Many of us have been teaching online lately and many of us with Zoom. One feature that I have missed is the ability to take attendance during the session. With constantly shifting video tiles and names in the Participant list, it is very difficult to keep track who is in and out of the session. I hope Zoom will introduce this simple feature soon, but in the meantime I have created a Python script that can do the job for you.
The method is simple. During your class you do an attendance call, i.e., ask students to type a certain sequence of numbers in the chat, like 222333 for example. For now the code allows for two attendance calls, which means that you can check attendance in the first and second half of the class. You have to ask for a different sequence of numbers in the second attendance call though.
The other rules are:
Ask students to use their full name if you haven't done so already
Ask not to change their name during the class
Post the code to Everyone in the chat (not privately to someone else)
Students should make sure the number is entered correctly. They can always correct and re-post.
For those of you who are not very comfortable using Python, I would recommend finding a colleague or doctoral student to run the code for you. It takes a minute once the system is set up.
Enjoy!