Creation of a NFC reading system for university attendance monitoring with accessibility considerations for powered wheelchair users

This paper considers the hardware and software implementation of a Near-Field Communication (NFC) reading system which was used to collect student attendance information in a two-year study with University Engineering students. Learning analytics has become popular with an increase in attendance monitoring activity across the higher education sector. This paper presents a bespoke in-house attendance monitoring system and has been created in the School of Engineering to conduct research to consider the benefits of such a system for staff and students. The paper highlights some of the technical decisions and it challenges faced during the implementation of the trial system and considers the accessibility of the system for powered wheelchair users. Electronic card reader hardware was purchased and installed in selected rooms in the University as part of a faculty of technology learning and teaching grant looking at Attendance monitoring. The study has concluded that the introduction of an electronic card reader system at the University of Portsmouth would not cause unacceptable delays for students entering classrooms and would contribute positively to student experience, however accessibility measures would need to be put in place to enable powered wheelchair users to engage with the system at all locations across the University premises.