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Attendance Tracking

Track student attendance, generate reports, and monitor participation

For InstructorsCore Operations
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1. Overview

DojoMaster's attendance tracking system provides a comprehensive way to monitor student participation in classes. Accurate attendance tracking is essential for evaluating student progress, determining grading eligibility, and powering AI-driven insights about retention and readiness.

Key Features

  • Four Attendance Statuses: PRESENT, ABSENT, LATE, EXCUSED - providing nuanced tracking
  • Bulk Marking: Mark attendance for entire classes at once
  • Kiosk Mode: Student self-check-in for streamlined attendance
  • Automatic Stripe Awards: Stripes can be automatically awarded based on attendance (for AUTOMATIC_CLASS_BASED classes)
  • Attendance Reports: Generate detailed reports by class, student, or date range
  • Grading Eligibility: Attendance affects whether students can participate in grading events
  • AI Predictions: Attendance data powers retention risk and grading readiness predictions

2. Prerequisites

Before tracking attendance, ensure you have:

  • ✓OWNER or SENSEI role (required to mark attendance)
  • ✓Classes created and scheduled (see Class Scheduling Guide)
  • ✓Students enrolled in classes (see Student Enrollment Guide)
  • ✓Understanding of attendance statuses: Know when to use PRESENT, ABSENT, LATE, or EXCUSED

3. Understanding Attendance Statuses

DojoMaster uses four attendance statuses to provide detailed tracking:

✓ PRESENT

Student attended the class on time and participated fully.

  • • Counts toward attendance rate
  • • Counts toward grading eligibility
  • • May trigger automatic stripe awards (if class uses AUTOMATIC_CLASS_BASED model)
  • • Contributes positively to AI retention predictions

⏰ LATE

Student arrived late but still participated in the class.

  • • Counts toward attendance rate (treated similarly to PRESENT)
  • • Counts toward grading eligibility
  • • Does NOT trigger automatic stripe awards
  • • May slightly impact AI predictions (shows engagement despite tardiness)

✗ ABSENT

Student did not attend the class without prior notice or valid excuse.

  • • Does NOT count toward attendance rate
  • • Does NOT count toward grading eligibility
  • • Does NOT trigger stripe awards
  • • Negatively impacts AI retention predictions

ℹ️ EXCUSED

Student had a valid reason for missing class (illness, family emergency, etc.).

  • • Does NOT count toward attendance rate (neutral)
  • • May count toward grading eligibility (depending on club policy)
  • • Does NOT trigger stripe awards
  • • Neutral impact on AI predictions (not penalized like ABSENT)
💡

Best Practice

Use EXCUSED for legitimate absences (illness, family emergencies, pre-approved vacations). This prevents unfair penalties in attendance rates and AI predictions while maintaining accurate participation tracking.

4. Recording Attendance for Individual Students

Mark attendance for individual students one at a time.

How to Mark Individual Attendance

  1. 1.Navigate to Attendance from your dashboard
  2. 2.Select the class and date for which you want to mark attendance
  3. 3.Find the student in the class roster
  4. 4.Select the attendance status: PRESENT, ABSENT, LATE, or EXCUSED
  5. 5.Optionally add notes (max 500 characters) to provide context
  6. 6.Click "Save" or "Mark Attendance"

Automatic Stripe Awards

If the class uses the AUTOMATIC_CLASS_BASED stripe award model, marking a student as PRESENT will automatically award the next stripe in their progression (if they haven't already earned it for that class session).

For classes using MANUAL_ASSESSMENT_BASED, instructors must manually award stripes through the stripe management interface.

Updating Existing Attendance

You can update attendance records after they've been created:

  1. 1.Navigate to the attendance record you want to update
  2. 2.Change the status or notes as needed
  3. 3.Save the changes
⚠️

Important

Changing attendance from PRESENT to another status does NOT automatically remove previously awarded stripes. Stripe removal must be done manually if needed.

5. Bulk Attendance Marking

Save time by marking attendance for multiple students at once.

How to Use Bulk Marking

  1. 1.Navigate to Attendance and select the class and date
  2. 2.Click "Bulk Mark" or "Mark All"
  3. 3.The system displays all enrolled students for that class
  4. 4.For each student, select the appropriate status (PRESENT, ABSENT, LATE, EXCUSED)
  5. 5.Optionally add notes for specific students
  6. 6.Click "Save All" or "Submit Attendance"

Bulk Marking Benefits

  • • Time Savings: Mark entire class attendance in one operation
  • • Consistency: All attendance records have the same timestamp
  • • Automatic Stripe Awards: Stripes are awarded for all PRESENT students in AUTOMATIC_CLASS_BASED classes
  • • Transaction Safety: All records are saved atomically (all succeed or all fail)
💡

Tip

Use bulk marking at the end of each class session. Mark all students as PRESENT by default, then adjust individual statuses for students who were absent, late, or excused.

6. Kiosk Mode Check-Ins

Kiosk Mode allows students to check themselves in for classes, automatically marking their attendance as PRESENT.

How Kiosk Mode Works

  1. 1.Instructor activates Kiosk Mode on a tablet or device at the dojo entrance
  2. 2.Students select their class from the available sessions
  3. 3.Students tap their name to check in
  4. 4.Attendance is automatically marked as PRESENT
  5. 5.For AUTOMATIC_CLASS_BASED classes, stripes are automatically awarded

Kiosk Mode Benefits

  • • Student Empowerment: Students take ownership of their attendance
  • • Time Savings: Instructors don't need to manually mark attendance
  • • Accuracy: Reduces errors from manual entry
  • • Real-Time Tracking: Attendance is recorded immediately upon check-in
  • • Security: PIN-protected exit prevents unauthorized access

For detailed setup instructions, see the Kiosk Mode Setup and Usage Guide.

7. Attendance Reports and Analytics

Generate comprehensive attendance reports to analyze participation patterns and identify trends.

Available Reports

Class Attendance Report

View attendance for a specific class over a date range. Shows which students attended, their attendance rate, and participation trends.

Student Attendance Report

View a specific student's attendance across all classes. Shows attendance rate, current streak, and participation history.

Club-Wide Attendance Summary

Overview of attendance across all classes and students. Identifies trends, low-attendance periods, and overall participation rates.

Key Metrics

Attendance Rate: Percentage of classes attended (PRESENT + LATE) out of total scheduled classes

Current Streak: Number of consecutive classes attended (PRESENT or LATE)

Total Classes: Total number of class sessions in the reporting period

Status Breakdown: Count of PRESENT, ABSENT, LATE, and EXCUSED records

Attendance Rate Calculation

Attendance Rate = (PRESENT + LATE) / (PRESENT + LATE + ABSENT) × 100%

Note: EXCUSED absences are excluded from the calculation, so they don't negatively impact the attendance rate.

8. How Attendance Affects Grading Eligibility

Attendance is a critical factor in determining whether students are eligible to participate in grading events (belt tests).

Grading Requirements

When creating a grading event, you can set minimum training requirements:

  • •Minimum Training Days: Number of classes the student must have attended (PRESENT or LATE)
  • •Required Skills: Specific skills that must be mastered
  • •Stripe Requirements: Number of stripes that must be earned

Eligibility Check

DojoMaster automatically checks each student's attendance records to determine if they meet the minimum training days requirement. Only students who meet ALL requirements (attendance, skills, stripes) are eligible for grading.

💡

Best Practice

Set realistic minimum training days based on your belt system. For example, white to yellow belt might require 20 training days, while brown to black belt might require 100+ training days.

For more information, see the Grading Event Setup and Execution Guide.

9. How Attendance Affects AI Predictions

For clubs with AI_ENABLED subscription tier, attendance data powers two critical AI predictions:

Retention Risk Prediction

AI analyzes attendance patterns to predict which students are at risk of dropping out:

  • •Declining Attendance: Gradual decrease in attendance rate over time
  • •Irregular Patterns: Inconsistent attendance (e.g., attending 2 weeks, then missing 3 weeks)
  • •Recent Absences: Multiple ABSENT statuses in recent weeks
  • •Broken Streaks: Loss of previously consistent attendance patterns
⚠️

Proactive Intervention

When AI identifies high-risk students, reach out proactively to understand challenges and offer support. Early intervention can prevent dropouts.

Grading Readiness Prediction

AI analyzes attendance along with skill progress and stripe completion to predict grading readiness:

  • •Consistent Attendance: Regular participation indicates commitment and practice time
  • •Training Volume: Total number of classes attended provides context for skill development
  • •Recent Activity: Recent attendance shows current engagement level

For more information, see the AI-Powered Insights Guide.

10. Common Pitfalls and Troubleshooting

❌ Problem: Can't mark attendance for a student

Possible Causes:

  • • Student is not enrolled in the class
  • • You don't have OWNER or SENSEI role
  • • The class doesn't exist or is inactive
  • • Date is in the future (some systems prevent future attendance)

✓ Solution: Verify student enrollment, check your role permissions, ensure the class is active, and use current or past dates only.

❌ Problem: Stripe not automatically awarded when marking PRESENT

Possible Causes:

  • • Class uses MANUAL_ASSESSMENT_BASED stripe award model (not automatic)
  • • Student has already earned all available stripes for their current belt rank
  • • Stripe system not configured for the belt system
  • • Student already received a stripe for this specific class session

✓ Solution: Check the class's stripe award model setting. Verify stripe system configuration. For manual assessment classes, use the stripe management interface to award stripes.

❌ Problem: Attendance rate seems incorrect

Possible Causes:

  • • EXCUSED absences are excluded from the calculation (this is intentional)
  • • Date range filter is limiting the records included
  • • Student was enrolled mid-period (only counts classes after enrollment)
  • • Duplicate attendance records for the same class/date

✓ Solution: Review the attendance rate formula: (PRESENT + LATE) / (PRESENT + LATE + ABSENT) × 100%. Check for duplicate records and verify the date range.

❌ Problem: Bulk attendance marking failed

Possible Causes:

  • • Network connection issue during submission
  • • One or more students have invalid data
  • • Database transaction timeout (too many students)
  • • Duplicate attendance records already exist for some students

✓ Solution: Check your internet connection. Try marking attendance in smaller batches. Verify no duplicate records exist. Contact support if the issue persists.

❌ Problem: Student not appearing in kiosk mode

Possible Causes:

  • • Student is not enrolled in any classes scheduled for today
  • • Student is inactive or archived
  • • Kiosk mode is showing a different class than expected
  • • Student already checked in for this class today

✓ Solution: Verify student enrollment in today's classes. Check student active status. Ensure correct class is selected in kiosk mode. Check if student already checked in.

❌ Problem: Can't update past attendance records

Possible Causes:

  • • Some clubs lock attendance records after a certain period
  • • You don't have permission to edit historical records
  • • The attendance record is linked to a completed grading event

✓ Solution: Check your club's attendance editing policy. Contact an OWNER if you need to update locked records. Be cautious when editing records linked to grading events.

11. Related Features

Attendance tracking works together with other DojoMaster features:

📅

Class Scheduling

Create and manage classes for attendance tracking

🎯

Stripe/Theme System

Understand automatic stripe awards based on attendance

🥋

Grading Events

Learn how attendance affects grading eligibility

📱

Kiosk Mode

Set up student self-check-in for attendance

🤖

AI-Powered Insights

Understand how attendance powers AI predictions

📈

Student Progress Tracking

View attendance as part of overall student progress

12. Next Steps

Now that you understand attendance tracking:

  1. 1.Start tracking attendance: Mark attendance for each class session using individual or bulk marking
  2. 2.Set up kiosk mode: Enable student self-check-in to streamline the process
  3. 3.Generate reports: Review attendance patterns and identify trends
  4. 4.Monitor attendance rates: Identify students with declining participation
  5. 5.Use AI insights: Leverage retention risk predictions to intervene proactively (AI_ENABLED tier)
  6. 6.Configure grading requirements: Set minimum training days for belt tests based on attendance data
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