Qwickly Attendance: About the Excused Status

Qwickly Attendance comes with a built in Status called "Excused". Excused is an exemption from that date. It is worth no points, but it is also not counted as an absence.  There are some cases in which students who have been excused still seem to receive points, this is due to the way the LMS Grade Center works. 

If you create another status with 0 points and 0 absent percentages, it will not work as the "Excused" status since this status will count towards the overall total number of sessions for a user.

When a student is excused, each date becomes worth more points.  As an example, let's suppose attendance for a course is worth 60 points. If Student A is present in every one of the 15 classes of a semester and Student B is excused from one class but present for the other 14, they mathematically have the same grade:

Student A: 15/15 = 100% x 60 points = 60 points
Student B: 14/14 = 100% x 60 points = 60 points

Now, consider if each of the students were to be absent one day. The math is slightly different:

Student A: 14/15 = 93.3% x 60 points = 55.98 points
Student B: 13/14 = 92.9% x 60 points = 55.74 points

Why does Qwickly Attendance work like this an not just calculate student B out of 56 points since the student missed an entire class and each class is essentially worth 4 points? The LMS Grade Center requires that the grade column be worth the same amount per student, so every student must be graded out of 60 points in this case.

Finally, you'll notice the effect becomes less pronounced as more sessions are recorded, in this example each student is absent once, and student B has one excused absence:

5 Sessions (3 point difference):
Student A: 4/5 = 80% x 60 points = 48 points
Student B: 3/4 = 75% x 60 points = 45 points

15 Sessions (.24 point difference):
Student A: 14/15 = 93.3% x 60 points = 55.98 points
Student B: 13/14 = 92.9% x 60 points = 55.74 points

30 Sessions (.06 point difference):
Student A: 29/30 = 96.7% x 60 points = 58.02 points
Student B: 28/29 = 96.6% x 60 points = 57.96 points

If this causes repeated confusion, it may be worth hiding this status to users. However, many schools specifically requested this feature and it is important to accurate record keeping.  You can also create an excused status with 100% points.