Engagement and attendance

The Student Engagement Roster (SER) tool lets Indiana University faculty and staff give students timely, effective feedback to actively encourage engagement that leads to graduation.

As an institution that administers Title IV aid, we also must report student attendance and engagement in academic activity to a variety of entities for compliance purposes.  The SER roster allows faculty to report on all these areas in one convenient location.      

The SER roster, available to faculty from the first day of class through the end of the semester, serves several purposes:

• It allows for quick, intentional intervention with students who may need assistance.
• It provides an easy mechanism to report attendance for registrar and financial aid enrollment audits to ensure compliance with federal and IU policy, and
• It provides a way for faculty to invoke the administrative withdrawal policy – dropping students due to poor attendance and/or participation.

Purdue Fort Wayne faculty are not able to submit feedback. 

You’re expected to explain the student engagement roster to your classes via an explanation on the class syllabus or an announcement on Canvas. A notice might read as follows:

This semester I will be using IU’s Student Engagement Roster to provide real-time feedback on your performance in this course. Periodically throughout the semester I will be entering data on factors such as your class attendance, participation, and success with coursework. This information will help you see how you are faring in the course and offer you suggestions on how you might be able to improve your performance.

Accessing the roster

You can access the student engagement roster via the Student Engagement Roster (Faculty) app in One.IU.  It’s also available on every Canvas course site in the course navigation menu. 

You’ll report activities for undergraduate students related to attendance, participation, and assignments using Observations. You’ll also have the opportunity to provide Recommendations for encouragement or improvement.

Graduate faculty should plan on reporting attendance at least once each semester. 

You may save an engagement roster as often as you’d like; each time you click the SUBMIT button, your changes are recorded.

Attendance verification

During the fall and spring terms, attendance verification using the SER system should be completed by all instructors (undergraduate and graduate/professional) at least once from between the 2^nd and the 6^th week of the semester.  Specifically, students with no evidence of having attended class or having logged into Canvas should be identified as "Never Attended" in the SER system.

Effective Fall 2025, the SER roster will replace the old, separate administrative withdrawal roster, providing faculty teaching eligible courses with a single place to complete the request to drop a student. 

This faculty policy, applicable only to those teaching undergraduate courses that are at least 6 weeks long, gives you the authority to administratively withdraw students in your course who have missed more than half of your course meetings and/or required activities during the first 25 percent of the course duration.  

You must include information on your syllabus if you intend to invoke the administrative withdrawal policy as this may have an impact on a student’s financial aid awards and/or student visa status.

Submit a request to administratively withdraw a student by choosing one of the following Observations:

• “Stopped Attending” (and enter a last date of attendance) or “Never Attended”

And

• Using the Note field to indicate the drop request: “Drop due to poor attendance/participation”

The Office of the Registrar will notify all faculty teaching eligible courses about the administrative withdrawal window, including required submission deadlines and the dates when students will be withdrawn from their courses. Because faculty are encouraged to provide student feedback regularly via the SER roster, the removal of students from your class will only be done when the exact combination of Observation AND Note as outlined above is submitted during the administrative withdrawal window.

Informing your students about the administrative withdrawal policy

You must include specific language about administrative withdrawal in your syllabus to inform students that administrative withdrawal may have an effect on their financial aid awards and/or student visa status. We recommend the following language:

Administrative Withdrawal: A basic requirement of this course is that you will participate in all class meetings and conscientiously complete all required course activities and/or assignments. Keep in touch with me if you are unable to attend, participate, or complete an assignment on time. If you miss more than half of the required activities within the first 25 percent of the course without contacting me, you may be administratively withdrawn from this course. Example: Our course meets twice per week; thus, if you miss more than four classes in the first four weeks, you may be withdrawn. Administrative withdrawal may have academic, financial, and financial aid implications. If you are administratively withdrawn from the course, it will be after the refund period so you will not be eligible for a tuition refund. If you have questions about the administrative withdrawal policy at any point during the semester, please contact me.

Tailor the example to indicate the number of course meetings or required activities that fit the syllabus for your section.