Last Date of Attendance

What is Last Date of Attendance (LDA)?  This refers to the last date in a semester that a student was engaged in an academically-related activity. This date must be reported during final grading for students who fail a course or receive an Incomplete grade with a default failing grade behind it, provided they were not previously reported as “Never Attending” the class.  

The documents below attempt to explain this requirement better, as well as go over the requirement to provide source documentation of how you arrived at a student’s Last Date of Attendance in certain situations. In short, you must report the last date of attendance for ALL students who fail a coure and were not reported as “Never Attending.” However, you only have to provide source documentation for how you arrived at that date for students who stopped attending after the mid-point of the term who did not complete the class.

The dates for the mid-point of a part of term can be found in the Term Due Dates calendar. Source documentation, if needed, can be submitted on Pipeline in the Faculty menu to the link under “Final Grades.”

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Examples

Example #1:

A student in a full-term course that runs August 26 through December 12 last attended the class on November 8, according to the instructor’s attendance roster. They received a grade of “F” in the class. The mid-term point for the full-term was October 16.

Last Date of Attendance: November 8

Source Documentation Required? Yes, because the student stopped attending after part of term’s mid-point but before the course ended.

Source Documentation to Provide: The attendance sheet would be perfect to scan in and submit, showing the student was last in attendance in class on November 8.

Example #2:

A student in a full-term course that runs August 26 through December 12 stopped attending sometime in November and did not complete the course, but the instructor is not sure when because they do not take attendance. However, the student took a test on October 31 per the gradebook. They received a grade of “F” in the class. The mid-term point for the full-term was October 16.

Last Date of Attendance: October 31

Source Documentation Required? Yes, because the student stopped attending after part of term’s mid-point but before the course ended as evidenced by the last exam taken.

Source Documentation to Provide: A copy of gradebook should be submitted showing the student took the course and, if the gradebook does not contain the dates of the assignments, a copy of the syllabus showing the exam date should be submitted for documentation.

Example #3:

A student in a full-term course that runs August 26 through December 12 stopped attending at some point during the semester, but the instructor is not sure when because they do not take attendance or have documentation of when assignments were submitted. They received a grade of “F” in the class. The mid-term point for the full-term was October 16.

Last Date of Attendance: October 16 (the mid-point date)

Source Documentation Required? No, because the student stopped attending and the instuctor is not tracking attendance or engagement.

Source Documentation to Provide: N/A

Example #4:

A student in a full-term online course that runs August 26 through December 12 failed the course, but took the final exam on December 10. The mid-term point for the full-term was October 16.

Last Date of Attendance: December 10

Source Documentation Required? No, because the student completed the course in its entirey through the final exam and earned their failing grade.

Source Documentation to Provide: N/A

Example #5:

A student in a full-term online course that runs August 26 through December 12 last posted in a discussion board reply on November 15.  They signed into D2L on December 10, but did not complete any work. They received a grade of “F” in the class.  The mid-term point for the full-term was October 16.

Last Date of Attendance: November 15. Signing in to D2L is not engaging in the course and would not qualify as the student’s last date of attendance/engagement. Their last activity on the discussion board is their actual LDA.

Source Documentation Required? Yes, because the student stopped attending after part of term’s mid-point but before the course ended as evidenced by the last discussion board post date.

Source Documentation to Provide: A screenshot of the last discussion board post showing the date it was posted would need to be submitted for documentation.

Example #6:

A student in a full-term online course that runs August 26 through December 12 never attended the course.  They were reported as not attending in the first two weeks of the semester during the initial attendance reporting requirement. They received a grade of “F” in the class because they never withdrew.  The mid-term point for the full-term was October 16.

Last Date of Attendance: N/A – their last date of attendance should already reflect the day before the term began since they never attended.

Source Documentation Required? No, because they never attended the course (and that is also before the mid-point date).

Source Documentation to Provide: N/A.

Example #7:

A student in a full-term online course that runs August 26 through December 12 received an Incomplete grade in the course because they were very sick the last week of the semester. Their default grade in the course is “F” because they had not completed their final exam, which could help them pass the course. They last engaged in the course by submitting work to the dropbox on November 29. They emailed on December 3 asking for the Incomplete and provided a doctor’s note. The mid-term point for the full-term was October 16.

Last Date of Attendance: November 29. Submitting a doctor’s note and asking for an extension is not engagement, their last engagement was the dropbox submission.

Source Documentation Required? Yes, because the student stopped attending after part of term’s mid-point but before the course ended as evidenced by the last dropbox assignment. The assumption is made that the default grade is correct. 

Source Documentation to Provide: A screenshot of the last dropbox submission showing the date it was submitted would need to be provided for documentation.

Example #8:

A student in a full-term course that runs August 26 through December 12 last attended the class on October 8, according to the instructor’s attendance roster. They received a grade of “F” in the class. The mid-term point for the full-term was October 16.

Last Date of Attendance: October 8

Source Documentation Required? No, because the student stopped attending before the part of term’s mid-point date.

Source Documentation to Provide: N/A