Events and absences
Absence management offers the option of keeping attendance lists online and documenting absences. Attendance is monitored for each course. To this end, appointments can be created for the course, which can then be divided into several units. For example, a morning (=appointment) can be divided into several time blocks (=units). The units allow participants to miss individual units on a date without being marked as absent for the entire date. These units are also created in the course by course owners (or synchronized with OpenOlat from an external administration system).
If the course owner has enabled (configured) appointment and absence management for the course in Administration > Settings > Implementation, the menu item "Events and absences" is displayed to course owners in the course administration (for recording the duration data).
Here you can create and edit course dates and record absences.
Note
Course coaches will not find this item in the course administration menu. They can access the screen for recording absences via the icon in the toolbar.
Course owners can also use the icon in the toolbar to record data. However, in the menu under Administration, you will also find the option reserved for them to create appointments.
Tab Events
Display events
In this tab, event can be pre-filtered according to various criteria and new ones can be created.
For details about an event, click on the + at the beginning of the relevant line.
Under the three dots at the end of each line, you will find additional options for editing the respective event and creating lists.
Create/Edit event
To add further events, use the "Add event" button at the top right above the list in the "Events" tab.
A pop-up window will open for you to enter all the details for the event.
Title: Give it a meaningful name.
Characteristic: The optional specification of a label serves to distinguish between events with the same title.
Date: A date must be specified.
Time: The time field is also mandatory. This is because calendar entries, for example, can only be displayed correctly if a time is specified.
Unit: This specifies how many (time) units this event comprises.
An event can comprise 1–12 units.
Example: An event lasts 2 hours, divided into 4 thematic units (4 x 0.5 hours).
Place: This is where you specify where this appointment will take place. This could be a location or the exact room name, for example.
Online Meeting: If the appointment is to take place online, the meeting can be organized directly from here.
Lecturers: A course coach must be selected for each appointment. Only the selected course coach can carry out attendance checks. (Only a person who also has the role of "Coach" can be added as a lecturer.) If a course owner also wishes to take on this role, they must additionally register as a course coach for the course.
Description: Here you can optionally add a description for the appointment.
Preparation/Follow-up: If you would like to give participants a pre- or post-assignment for the respective event, you can add it here. It will be displayed in the calendar if the dates are synchronized with the course calendar (Course Administration > Settings > Implementation tab).
Presence: If the switch is set to "Off," absence recording is deactivated.
Copy or delete events
As soon as at least one event is selected in the first column, buttons for copying and deleting events appear above the list of events.
Alternatively, the options for copying and deleting can be accessed via the three dots at the end of a line.
Import events
It is also possible to import events that have been exported elsewhere in OpenOlat. To do this, click on the small arrow next to the "Create event" button in the "Events" tab.
Cancel events
Events can be canceled using the event icon in the toolbar.
Close events
Events are closed using the appointment icon in the toolbar.
Reopen events
A completed event can be reopened by course owners. You will find the option under the three dots in the row of an appointment.
Manage teachers
As soon as at least one date is selected in the first column, the button for managing teachers appears above the list of events.
Exclude Participants
When you open the detailed view of an event (by clicking on the + at the beginning of the relevant line), an icon with three dots is displayed at the bottom. There you will find the option to exclude participants from the selected event.
Tab Participants
The "Participants" tab provides an overview of all participants in the course or selected groups. (Excluding owners and coaches.)
Initial registration
The date of initial registration defines when participants started the course.
Units
Here you can see how many units this event comprises.
Present
The "Present" column calculates the attendance rate for events that have already taken place. For example, if only one event has taken place and the participant was present, 100% will be displayed in the "Attendance" column.
The attendance rate is calculated based on the date of initial registration. Events that took place before the date of initial registration are not included in the calculation.
Unexcused
Excused
Dispensed
Progress
Progress is displayed graphically. Green symbolizes attendance, orange symbolizes excused absences, and red symbolizes unexcused absences or missed events.
The attention column with the symbol indicates whether the defined attendance rate has been achieved. If a red exclamation mark is displayed, the required limit has not been reached.
The info column displays information that deviates from the default settings. This could be a personal threshold value or a later course start date, for example. These two options can be defined in the settings (pencil icon). The personal threshold value defines the attendance rate to be achieved for the participant(s) in question.
Customize the threshold for mandatory attendance
The threshold value for compulsory attendance set for the course can be adjusted individually. To do this, select the relevant person in the Participants tab and click on the edit icon.
Tab Appeals
If appeals have been submitted, you can get an overview under this tab as the course owner. Filters help you when there are a large number of appeals.
Appeals are usually processed by absence administrators, who can access all appeals across courses in the central cross-course absence management system.
Further information
Basic concept Events and Absences >
Activation and configuration of absence management by administrators >
Configuring absence management in a course >
Registering and managing absences in a course by coaches>
Personal absences >
Cross-course absence recording in the coaching tool >
Cross-course absence management by absence administrators>