What happened to Check-in?
In the last academic year, the University introduced Check-in to help make it easier for students to record their attendance in teaching activities through the UniLeeds app.
When we launched this in September 2016 your feedback showed that there was still work to be done – the app wasn’t compatible with some devices meaning that some students were not able to use it. Many students who had compatible devices questioned the usability and reliability of the app and staff that processed attendance also flagged differences in how data was processed. As a result, marking your attendance through the app was pulled and the University reverted back to the paper registers.
As a University, we are still confident in the technology behind Check-in and the possibilities that it can bring in helping us support our students. This is why we spent the remainder of last academic year making improvements to the UniLeeds app, the Check-in feature and how the data is processed by our staff. To test these improvements, we ran a two-week pilot of Check-in at the end of the last academic year.
Findings from the pilot
Over 100,000 Check-ins were recorded during the two-week pilot and the system worked well during this time. 83% of these Check-ins were made through the app and 17% through came through Web Check-in – a feature that was previously not available to students and replaced Cluster Check-in.
A student survey that we ran following the pilot found that:
- Students appreciated having a choice but preferred the convenience of the app Check-in
- Three-quarters of students thought Web Check-in was better than the Cluster Check-in that had been available in Semester 1
- Two-thirds of students who had experienced problems with Check-in during Semester 1 thought the system was “Much Better” to “Somewhat Better” during the trial
What happens next?
During the pilot, we found that there was still concern around data collected through the Check-in system and what the University will do with it.
In order to overcome these concerns, we are continuing to work with students and staff to understand how back-end systems can be improved to process data accurately and efficiently. We are working with staff from across the University to make sure that the system is used consistently throughout the University and the student experience of Check-in is at a high standard regardless of where they are on campus and the device that they use.
Given the positive feedback we have received following the pilot, we are hoping to reintroduce Check-in for the 2018/19 academic year. We will keep students and staff updated with any developments through the staff and student e-newsletters and the news section of students.leeds.ac.uk. If any students do have any questions or would like to more, please email studentcommunications@leeds.ac.uk. Staff members who would like more can contact SES managers in their areas.