My mom, a high school teacher, got her hands on some barcode scanners and wants to streamline her attendance process by scanning her students in at the start of class. I've figured out how to print barcodes using student IDs with the 3 of 9 barcode font, but I'm stuck on how to collect the scan data and present it in a format that's easy to understand. I've seen some apps and spreadsheet solutions that seem overly complicated or have paywalls, which won't work for her. What are some user-friendly suggestions for collecting these scans?
3 Answers
It’s honestly pretty surprising that schools wouldn’t just go for an online system. But yeah, funding issues make it tough. Right now, my mom’s school reads names as the kids say ‘here’. It takes time, and during a short class, scanning would definitely speed things up.
You can totally use the 3 of 9 font to scan full names, but what’s your end goal? If it’s just attendance, you could have your mom use a simple notes app on her phone. When the class starts, she can add the date to the top of a note and then scan each student in as they arrive.
I suggest checking out a USB barcode scanner—something like this one [link]. They’re cheap (around $20) and can be set on a stand so students can scan their IDs easily. The scanner works like a keyboard and inputs the barcodes into Google Sheets, where you could set up a list of students’ names. With a little trick, you can even highlight them green or red depending on whether their barcode shows up or not!
That sounds pretty straightforward! The tricky part for me is figuring out how to organize the scans so she knows who’s there and who’s missing.