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Last Date of Attendance
What is Last Date of Attendance (LDA)?听 This听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, provided they were not previously reported as “Never Attending” the class.听听
The FAQs below explains how to report a student’s last date of attendance (or engagement online or non-traditional courses) and what counts as an “academically related activity.” Previously faculty were also required to submit source documentation for certain reported dates. This is no longer a requirement to submit with final grades, but faculty should continue to keep records of how you arrived at a student’s reported LDA. Documentation is also required to change a reported LDA.
If you do not keep attendance in your course, which is not a requirement at this insitution but always suggested, you can report the last date of attendance as the mid-point of the part of term for the course being graded. The mid-point date can be found on the Term Due Dates calendar each semester. For students who complete the course but still receive a grade of F, the LDA should be entered as the date of the final exam or last day of class as applicable.
Some examples of how to determine a last date of attendance are below. If you have any questions about LDA, please reach out to Judy Money ([email protected]) or Tyler Henson ([email protected]).
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鈥檚 attendance roster. They received a grade of 鈥淔鈥� in the class. The mid-term point for the full-term was October 16.
Last Date of Attendance: 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 鈥淔鈥� in the class. The mid-term point for the full-term was October 16.
Last Date of Attendance: October 31
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 鈥淔鈥� in the class. The mid-term point for the full-term was October 16.
Last Date of Attendance: October 16 (the mid-point date)
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
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.听 They signed into Canvas on December 10, but did not complete any work. They received a grade of 鈥淔鈥� in the class.听 The mid-term point for the full-term was October 16.
Last Date of Attendance: November 15. Signing in to Canvas is not engaging in the course and would not qualify as the student鈥檚 last date of attendance/engagement. Their last activity on the discussion board is their actual LDA.
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 鈥淔鈥� in the class because they never withdrew. The mid-term point for the full-term was October 16.
Last Date of Attendance: N/A 鈥� their last date of attendance should already reflect the day before the term began since they never attended if the instructor correctly reported attendance at the beginning of the semster.
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 鈥淔鈥� 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鈥檚 note. The mid-term point for the full-term was October 16.
Last Date of Attendance: November 29. Submitting a doctor鈥檚 note and asking for an extension is not engagement, their last engagement was the dropbox submission.
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鈥檚 attendance roster. They received a grade of 鈥淔鈥� in the class. The mid-term point for the full-term was October 16. They reached out November 29 to ask if they could still pass the class if they take the final, but they do not show up for it.
Last Date of Attendance: October 8. Just because the student reached out does not mean they engaged in the course. Their last date in class would still be their LDA.
Please do not send any documents or emails with unredacted Personally Identifiable Information (PII), such as Social Security Numbers or credit card numbers, through any means other than the Dropbox, mail, or in person.
