by Lana Douglas
Photo Editor
All the trouble of signing up for assigned seats, struggling to find enough seats near your friends and committing to sitting next to strangers for the entire year is no longer an issue. This semester Bryan has joined the 21st century and moved to using electronic scanners to keep track of chapel attendance.
Not only is it easier to keep track of attendance, but it will give students the opportunity to sit where they want and not be bound to one seat, said Bruce Morgan, dean of community life at Bryan College.
Sophomore Harry Sherwood scanning his card before entering chapel/Photo courtesy of Maddie Doucet.
Last week, the scanners had their big debut as students adjusted to the new system.
“I like it because you can sit next to different people [each day],” said sophomore Kate Offutt.
However it has been more congested when getting into chapel because people are red-zoning while looking for seats, said Offutt.
Currently, four scanners are in use at the inner doors of Rudd Auditorium. The College has purchased two additional scanners, but they are not operational yet. Morgan expects them to be ready sometime in the coming weeks.
Attendance, late and absent policy
Unlike the old attendance system, students will not have extra time to get to their assigned seats while the RA’s are still marking attendance.
According to Morgan, at 11:01 a.m. any student who has not scanned his ID will be considered late and at 11:10 a.m. the student will be marked “absent.”
Currently, there is no system in place to ensure that students are not just scanning their cards and then leaving.
“We are really trusting our students,” said Morgan. “We may have to change the system or even have people scan out when they leave if it becomes a problem.”
Working through the kinks
Bryan is still working through a few kinks of the new system including lines as students decide where to sit, student’s cards that are not scanning and incorrect absents on e-student.
If students take a long time deciding where they are going to sit, it could hold up others who need to scan their IDs, said Morgan.
The easiest way to help minimize lines is for students to scan in at the door nearest to where they are going to sit, said junior RA Carlin Nasiatka.
According to Morgan, they are still trying to figure why some of student’s cards that are not scanning. It is possible that the scanner will not read older ID cards.
If students are required to get a new ID card in order to scan in at chapel, there will not be a charge.
The biggest problem affecting students is their e-student account showing that they were absent for chapel when they were really present.
After attendance is taken, the data from the scanners must be downloaded to a computer in order for students to be recorded as “present.” The data is supposed to be downloaded from the scanners around 5 p.m. each day after chapel, but the data from last week has not been added yet, according to Morgan.
In the future, Morgan would like to see the data downloaded earlier than 5 p.m. to avoid more problems.
In spite of the minor problems, RAs and students are both seeing the benefits to the electronic system.
“They are really easy to use, and I think that most RAs like them,” said Nasiatka.
The new scanning system has tended to create more congestion upon entering chapel/Photo courtesy of Maddie Doucet.
Tags: Bruce Morgan, Carlin Nasiatka, Chapel, Kate Offutt
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