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Attendance Location Configuration and Management 

Learn how to set up and manage attendance tracking in Poll Everywhere 2.0. This guide walks you through creating attendance locations, adding attendance questions, starting check-in sessions, and tracking student attendance. You'll also find best practices for instructors and troubleshooting tips for common attendance and location verification issues.

Best practices for instructors

  • Explain the attendance process clearly to students before the session. Test attendance setup before class to avoid confusion
  • If location verification is required, give students a heads-up to enable GPS or connect to the appropriate Wi-Fi

 

In this article:

With built-in attendance tracking, which helps instructors and institutions monitor student presence and participation during class sessions. This feature allows students to check in from their devices and creates automatic records of attendance, saving time and improving accuracy.

Attendance can also sync directly with your LMS, making it easier to manage grades and participation records over time.

How to enable attendance

To set up attendance for your question:

  1. Select the My settings icon (bottom left) and open Locations ("Locations are used for attendance tracking during your sessions. You can allow different locations for each session.").
  2. Select New location.
  3. Enter the location details (address, check-in radius and name) and save. Each location card shows its name and radius, for example 160 feet (~50 meters).

My settings, Locations tab showing a saved attendance location, check-in radius, and New location button.

Tip: start with a generous radius and narrow it after testing. See Presenter Best Practices for Location-Based Attendance.

Attendance credit (for checking in, participating, or both) is set in your grading configuration: on the course Overview tab for LMS courses, or in a participant group's assignments.

How to enable attendance for a question

You can turn any question into an attendance check-in by updating its settings.

  • In any poll, select Add in the slide pane and choose Attendance, or
  • from Polls, open the Other tab and select Attendance.

Other tab in the poll creation menu showing Attendance alongside other slide options.

Poll editor showing the Add menu expanded, with Attendance listed among the question types.

You can choose how long students have to check in (e.g., 5, 10, 15 minutes) and whether you want to require location-based verification.

Starting an attendance session

When presenting a question that has attendance enabled:

  1. Click the Present or Slideshow mode in PowerPointAttendance check-in screen showing a QR code, join link, session end time, and End Now button.
  2. The timer begins, and a check-in prompt appears on participant devices

Attendance ends when the timer runs out or when you select End next to the check-in code at the top of the presentation screen. If you end it by mistake, select Reopen. Reopening works until the original timer would have run out.

How students check in

Once a question has attendance enabled and is presented live:

  1. Students join the session using your join code
  2. A check-in button appears automatically
  3. They tap "Check-in"
    Poll Everywhere mobile attendance screen showing the Check In button and location verification notice.

  4. A confirmation message appears
    Poll Everywhere mobile attendance screen confirming successful check-in and location verification.
  5. Students can continue to respond to the question as usual

If location verification is turned on, students will be prompted to share their location before check-in is accepted.

Troubleshooting attendance issues

If a student can’t check in:

  • Ensure they’ve joined the presentation
  • Confirm the attendance window is still open
  • Verify their device’s location settings (if required)

If location isn’t working:

  • Ask students to allow location access in their browser
  • Increase the allowed radius for verification
  • Allow manual approval for those unable to share a location

Can't see Attendance? Check My settings → Features → Attendance management. Your administrator may control it in Organization settings → Features.

If you're unsure how to use attendance or are experiencing issues, please contact support.