Zoom meetings include a list of participants that are signed in and connected to the meeting at any time. We’ve found that taking screenshots of this participants list and later matching those with a class roster is a reliable way to capture attendance during Zoom meetings. If you have a course assistant, faculty assistant, or co-instructor, consider having them help with this. The process is described below.
(Another approach to attendance-taking is to use the Zoom Usage Reports feature to view a list of participants who attended meetings that you’ve hosted. Be aware that your usage report may miss any students who were not signed into their Zoom account with their SUNet ID or students who dialed into the meeting by phone).
Before taking attendance, make sure your students have their names displayed properly
- Students need to be logged into Zoom from their Stanford account. If a student is not logged into Zoom from their Stanford account, they will show up as a guest in the meeting and/or their full name may not be displayed properly. Encourage students to log into the Zoom desktop client with their Stanford login before joining the meeting and ensure that their full name is displayed once they join.
- Any students sharing a computer will need to temporarily update their name to include the names of all other students in the room. Students may share a computer to login to a Zoom meeting if they are roommates or are co-located and are taking the same course. By default, Zoom will only display the name of the student whose account is being used to connect. Ask any students logging in from an account together to temporarily change their name in Zoom to include the names of all students joining the meeting together.
- The Zoom Participant list, which you will take screenshots from, does not stay static throughout a meeting. If a student mutes, unmutes, raises their hand, or takes other actions in Zoom, the order of the participant list will shift. Avoid taking attendance screenshots during a lively discussion. You can also get around this issue by using a screenshotting tool called Snagit (instructions included below).
When you’re ready to take a screenshot, follow these steps
- Click the Participants menu at the bottom of the Zoom meeting to display the participant list.
- Take a screenshot of the participant list. If you cannot capture all student names in one screenshot, scroll down the list and take additional screenshots.
- Consider taking screenshots at multiple points during the meeting – one early on and one at the end. This can help capture anyone who joined late, left early, or was temporarily disconnected from the meeting.
For large classes, consider using Snagit
Snagit is a screenshot tool that enables you to take “panoramic screenshots” of scrolling windows or multiple pages. This is a handy feature for capturing images of Zoom participant lists for large classes. The instructions below walk you through this process.
Use Snagit to Take Panoramic Screenshots of the Zoom Participant List
After you’ve captured your screenshots for the Zoom meeting, compare the names to a class roster
Save your images with the date (and time, if applicable). Then, match up the names to a class roster. Your faculty assistant can help with this.
