Digital seminar self-attendance

Available from Totara 19.1

Digital self-attendance for seminars allows learners to check-in and confirm their attendance for seminar events using either an event-specific URL or a QR code. Attendance is then automatically recorded in the system, reducing administration for Site Administrators, Editing Trainers, or Trainers and enabling more flexible participation in both online and in-person seminars.

Enabling self-attendance

Self attendance can be enabled at the seminar event level:

1. Go to the relevant seminar event settings page.

2. Enable Self-attendance by checking the Self-attendance check box.

3. Once enabled, the following date/time fields become available to edit for self-attendance:

   • Self-attendance open: This determines the date and time from when the learner can mark their attendance to the seminar event.

   • Self-attendance close: This determines the date and time when the learner can no longer mark their attendance for the seminar event.

For a learner’s self check-in to be recorded, they must check in within the set Self-attendance open and Self-attendance close times.

Note: The system does NOT consider Session start, end time or “Event attendance – mark at” setting as part of the self-attendance window.

It is the responsibility of the Site Administrator to configure a suitable self-attendance check-in window.

Sharing the self-attendance URL or QR code

1. When the seminar event settings are saved with self-attendance enabled, a unique event-specific self-attendance URL and QR code will be automatically generated.  

   

2. Site Administrators, Editing Trainers, or Trainers can copy the self-attendance link or download the QR code on the Event details page to share with learners.

3. If the self-attendance window has expired, a label will appear on the Event details page below the URL and QR code indicating that check-in is no longer active, along with the date and time it expired.

4. To disable self-attendance, untick the Enable self-attendance field and save the event.

Learner choosing to self check-in

When self-attendance is enabled for a seminar event, and the event specific URL or QR code has been shared with learners, the learner can then self check-in to the seminar event.

To self check-in to a seminar event, the learner must be enrolled in the course or the course must have self-enrolment enabled

1. Learner selects the URL or scans the QR code.

Note: When downloaded, the QR code has a transparent background. If opened in apps like Microsoft Paint with dark mode enabled, the code may appear unreadable. This does NOT affect scanning functionality. For best results, open the QR code in a browser, use the default Photos app, or insert it into a slide or document.

2. If the learner is not already logged into the Totara site they will be prompted to login.

3. Once logged in, the system will validate that the seminar event self-attendance registration window is open, and validate the learner is booked on the seminar event.

4. If valid, the learner will the be marked as Fully attended.

The following table outlines the messages learners may encounter when using self check-in, based on timing, session status, and system configuration.