Normally it takes me about two minutes to take attendance in class. I’m trying something different this semester. Using my point-and-shoot I can snap four pictures covering everyone in class in about ten seconds.
Every day I post these pictures in Blackboard. If someone misses class, he/she can easily see who was there and pick up the notes. The pictures I post in Blackboard are full size (8 megapixel). The resolution is high enough that it is easy to identify everyone.
![Manual Aperture [405/1000]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7055/6849853919_313cb31dae_t.jpg "Manual Aperture [405/1000]")
![Big Tree Beside Road [404/1000]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7151/6844404451_6d2eb083df_t.jpg "Big Tree Beside Road [404/1000]")
![Night Lights [403/1000]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7184/6844370787_1f6ab62b3f_t.jpg "Night Lights [403/1000]")
![By the light of the full moon [6/52]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6838220175_5659a56fdc_t.jpg "By the light of the full moon [6/52]")
That’s pretty cool. Have you thought of using something like Twitter and the student’s mobiles to take attendance?
Starting next week I am pilot testing TurningPoint clickers. I plan to use those for attendance. The software can link the data right back to Blackboard.
The pictures are for student benefit. All of them don’t have access to my gradebook to see if other students were in attendance. The picture is a quick way of doing that.
Can you use face recognition technology to generate a list of participants automatically? Something like Picasa?
Face recognition might be asking a little too much at this point. My main goal is to have students who are not there be able to easily see who was there. But seeing how well Picasa already does this, it’s not something unfathomable.