Attendance by face from the faculty's phone
In the period, the faculty member's own phone recognises the class, one by one or in a class photo. It ticks them present for the faculty to check. Students of 18 or more give consent themselves, parents for younger ones; the office enrols the face, and no photo is kept.
PLANSScale only
Built; its tests are written and not yet run, and it has not yet run on a real phone. The Campus app is not in the app stores yet. We try it with you in one batch before go-live.
Why it matters
Calling 60 names takes the first ten minutes of a lecture, and proxy answers for absent friends go unnoticed. The faculty member's own phone takes the roll call from one photo of the class, or as each student looks at the phone. The faculty stays in charge: the phone only ticks, and the faculty checks and saves. Adult students give their own consent in the Campus app or at the office, and no photo is ever kept. A college can start with one batch and keep the usual register for everyone else.
The problem it solves
- The roll call of a 60-student lecture takes ten minutes, six times a day.
- Friends answer for absent students, and the faculty cannot know every face in a large class.
- Students worry about a college keeping their photos on a server.
- Face devices on the wall cost money, need wiring, and say nothing about a single lecture.
How it works
- The college publishes the consent notice. Students of 18 or more give consent in the Campus app, or at the office on the staff phone. Parents decide for students under 18.
- The office enrols each student with consent on the staff phone: three to five photos, straight and slightly to each side, with a blink. Only a list of numbers made from the face is kept.
- In the period, the faculty member opens the register. The card says how many students can be recognised, for example 48 of 60.
- By face: each student looks at the phone and blinks, the name appears with Recognised, and the next one steps up.
- Class photo: the faculty member takes one photo of the whole class with the back camera, up to three for a large hall. Each face is compared with this class only.
- The recognised students are ticked present. The faculty checks the list, unticks a wrong name, marks the rest and saves the register as always.
- When the faculty leaves the register, the phone forgets the class's faces.
Everything it does
Consent
- Nobody is enrolled without consent
- A student of 18 or more decides alone: in the Campus app, at the office with Agree here on the staff phone, or on paper
- A student under 18 is a minor: the father, mother or guardian decides, in the app or on paper
- A student without a birth date counts as a minor unless the office ticks Consents Themself
- Paper consent: Record Paper Consent on the student's Face Recognition tab, with the notice version and the scan of the signed form
- Consent status: Given, Not given, Asked or Withdrawn, with who gave it
- Saying no changes nothing else: the faculty takes that student's attendance as before
Enrolling
- Only by the Face Recognition Office on the staff view of the app, never in the browser, and never their own face
- Three to five photos with a blink; a photo is refused when too dark, too far or with two faces
- A warning when the face looks like a student already enrolled, such as a twin
Taking attendance
- Only for today's open periods of the faculty member's own timetable
- By face: one student at a time, with a blink seen within 3 seconds
- Class photo: no blink needed, the faculty is in the room; up to three photos, a student found twice counts once
- The result: Found in the photos with the match per cent, Not found, and Faces not recognised
- Too small, dark or blurred faces are not used
- Mark the not recognised absent in one tap, or one by one
- The register line shows Seen by Face; the back office has a Seen by Face filter
- A face never marks a student absent, and never saves the register on its own
What is kept
- Kept: the face template (a list of 128 numbers), the consent with its notice version, and a log of each recognition
- Not kept: any photo, not even the class photo; photos stay in the phone's memory only while they are compared
- Nobody can see or download a template, not even the administrator
- The phone finds faces with an on-device library; the picture never leaves the phone
Faculty phones
- Each faculty member's own phone becomes a face device the first time it is used, one per person and college
- It holds only the faces of the class being taken, only while that period is open
- Block a lost phone in Attendances > Face Attendance Phones: it stops at once and wipes the faces at its next contact
- A phone that has not synced for 7 days deletes the faces it holds
Withdrawing and leaving
- A student or parent withdraws in the app at any time; the face is deleted at once
- Remove Face Data deletes the face and keeps the consent, before enrolling again
- When a student leaves and is archived, the consent ends and the face is deleted, unless another SmartMy product still holds a consent
- Delete Unused Faces after a number of months: off to start with
Who uses it
StudentGives or withdraws consent in the Campus app or at the office, and sees when their face was recognised.
ParentDecides for a student under 18, in the app or on paper.
Face Recognition OfficeRecords paper consents, enrols faces, removes face data and blocks lost phones. The principal has this role.
FacultyTakes the register By face or with a Class photo, checks the ticks and saves.
AdministratorKeeps the consent notice and the face settings.
Where you use it
- The Campus app, staff view: Classes > Attendance (By face, Class photo) and Desk > Face enrolment
- The Campus app for students and parents: Face recognition, shown only when the college uses it
- Web: Face Recognition (consents, notices, settings, Match Log) and Attendances > Face Attendance Phones
- Not in the browser: faces are enrolled and recognised only in the app
- Not on a wall device: the faculty member's own phone is the device
What you control
Settings
- Consent notice: Face recognition for class attendance comes ready; add your office's contact
- Adult From (Years) on the attendance purpose: 18 to start with
- Delete Unused Faces: 0 months (never) to start with
- Match Log kept: 0 months (forever) to start with
- Devices Out of Sync: 7 days, then the phone deletes its faces
- Device Not Synced: managers told after 3 days
- Many Failed Matches: managers told at 10 in an hour
Notifications
- Face Consent Asked, Given and Withdrawn: to the student, the parents and the face managers, in the app, by push or by email
- Face Enrolled and Face Removed: to the student or the parents
- Face Device Not Synced and Many Failed Face Matches: to the face managers
- All are transactional: only a channel can be switched off
Works with
SmartMy Hostel and FeastOne face per student serves every SmartMy product the student consented to, such as the hostel gate or the mess counter. Each use has its own consent.
Questions
Does the college keep photos of our students?
No. Photos stay in the phone's memory only while the face is compared, then they are dropped. What is kept is a list of 128 numbers made from the face, which nobody can view or download.Who gives consent for a first-year student who is 17?
A parent, in the Campus app or on paper. From 18, by the birth date on the record, the student decides alone.Can a face mark a student absent?
No. A face only ticks a student present. The faculty checks the list, marks the rest and saves, and the saved register is the attendance.Will it work in a hall of 120?
Take up to three photos, one part of the hall each. Students in the back rows of a large hall may need a photo from closer. Try it in your own hall first.Do we need to buy face devices?
No. Each faculty member's own phone with the Campus app is the device, and only for the class being taken.What if a faculty member loses the phone?
The office blocks it under Face Attendance Phones. It stops at once and wipes the faces at its next contact, and it holds only one class's faces anyway.Related features
ATTENDANCE AND LEAVESubject-wise attendance registersFaculty mark each period's register on the web or on their phone, starting from all present. Students and parents see the overall percentage, each subject's figure and every absence. Exams can hold back students short of attendance, per subject or overall.APPS AND PORTALFaculty view in the appThe faculty view of the Campus app puts the day on the phone: today's lectures and registers, assignments, marks, student leave and exam duties. The same app runs the library counter and the activity instructor's sessions, and each person sees only the pages their role allows.APPS AND PORTALCampus app and web portal for students and parentsStudents sign in to the Campus app or the web portal and act for themselves: attendance, timetable, assignments, results, electives, leave, certificates, placements and fees. Parents get their own login and see the same pages, view only unless you decide otherwise.ADMISSIONS AND STUDENT RECORDSStudent records, guardians and documentsOne record per student with the programme, semester, section and mentor, the student's own login, and the father, mother or guardian with their contacts. The certificates the college holds, from the previous mark sheet to the migration certificate, are kept with numbers, scans and where the original lies.TIMETABLE, ASSIGNMENTS, NOTICESWeekly timetable and holidaysSet the periods of the day, the holidays and each programme's weekly timetable once. Faculty, students and parents see the same week, with each student's elective periods added. Every day's lectures and attendance registers are made from it.
See your own semester run in it.
Tell us how many students you have, which programmes you run, how you hold examinations and how electives are chosen today. We will show you SmartMy College set up that way.