack was issued toall staff and, as part of the September induction,all schools were addressed by the principal andthe MIS manager.

Temporary registers were issued to staffthrough schools of study with lists of studentsprinted out from the enrolment database(including student number codes and theirdates of birth). Temporary registers have atheoretical life of ten weeks, by which timethe groups are expected to have settled. Staffare told that the temporary registers areauditable documents.

Permanent registers are created at the end of the'settle-in' period and student codes are keyedinto the register system. Cover information andattendance data from the temporary registers istransferred to the permanent registers. All ofthe registers are preprinted with term andholiday periods. Any unit/module changes forthe same group of students is recorded byplacing a new information label on the register


(the same paper register can continue to beused). This avoids multiplicity of registers whencoping with modularised programmes.

Currently attendances are keyed in, but thecollege intends to move to barcoded registers(student codes and lecture information) to beread quickly by pen-shaped barcode readers byassistant principals' secretaries.

In the first year of operation, the central unit hashad difficulty in organising all of the permanentregisters and, in places, temporary ones are stillin use. However, this could be due toinsufficient staffing levels.

EARS

The EARS system was one of the mostadvanced systems studied and, despiteoperational difficulties, was the only one whichis fully electronic.

In the participating college which operates it,each lecturer is issued with a keypad whichcommunicates with the main PC through 22radio transmission units installed at differentpoints across the college, thus allowing directcommunication (in theory two-way) betweenthe lecturer and the central database. Keypadsare solid and resilient: battery-powered withabout eight months' life on a set of rechargeablelong-life batteries.

Staff key in their personal code, class code andlesson code. The system then downloads allstudent names in the group on to a LCD screenattached to a keyboard (four names maximumat a time). The lecturer can then scroll down,entering the appropriate attendance code. Thedata is transmitted to a central PC for analysis.

FEMIS

The FEMIS Registration module was in use inone participating college with OMR, giving thecapacity to handle 250 registers in two hours.However, in the college visited there was aninaccuracy rate of 20 per cent of the registers. Inthe college at which it was observed, FEMIS wasoperating without a wide college network andonly eight user licences were in operation.

15

OMR

In one college in the study optical mark reading(OMR) had failed to cope with the volume. Onfirst sight it appears to be an efficient way ofreading registers and avoiding the apparenttedium of clerk entry of attendances andabsences. However, all of the participatingcolleges believed OMR to be a generator ofexcessive paper, so it may be a solution bettersuited to smaller scale FE institutions.

Swipe card

The two swipe card sites visited were still in thedevelopmental stage and were not yetproducing 'validated' data capable of analysis.

In one of these colleges, 56 swipe card readerswere linked to a central PC creating a very largeraw datafile. Access to 12 locked specialistrooms was similarly controlled.

In the other college, electronic registration wasto be the second stage of a project which hadthus far achieved control of external access tocollege buildings and internal access to twolearning centres, a computer room and thelibrary. Students' swipe cards acquired anID/Admin. number from the SIMS studentrecord. Again, all card readers were connectedto a PC. Access to all rooms can be controlledthrough 'timed' and 'dated' cards.

One of the other participating colleges gavecomplete commitment to a swipe cardregistration system, only to later discontinue it.In summer 1990 the entire college site waswired with readers and through 1990-1991 apilot scheme ran on six courses. This wasreasonably effective, mainly because everyoneknew it was a pilot and so staff and studentswere vigilant about working it.

Full implementation was introduced in 1991.However, since this was a response to a need forcareful monitoring following financial difficultyit was not a strategically planned process.

The swipe system was relatively primitive:'dumb' readers which simply displayed a redlight when a swipe was done. Cards were verybasic. Lecturers had to swipe two cards toidentify themselves and the module or classthey were teaching. Students were required tomake a single swipe.

In the year 1991-2 the system 'limped'. Studentcards did not arrive in time for the start of termand thereafter there were problems with carddistribution. Temporary paper registers had tobe issued. Students also forgot cards so that amanual 'yellow' card system had to beintroduced where attendances were in theoryinputted from cards handed in later. Lecturershad no display to tell them which students hador had not swiped. If a lecturer forgot to swipe

11\ 11 5 RC O\

A swipe card system passes the responsibility of registration from the lecturer to the student

16 FE MATTERS Riff b..Ae=4r1 15

the module card, the software had to search thedatabase to achieve a match on those studentswho had swiped. If an 80 per cent correlationwas achieved, attendances were credited to thatregister; if not, the system automatically createda new register. As a result, by the end of the yearsome classes had dozens of registers!

Manual registers were in use as a back upduring the second year of operation, 1992-3. Bythe middle of that year, the system software wasworking to the standard required. However, theoperational problems described above, andparticularly the tendency of students to neglectto swipe, led to the decision to abandon swipingand return to manual registers from September1993. The only students who could be relied onto swipe were those who saw some interest indoing so, particularly those whose employersrequired evidence that they had attended.

From an electronic standpoint, 'swiping' is ofinterest but even in the college with mostexperience (among the two current users), 20per cent of students were not yet swiping andthe problem of 'tailgating' (students allowingfellows in on their swipe) was as yetunresolved. However, the evidence is notconclusive, and swipe card methods are likelyto develop to a satisfactory level. Collegesoutside of this study have reported verysatisfactory use already.

Data entry methodsDesignated clerks keying in information frompaper forms was the most common means ofdata entry experienced.

The colleges involved had achieved a very highlevel of speed and accuracy. The main issue waswhether it was better to devolve 'punching' to anumber of faculty or department clerks to sharethe load or whether to keep the task centralised.Two colleges in the study went different wayshere but were each working effective systems.

The issue of boredom for punching clerks wascreatively overcome in one college by assigningthe clerks a number of 'front-end' staff liaisonroles and also by involving the clerks ininnovation and project work.

i6 FE MATTERS FEDA paper

Other register systems

Other data capture ideas not seen by theproject which could be worthy ofinvestigation include:

barcoding registers and student details,with information being read by apen-shaped barcode reader

a 'memory pen' used by lecturers to readbarcodes printed on paper registers,with the data stored in the pen beingcollected overnight electronically fromworkroom storage points

PC-based systems similar to those usedby commercial sales teams withovernight collection and download ofdata via the college network

a 'smartcard' carried by all studentsincorporating a chip which wouldtransmit data to receiving points withinthe college a sort of electronictagging system

Key messages

On the basis of this study it is not yetpossible to fully recommend any oneelectronic system. Much depends uponthe quality of management andoperation of the system used.

Collection of data ought to be arelatively easy process though it is clearfrom this project that there are a numberof characteristic operational problems;nevertheless, the key attention area inselecting a system must be theoutput/reporting aspects.

No clear consensus on data captureemerged. OMR and swipe card systemsseemed to have been implemented mostsuccessfully in the smaller colleges,within the sample studied for thisresearch. Inputting of data worked bestwhen those responsible had varying andenhanced roles.

17

Choosing an IT-based

register system

Before choosing a system, colleges need toconsider how much they wish the responsibilityof registration to rest with the students, who areafter all increasingly in charge of their ownlearning, or whether they want the system tocontinue to be staff-centred.

In some instances management decision-making seems to have been based on thepremise that 'we should have a modern system'without fully comprehending why. In onecollege, the drive for computerised registration(achieved through a swipe card system) arosefrom a general commitment to IT: arguably thecollege could have continued with paperregisters perfectly happily. Full cost-benefitanalysis, as with any major development,should always be undertaken.

The pastoral motivation was the most obviousreason for adopting an IT-based register system.Colleges want to convince the 'market' that theycan look after students as well as sixth forms.One college certainly felt this competitivepressure from schools claiming a better recordfor tracking students and threatening to reopensixth forms.

Colleges with a problem of non-attendance orwith low retention rates needed a method ofearly warning as well as one which wouldassess accurately the scale of the problem. Inone college, however, it had been important toremind people that the FEMIS registrationsystem would not solve the question of non-attendance, but would give information on theincidence and scale of the problem which wouldassist in tackling it.

In another college the exponential growth instudent numbers (from 100 to 1300 in 12 years)made paper systems unwieldy and, in the samecollege, the swipe system allowed access controlwhich improved security. This exampleillustrates a main justification for ITdevelopment: to be able to handle largevolumes of data without access to a small armyof administrative staff.

In three of the participating colleges, a soundmanagement reason was present: the use ofregisters to generate management informationwith which the college could be run effectivelyand efficiently. In one of the colleges using theCOVTECH system, it was the principal's desireto manage staff, rather than know more aboutthe students, which led to the introduction ofthis system. Another college runningCOVTECH uses register data to produce aweekly digest of individual lecturer activitywith which that individual has to agree orinvestigate any discrepancy. In another, savingsrunning into hundreds of thousands of poundsas a result of more 'tailored' planning oftimetables shows the value of accurate, speedyand up-to-date data.

Several colleges base the payment of part-timesalaries on register data. This is achieved eitherby requiring that lecturers' salary claims bevalidated by register data or by using thecollege finance module to generate thelecturer's claim form, initiated by the MISattendance module outputting 'event'information and attendance figures.

One Training and Enterprise Council (TEC),already paying a college on complete NVQsintends to pay on element achievement in 1996-7 making detailed student tracking vital. Thecollege uses the register data as the key snapshot ofstudent activity.

Not all of the colleges studied use the registerdata as a management tool. For example, onestated when their system was installed that:

'reporting was not initially a high priority';

indeed, reports could only be produced at thesoftware supplier's head office because therewas no facility in the college itself.

The choice of system will often reflect thecollege's philosophy. One college, with acommitment to swipe cards, was engineering acomplete culture change by shifting theresponsibility of registration to the student, instep, as they saw it, with student-centredcurricula. By contrast the EARS pads in anothercollege were deliberately chosen to reflect the

18

FE MATTERS FEDA paper'

'traditional' approach to lecturer-ledregistration, replacing paper by a plastickeyboard. In contrast, another college recoiledfrom the prospect of allowing all 900 of its staffaccess to a system where queries can only bemade through update mode so that if theenquirer escapes before the end of a record,default facilities can amend data automatically!This was clearly a shortcoming of softwaredesign and needs to be rectified.

Behind all developments, but not alwaysacknowledged, is the FEFC/FEFCW insistenceon audit and proven effectiveness. A collegewithout an effective means of tracking studentattendance and responding to this informationwill find its position difficult to justify.

Key message

Registers can be the key managementtool in a college. However useful as apastoral or marketing tool, thesefunctions are eclipsed by the power ofregister information to provide a dailysnapshot of all the most importantcollege activities.

Planning and policy

Not only does the introduction of a new registersystem need to be carefully planned, its ongoingmanagement also needs to be prepared for, andthen regularly reviewed. Among the collegestaking part in the research there was a range ofapproaches to planning on view, varying indegrees of success.

Coherence of forward planningThere was some exemplary practice in forwardplanning. One college had a clearly worked outwhole-college MIS strategy in place by 1992. Inanother, the 'home' of a well-established MIS,the needs of management for accurate data ledto well worked out procedures and protocolsavailable in handbook form and on the ITnetwork. In another college a new principalbrought with him a set of clear and well thoughtout development strategies which, most


importantly, he was determined to share withstaff. A sizeable sixth form college decided toallocate its FEFC capital grant to a two-stageaccess control and swipe card registrationsystem implemented carefully throughout anacademic year. A smaller sixth form college hadnot only written its own management softwarebut was deriving obvious benefit frommembership of the National Council forEducational Technology (NCET).

There were some negative examples too.

In one college, internal politics had determinedthe choice of a whole college MIS that wasclearly proving unequal to the task of managingsuch a large organisation. In another, a systemchosen on poorly researched grounds andinstalled in a rush "to meet the beginning of theautumn term" resulted in a poor start in termsof reliability and caused some loss of staffconfidence. Even when the register system wasdeveloped as part of the overall MIS approach,as in one college, different sites were allowed tointerpret it differently.

In more than one example, cohorts of studentsremain outside of the main system (adultevening classes especially, but also classes ofless than ten weeks and those in outcentres).

The approach to staff consultation prior tobuying a system varied among the collegesfrom one where senior management did notconsult staff at all, to others where college-wideconsultation took place on what staff needed forsupport. One college held at least one meeting aterm for all staff involved with IT issues;another had allowed its MIS review team tolapse. One college's information systems centralunit had set itself tough parameters forperformance which were regularly reviewedand the results published.

During the period of transferring betweensystems it is necessary to check whether bothmanual and electronic registers are needed askey auditable documents.

19

Project management

Good leadership and careful introduction of thesystem to the staff proved to be one of the keysto success in colleges with effective systems.

The colleges which achieved successfultechnical development of the systems did sousing a different human resource method thanthe rest: a fully empowered MIS manager withdirect access to the principal; a vice-principalwho leads development; an assistant principalwith a vision of a student-led registrationsystem; an information systems manager and asympathetic director of learning resources, bothwith considerable skills and/or experience ofIT; a complete senior management team sharinga desire to use MIS to run the college; and in themost economically staffed example, an ITteacher with remission to supervise the systembut with considerable personal dedication.

Adequate resources

Staffing needs were sometimes underestimatedand college managers had an over-simplisticbelief in the ability of an automated registersystem to save money. In one college this wascombined with a decision to allow the ITadvisory committee to lapse, so that after fouryears discussions still take place on whether tocontinue the register system. Properdevelopment of MIS demands extra staffing: theprincipal of one college expressed the viewforcibly that the more he does with MIS, themore work is created and the more staff needed,at least initially, though he concedes savingswill be made in the long term. In one of thesmaller colleges there was an admirable policyof matching development to the resourcesavailable, even if this meant very slow progress.This contrasts with the college which purchasedsoftware (and became a 'test and reference site'for that company) but could not spare theresources to send key staff on training coursesoffered by the software house!

In terms of direct staffing, experiences variedacross the project. In one college, the head of ITran the swipe card system on some remittedteaching time, with college receptionists

20

handling card problems (it was acknowledgedthat this would have to change when electronicregistration was fully implemented). Thiscontrasts with the college where five full-timeprogrammers grapple with an apparentlyfailing MIS which was not yet producingmanagement information, assisted by 12 ITtechnicians, a full-time inputting clerk, four halfday and one three-quarter day clerks, plus anadministrative/information manager in each ofthe teaching schools.

A number of the colleges had exemplary MISmanagers, with varying numbers of supportstaff but all with clear and businesslike links tosenior management.

One other college displayed good practice in itscentral Information Systems Unit which wasrun by five staff under an information servicesmanager: a data systems officer, a technicalsystems assistant and three clerks /datainputters. Policy is supervised by the Director ofLearning Resources. The systems and especiallythe procedures which are available on-linethrough the college IT network to act as thebasis for administrative activity revealedconsiderable commitment to clarity and an'open' approach to IT. The unit is committed toongoing staff development; for example, theinputting clerks are trained in systemdevelopment and in report writing. Clerks areencouraged to deal direct with lecturers whoseregisters had problems and also with staff whoneeded help or information.

The system appears to perform extremely well.Central MIS carries out its own performancemonitoring, producing error analyses whicheven at their peak are below 3.5 per cent.

Induction and trainingFor a register system to be effective it is not justnecessary that those running the system arecompletely at home with it: all lecturing staffneed to understand it and be committed to itsuse as well. This raises internal issues of 'selling'the system to staff, and providing effectiveinduction and training.


Three colleges were committed to allowing allstaff on-line access to the system. All three hadtraining programmes in place on how to operatethe system, often using a workshop approach. Anumber of colleges had well-written handbooksand procedure documents.

One small sixth form college devoted an annualall-staff training day to using the system. Mosthad initial training from system suppliers whichin some cases was effectively cascaded to otherstaff. However, one college said it:

'couldn't afford the supplier training'

so its staff had only the manuals to work from.In some cases initial staff demonstrations ofsystems did little more than arouse expectation.

One small college stated the admirable preceptthat its system would not be implemented untilstaff were ready and the software proven:

'Why waste energy enforcing the unenforcable?'

In at least three of the project colleges the staffwere certainly ready, taking pride in the qualityof the information produced from a registrationsystem in which they had confidence.

Ownership

Staff ownership of a register system is one of thekeys to its success, but many colleges fail to givethis the commitment it requires. For example,one of the participating colleges suspended useof the register system while the individualstudent record (ISR) was being completed, withthe explanation that:

'Staff were being diverted to moreimportant tasks.'

In another college, staff were instructed tocompile paper generated statistics at the end ofa year in which they had been told expressly notto keep paper registers. Maintaining staffconfidence in the system is vital. This latterinstance pushed staff confidence in the registersystem to its nadir and the consequences interms of morale were clear.


By contrast there were at least three collegeswhere the staff clearly owned the system andthe data it produced. If staff understand theimportance of the register system, they are morelikely to give it the commitment it requires andhence share in the benefits of its use.

Key messages

Management must have a clearimplementation policy beforeintroducing any IT system attendancesystems are no exception.

System managers must be empoweredwith a direct link to the principal.

System managers must have qualitypeople and organisational skills and beeffective communicators.

Register systems, in common with allMIS, need considerable resourcing. Theymay save a great deal of money in thelong term but they cannot do this if theirdevelopment is stifled by inadequatetraining and staffing levels.

Staffing does not have to be lavishprovided the right management skillsand clarity of practice is in place.

Lecturers need to be kept involved at allstages of register system development.

Review of the system is critical: it mustbe proven to be attaining itsperformance objectives. An internalusers' group is a good approach.

Non-technical staff should ideally beallowed access to the system: thisencourages ownership by givingpositive feedback in terms of usabledata. Good programmes should allowread-only access where necessary. Ifprogrammes can be tailored topersonalise access this will improveuser-friendliness.

21

Suppliers and service

Every college should have an appropriateprocurement policy in place if they are toavoid the undesirable consequences of a lackof understanding of IT common among themanagers responsible for selecting theregister system.

The colleges in this project illustrated just someof these consequences: the college which tookon the responsibility of being used as a live testsite by a software supplier almost had toabandon the register system after two terms;one supplier installed a hard disk with acapacity (150Mb) that was too small for even themodest size of the college after a difficult firstyear of operation it eventually upgraded it to250Mb. Staff at the same college were led toexpect an electronic mail system as part of thepackage, only to find it was an extra.

The experience of this project suggests aprocurement policy should include:

a design brief

detailed specifications from more thanone supplier

a full dialogue with the prospectivesupplier informed by specialist adviceon both sides

carefully written contracts

This research showed that support to collegeswas variable. Again this should be secured atthe time of the original contract. The test sitecollege, referred to earlier, had seen littleresponse to the requests and suggestions it hadmade over a three year period even though itstill remains a reference site for potentialcustomers of the software company! Its mainsuggestion a direct link between attendancerecording and the ISR seems eminentlyreasonable. Another college preferred todesign its own software developments basedon the software provided, while anotherrefined its software use to overcomeunreliability difficulties it had experiencedwith the original system.

22

Some system user groups were lively andproductive. In some cases thrice yearlymeetings at host colleges were commonpractice, with polls of users to agree changes,and working parties to monitor nationaldevelopments. Two systems had so fewcolleges on line that their suppliers did notconsider user groups viable, in spite of theconsiderable presence of both of the systems inthe schools sector.

Both swipe card colleges encounteredconsiderable problems with reliability of thesystem. One had difficulties in developing thecards, due to poor card production software.Delays could have seriously damaged thecredibility of the system, had the college notprevented this via successful communicationwith staff, students and parents. The othercollege experienced a high failure rate on cardsand this was due to poor project management.Manuals and software updates arrived late andpoor training and preparation led to registerdesign errors.

From this research it appears that softwaresuppliers need to pay far more attention toinitial analysis of the colleges' needs and to theirown post-sales responsibilities.

However, responsibility for these problemsmust also be shared by colleges: piloting,acceptance testing, clarity about after-salesservice, on-site help and tailoring the service totheir individual needs should all be insisted onbefore any contracts are signed.

Key message

Software suppliers need to analysecustomer needs better. Collegemanagers need to consult the marketprior to procurement and ensureproficient after-sales service.


Relationship of register system tocollege-wide MIS

Colleges which input the time and effortinvolved in fully integrating their registersystem with their existing MIS will reap manybenefits. However, very few of the collegestaking part in this research showedcommitment to integration.

In one college there was no relationshipbetween the register system and college-wideMIS: though the register system wastheoretically a module of the comprehensivecollege management system, there appeared tobe neither downloading nor transfer of datafrom the 'punched-in' student attendance data.A great deal of effort and resource went into thecollection of register data but little seemed to bedone with it.

More commonly, register systems accepted'one-way' information on students downloadedfrom the enrolment record. On several occasionsexamples were given of the register systembeing corrupted by updates of the enrolmentrecord, errors which subsequently took severalmonths to eradicate. Responsibility for systemsintegration needs to be clearly allocated with achange control procedure in place so thatchanges are not introduced to one sub-systemwithout thought to others.

The well-established FEMIS register modulehas, as yet, no link between the student recordand the attendance module, despite requestsfrom users. This is promised as a facility inEMIS's new product Portfolio which is currentlybeing developed.

Three colleges enjoyed well-developed MISwhere attendance, student data and othercollege modules were fully integrated: onecollege uses the personnel record to check theissue and return of registers; in another, datafrom different files is used for cross-verification.

One college runs COVTECH software forenrolments, student records and the course file.All databases use common reference codes(course code and student enrolment number).The central MIS unit does full enrolments (with


a special rapid enrolment on-line by school staffbut using codings strictly controlled by thecentral unit). There is, however, a great deal ofcross-verification of information and chasing ofinvalid room, lecturer or student codes. Thecourse file is managed on-line by the deputyprincipal. As attendance information is directlylinked to the student record file and all otherdatabases, a very sophisticated and wide-ranging analysis of college performance ispossible. The register data is regarded as the keypoint of information on what is actuallyhappening in the college.

Network issues

One college was committing £150,000 to thedevelopment of a college-wide IT network, overan admittedly difficult site, and similarcommitments had been made at other colleges.The network must be powerful enough to copewith both the data collection requirements andaccess to analysis.

Access to data

The purpose of collecting register data is toreport on it, yet this has not been a high priorityin all cases. College managements havesometimes missed the significance of reporting;in one college there are no regular reports at all,only those requested by individual staff.

Participating colleges suggested that user-friendliness could be improved even in some ofthe better known packages. Staff should nothave to seek assistance from IT experts in orderto access information.

Paper reports were available in many collegeson a regular basis for use as part of the tutorialprocess. One college typically produces from itsFEMIS/OMR registers a weekly print-out ofstudent absences going to all tutors, with apercentage cumulative attendance report everyfortnight. A percentage attendance per term persubject is then produced on each student.Faculty heads receive half-termly summarysubject attendance figures which are passed toall relevant staff, including part-time courseleaders. In some cases there were log-jams of

23

report production and a possible excess ofreports produced automatically. Anothercollege had abandoned all automatic paperreports for this reason.

Most systems came with a number of standardreports as well as the facility to generate collegespecific ones. One college had a policy that allreports should be written in-house, to answerthe specific needs of staff, and it even intendedto make report generation part of staff training.Systems should include easy-to-use, point andclick report writing facilities capable ofincluding all data fields in any combination.

On-line access to reports was the aim in three ofthe larger colleges, with user-friendly front-endmenus generated by the lecturer's individualaccess code. Circulation of different levels ofdata in this way raises issues of validation andconfidentiality. Accepting this, some of the more'advanced' MIS colleges believed thatconfidence in the quality of data bred openness,and vice versa. While lecturers' ability to amendinformation raised issues of validity, read-onlyaccess to carefully tailored reports seemed areasonable and progressive approach.

In one college, reports and specific data onattendance were freely available to all staffthrough their access codes. There is a long list ofpre-defined reports with any special reportsdone to order by the central unit. Staff areencouraged to access information on-line. Threeyears' data is held live on the system. Enquirymenus are simple to follow. Reports can beprinted locally across the college. The policy isnot to produce paper reports. This openapproach to information reflects the confidencethe central unit had in the quality of the datathey hold on the system.

In another college there is a one-key call up ofdata analysis, for example,active/withdrawn/transferred students; lists ofstudents in teaching groups, start date,percentage attendance. Problem students can beselected and full information on them displayedon-screen. All this amounts to an impressiveability to access information. The reportingsoftware was written largely by one person afterlistening to staff information needs.

24BEST COPY AVAILABLE

A further college is in the process of opening upits student record to give on-line access to allstaff. Staff codes will generate menus relevant tothemselves. The current system will have aWindows front-end, to be more user-friendlyfor staff. The system offers fast and detailedreporting on screen. Details on attendancepatterns can be accessed by group or throughthe ISR. There is a diary on each student fileshowing pattern of activity over the term. Thesystem was derived from tertiary collegeexperience and thus holds a great deal of detailon each student, accessible in one place.

Key messages

Standalone register systems which donot relate to the main college MIS are afalse economy. In the current climate ofincreasing information, colleges needeither a fully integrated, modularinformation system or a properlyintegrated separate system.

On-line access for lecturers via systemswhere the individual's access codegenerates relevant menus is the modelfor the future.

Investment in college-widecommunications infrastructure (localand wide area networks) is essential forevery college. This provides thefoundation for implementation of IS andIT strategies and systems, includingattendance recording systems.

Use of data

Many colleges, though not all, make good use ofreports for student tutorial purposes. In a smallnumber of the colleges, information fromregisters is used to produce sophisticated anddetailed analysis of college daily performance.

One college uses registers as a managementtool. Some impressive analysis has beenachieved leading to a culture change. Staffutilisation is carefully monitored and salaries ofpart-time staff paid only from registers. This hasled to substantial savings in the first year of


operation alone. Room utilisation is the nextarea for development. Student information andcontrol is another key feature of its data use.Centrally issued printed reports have nowceased: information is only available on line toschool of study offices. Some staff have goodon-line skills and training is available to widenthis. Staff access to source data is limited toabout 20 users because of the dangers ofcorruption of data and the possible slowing ofthe system through excessive user access.

In another college, where the COVTECHsystem was introduced principally to managestaff rather than monitor students, animpressive range of management reports isproduced. All of these stem from the attendancesystem which is the daily, if not hourly,snapshot of college activity (including roomutilisation). The weekly digest on eachlecturer's teaching with which the lecturerhas to agree or refer any discrepancies to thecentral unit for investigation is not just acheck on the lecturer, but a means of verifyingand updating the data on the system, especiallythe registers.

This college operates a Quality Survey System(rather like a mini FEFC inspection) where eachschool of study's performance is checkedagainst a standard set of indicators. The MISprovides the data for this, and it is in the interestof every head of school to ensure this is correct.

In another college, students apparentlywithdrawn from the register, or whose absenceis noted by inputters, are notified for checkingand possible withdrawal. A non-attendancereport covering a four week period is providedat the end of the first term.

Key message

It is wasteful to install a register systemand then not put the collected data tofull use a purely pastoral use ignoresthe power to review wider collegeactivity which register systems offer.


Staff perception

The smoothness and efficiency with which asystem is introduced will have a great bearingon the staff's perception of its usefulness.

In one college there was a major crisis ofconfidence. Lack of belief in the system hadmeant staff had hung on to paper registeringdespite instructions. Statistics promised fromthe system and electronic messaging had notmaterialised. Difficulties here seem to have beena consequence of poor specifications, companysupport and training. This was a classicexample of how poor preparation andhaphazard implementation can damage staffconfidence in the system. However, the mostimportant missing ingredient was firm supportand commitment from senior managers.

Staff confidence, understanding and supportare vital for any register system to work andmanagement has to encourage that state ofaffairs. For example, asking staff (as they see it)to do things twice (such as produce additionalmanual statistics), is likely to provokeopposition and doubt.

One college has a new principal and new MISmanager who want to change the culture of thecollege as regards information, but who have anapproach of involvement and gradualintroduction which is likely to work. Atraditional staff force will have to be broughtalong gently. A range of meetings across themanagement of the college is a mouthpiece for'moans'. However, general response has beenpositive. Staff are beginning to understand thesystem and are encouraged to air their views.The system is reviewed and staff are debriefed.For example, the funding methodology had justbeen explained to the heads of school toengender a sharing of responsibility.

In one college, where students are acquaintedwith using swipe cards but where the disciplineof swiping is not strictly enforced, it will be theability of staff to write their own reports and usethe information generated by the electronicregister system which will encourage staff toenforce the system.

25

In another, a bad experience with a swipe cardsystem united the staff behind what they saw asa more conventional system, engendering apositive response to using it. Staff are given datawhich is useful, and reports are shared andowned by the whole college. The paper registersthey maintain, once input into the system byclerks, allow detailed analysis of lecturer andstudent performance. To help achievemaximum benefit from this the managementhas ensured that staff know the basis of currentfunding methodologies and the resultingimportance of accurate and timely information.

Key message

Without staff confidence andunderstanding any register system willfail. Lecturing staff have to understandhow the system works and appreciatethe benefits which will accrue tothemselves and to the college.

Student perception

Most college students in this study experiencedregistration as something done 'to them', withthe exception of one which was giving studentsthe responsibility of registration. There wasgeneral acceptance among students thatevidence collected will be used as part of thepastoral process and plenty of annoyance whenthat evidence was not accurate. Swipe cardswere seen as part of the 'grown up' aspect ofcollege life, as were ID cards. There was somefeeling (perhaps gained from disgruntledlecturers) that managements were prepared tospend a lot of resource on gimmicks withoutensuring they worked.

Key message

Attendance is a key element in studentsuccess so it is important that ownershipof registration is shared by the studentsand seen as an integral part of thelearning process.


3. Conclusions andrecommendationsAn electronic system of recording attendance canunderpin a college's response to absenteeism.However, caution needs to be exercised:

electronic systems are still in an earlystage of development

considerable care has to be exercised inchoosing and implementing them

electronic systems and reports fromthem are only the beginnings of aresponse to absence

In responding to absence, management needs torecognise the nature of the problem and:

produce a comprehensive strategic planfor dealing with absence

explore a variety of solutions

Strategic planning should include:

a description of the problem

consideration of administrative, pastoraland management responses

careful exploration of the variety ofappropriate administrative responses

full financial analysis including bothcost benefit analysis and projectedrunning costs

If an electronic system is chosen, there should be:

careful exploration of possible solutionsincluding site visits to see the systems inoperation and access to user groups

involvement of all staff at theprocurement stage

attention to after-sales issues such asmaintenance, customisation to acollege's requirements and helplines

appropriate induction and continuingtraining for staff at implementationstage and beyond

consultation with students atimplementation stage

continued review and evaluation of thesystem including responses from staffand student users

Establishing a policy on absence should include:

a review of causes of absence includingfinancial difficulty, personalcircumstances (such as illness andchildcare problems), poor quality incurriculum delivery, and poor guidanceand information

a clear statement on attendance policyfor staff and students includingexplanation of the need for regularattendance, sources of help and support,and the system for recording andresponding to attendance and absence

Appropriate responses to the causes of absenceare difficult to achieve and may include themobilisation of all aspects of college supportand attention to quality assurance for all aspectsof provision.

Once the strategy and policy are establishedand new systems are introduced it is importantto ensure the full potential is realised by:

exploiting all reporting possibilitiesfrom the system

co-ordinating responses to systemreports before action is taken

building up information over timeincluding trends and patterns of absence


Glossary

Barcode

A machine readable arrangement of numbersand parallel lines which can be electronicallyscanned in order to read and /or updateassociated information stored on a computer.

CompassA college management system includingstudent records and finance modules.Originally supplied by Commercell Ltd, nowsupported by INS Ltd. (There is no relationshipwith the company Microcompass, listed below.)

COVTECHCovtech Systems Ltd, known as a supplier ofstudent tracking systems including registersystems, has been taken over by DolphinComputer Services Ltd. They supply a completesuite of management information productsknown as Systems Intuition. The formerCOVTECH modules have been rereleased aspart of this product set.

EARSElectronic Attendance Registration System:supplied by Bromcom Computers plc, thissystem allows tutors to register students'attendance using a small hand-held computer.This uses radio communication to transfer thisdata directly to a central computer system, andto achieve this requires receiver units to beinstalled in a network around the college.

E-mailElectronic mail: use of computer networks totransmit messages and data.

FEMISFurther Education Management InformationSystem: supplied by EMIS Ltd.

IDAbbreviation of 'identification'.

ISRIndividualised Student Record: the FurtherEducation Funding Council (FEFC) requires ISRreturns to be made three times a year to provideit with data about students enrolled at collegesin the FE sector (and students funded by FEFCin external institutions).

LCDLiquid Crystal Display: a flat screen commonlyused in watches, clocks, calculators and hand-held computers.

MbAbbreviation of 'megabyte', a measurement ofthe capacity of computer memory or datastorage media. A byte is a contiguous group ofeight bits (a bit is the basic unit of dataprocessing, a single binary digit, 0 or 1). Akilobyte is 1024 bytes and a megabyte is 1024kilobytes or 1048576 bytes.

Microcompass SystemsMicrocompass Systems Ltd supply College2000, an integrated suite of college informationmanagement systems.

MISManagement Information Systems: in furthereducation, MIS is commonly used to mean anycomputerised administration system and thedepartment responsible for these.

OMROptical Mark Reader: a device enabling letters,numbers or other characters, usually printed onpaper, to be optically scanned and input to acomputer. (Also the process these devices use:Optical Character Recognition.)

SIMSSuppliers of SIMS computer systems for schoolsand colleges.

SIRSStudent Integrated Registration System.

SmartcardA plastic card with an embedded computer chipwhich can store and process information.Sometimes called intelligent cards, they can beused to allow access to secure systems or facilities.

SwipeTo pass a plastic card through a machine thatelectronically interprets the informationencoded on it.

Swipe cardThese plastic cards, encoded with informationabout the user, are used to gain and recordaccess to locations or services, for example,recording classroom attendance or use of openlearning centres.


ReferencesKevin Donovan (1996) Student tracking FEDA

Paul Martinez (1996) Student retention casestudies of strategies that work FEDA

BibliographyAudit Commission (1993) Unfinished businessHMSO

Further Education Funding Council (1994)Arrangements for claiming demand-ledelement in respect of 1994-95 FEFC Circular94/29, FEFC

Paul Martinez (1995) Student retention infurther and adult education: the evidenceFEDA

National Commission on Education (1993)Learning to succeed Heinemann

D Pardey (1992) Post-16 participation: thesuccess story FEDA


29

Price: £6.50

-ISSN 36 9977'

30

BEST COPY AVAIABLE

(9/92)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI)

Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)

NOTICE

REPRODUCTION BASIS

IC

This document is covered by a signed "Reproduction Release(Blanket)" form (on file within the ERIC system), encompassing allor classes of documents from its source organization and, therefore,does not require a "Specific Document" Release form.

This document is Federally-funded, or carries its own permission toreproduce, or is otherwise in the public domain and, therefore, maybe reproduced by ERIC without a signed Reproduction Releaseform (either "Specific Document" or "Blanket").

Documents

Monitoring Student Attendance. FEDA Paper