2nd Kelantan International Learning and Innovation Exhibition 2019

(KILIEx 2019)
Aug 19th-20th, 2019, UiTM Kelantan, Malaysia

Autonomous Attendance Monitoring System

Muhamad Hakim Ahmad Dzarawi Muhamad Alif Zhafri Md Azman
Mohamad Iqmal Ussaiq Ismail
Faculty of Information Management Faculty of Information Management
Faculty of Information Management
Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan
Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan
Kelantan Kelantan
Kelantan
Machang, Kelantan, Malaysia Machang, Kelantan, Malaysia
Machang, Kelantan, Malaysia muhamadhakimahmaddzarawi@[Link] alifzhafri59@[Link]
iqmalussaiq@[Link]
Mohd Idzwan Mohd Salleh
Mohamad Rahimi Mohamad Rosman Faculty of Information Management
Faculty of Information Management Universiti Teknologi MARA
Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Kelantan,
Cawangan Kelantan, Machang, Kelantan, Malaysia
Machang, Kelantan, Malaysia idzwan201@[Link]
rahimimr@[Link]

Abstract— Absenteeism is an act of habitual absence from problems faced by organization nowadays. Companies,
work or schools. Absenteeism is considered as one of the worst schools, and universities are all facing the same problem
social problem that may lead into another social problems, when it comes to absenteeism. For example, universities
such as theft, drug, and bullying. Chronic absenteeism affects undertook many approaches to prevent student absenteeism.
the performance of the individual; as well as those around One of the approaches is attendance taking. Attendance is a
them. In the context of Malaysian, Ministry of Education form of a basic tool and most important criteria needed in all
recorded that more than 37, 000 students were found absence the education system. In the context of Malaysian
from schools in the year 2017. Recent survey on the similar educational institution, many private and public universities
issue within the university context show that approximately 15
are still practicing the conventional method of taking daily
students were barred from examination due to poor
students‘ attendance. Academic staff usually needs to print
attendance. Henceforth, there is a need for a new mechanism
to replaced conventional attendance taking method. Therefore,
out the printed attendance sheet and bring it with them to the
Autonomous Attendance Monitoring System (AMoS) was class. However, sometimes using the conventional method
developed in three stages. First, a qualitative study was can cause problem such as: (1) Forgetting to print out the
conducted to investigate the problem with attendance attendance sheet, (2) missing or misplaced of the attendance
monitoring. Then, the prototype of AMoS was developed based sheet, (3) Did not bring the attendance sheet to the class, (4)
on PHP programming language, MySQL database, HTML5, miscalculate number of absenteeism, and (5) probability of
CSS3, and jQuery. Lastly, a quantitative study was conducted student to cheat friend signature. Attendance Monitoring
to measure the extent of user satisfaction towards using AMoS. System is proposed to help or reduce lecturer‘s work. This
In term of novelty, AMoS improved the current absenteeism system facility to access or manage the attendance
workflow implemented at UiTM, introduce new novel ideas of information of all the classes. Student by default is assumed
autonomous YY-ZZ monitoring, and a new absenteeism scale to be present as number of present will be higher than the
Ami-X. The system can be commercialized to any organization, absentees for most of the attendance report. After that,
such as academic institution; kindergarten, schools, lecturer is allowed to change or modify absentee‘s
universities, boarding schools, etc. The prototype of AMoS is attendance data. This system will automatically count the
protected by Copyright Act 1987, and available online at number of absents and the percentage of present for the
Google Play Store. entire student based on the subject classes. Once the number
of absent exceed the attendance policy, appropriate warning
Keywords— autonomous, attendance monitoring,
information system, absenteeism, and social problem.
letter will be generated automatically to be given to the
absent. Hence, this system provides a tedious work in
maintaining attendance records besides saving time to
I. INTRODUCTION analyse every attendance list and assuring the calculation
Malaysia Higher Education level additionally been made was error-free.
known as the post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary
education. It is an optional final stage of formal learning that II. LITERATURE REVIEW
occurs after completion of secondary education. Usually
delivered at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, According to Merriam Webster dictionary [1],
conservatories, and institutes of technology, education is absenteeism means chronic absence. If it is being talk in
additionally obtainable through sure college-level context of education, it‘s the habitual or intentional failure
establishments, as well as job colleges, trade colleges, and from going to school. This issue cannot be denied that no
different career schools that award educational degrees or matter whether now or then, it is will continuously happen if
skilled certifications. Absenteeism is one of the crucial there were not action taken. Student who absent to class will
miss some education activity that may leads to many

Kelantan International Learning & Innovation Exhibition (KILIEx) 2019 © Universiti Teknologi MARA Kelantan Branch 22
problems that soon will gives bad impacts on their academic movements and locations of students in a classroom of
progress for their study. Besides that, in the context of higher school or university environment. A real time intelligent
education level like university itself faced many issues when system is implemented in conjunction with RFID hardware
were talk about the absenteeism. As an example for the to record students‘ attendance at lectures and laboratories in
attendance, lecturer got the responsibility to take the a school/university environment. RFID is a technology that
student‘s attendance before or after they start the teaching allows for a tag affixed on identity card to communicate
and learning process. Attendance is one of the most wirelessly with a reader, in order for the tag‘s identifier to be
important things that needs to be taken as to know which retrieved.
students attend or absent to class. But, currently there are
many problems that had faced by the lecturer especially in Furthermore, according to Othman, Ismail and Raus [5],
taking and managing the attendance. the development of an information system must follow a
proper development methodology. The study is focussing on
According to Astrid Schmulian and Stephen Coetzee [2], the development of a web-based attendance register system
there is a positive correlation between class attendance and or also be called as ARS. The reason why this system was
academic performance. The study discovered that proposed and developed because the authors knew that the
absenteeism leads to negatively impacts in education. capability of web-based system that now become one of the
Commonly issues that appear was lecturer (person in-charge) important thing or preferable technologies as to ease the
sometimes forget where they put the attendance, student process of managing data and records resulted from the
cheats on helping their friend signed the attendance who attendance taken. Besides that, the authors also stated in the
absent to class, lecturer forget to bring the attendance to the article that, the efficiency and effectiveness of the web-based
class and so on. This problem will affect the validity and system in handling rapid access of documents and its ability
management of the attendance itself. Each of attendance in supporting multi-users simultaneously, thus saving a lot of
consists of vital information that are very useful to determine time and hassle free.
and proof whether the student is guilty or not whenever they
were called by the management when their attendance is III. METHODOLOGY
lower from the percentage‘s attend to class that a student
need to follow. As to mention more detail, student who less Autonomous Attendance Monitoring System (AMoS)
attend to class and got lower percentage will get a warning was developed in three stages. First, a qualitative study was
from the management before the next action be taken. The conducted to investigate the problem with attendance
students need to take the warning as a serious matter because monitoring. Then, the prototype of AMoS was developed
they could be dispelled from their study. Usage of manual based on PHP programming language, MySQL database,
methods in taking and handle the attendance leads to many HTML5, CSS3, and jQuery. Lastly, a quantitative study was
bad factors. As to ensure the management could be parallel conducted to measure the extent of user satisfaction towards
with the latest technology revolution nowadays, author using AMoS. However, due to the limitation of this research
proposed the action is taken attendance will be done in paper, this study will only discuss the quantitative
computerized or digitized so that it will be more smooth. methodology of AMoS. The previous stages have been
submitted for a journal publication elsewhere.
In another study, Raid [3] proposed the development and
implementation of another medium or strategic that could be A. Instrument Development
use in a long term as to manage the process of collecting
student attendance to the class more effectively. Besides that, A quantitative approach was adopted for data collection.
based on this article proposed methods, it‘s stated that the Items were adopted from similar previous study. The
process of taking and managing the attendance will be easier completed instrument was sent to the experts for pre-test.
to organize, monitor and evaluate if it is being use. So, its The instrument was modified based on the recommendation
mean that by using more systematic methods in managing and suggestions from the expert review process. Then, the
the attendance, it will be more precise and better. In a simple instrument was distributed for a pilot test; Cronbach alpha
word, the author wants to make the improvement or was used to determine the reliability of the instrument.
revolution of the ways the attendance was managed right Actual data collection takes place for 2 months. Respondents
now change to be better into computerized. selected were students at the Faculty of Information
Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA Kelantan Branch.
Moreover, according to Patel, Patel, and Gajjar [4], The respondents were selected based on convenience
student‘s attendance is one of the important part for any sampling. The following table 1 shows the variables use in
organizations or institutions. Recording and monitoring of the study.
class attendance is an area of administration that can require
significant amounts of time and effort no matter whether in a
TABLE I. LIST OF VARIABLES
school or university environment, largely due to the amount
of time required in lectures to get the necessary information. Variable Number of items
Besides that, the authors also stated and proposed the usage System quality 4
of online student‘s attendance monitoring system in
classroom using radio frequency identification technology Information quality 4
may lead to better student‘s attendance management. RFID Service quality 4
technology one of the powerful tool that are very useful in
helping to manage student‘s attendance throughout the Perceived usefulness 3
education process and also enhance classroom security. Perceived ease of use 3
RFID technology already been applied to solve problems
where it is necessary to take automatically record the User satisfaction towards AMoS 3

23
 IV. RESULTS AND FINDINGS agreed that service quality does contributing to the user
The following section discuss the result of data satisfaction towards the use of AMoS. The highest mean is
collection. The findings will be discussed in term of 6.1591 while the lowest mean is 5.9773.
descriptive analysis.
TABLE V. SERVICE QUALITY
A. Demographic profile Mean Std Deviation
Item
The following table II shows the demographic profiles of AMoS anticipates and responds
5.9773 1.08881
respondents. A total of 44 respondents involved in the data promptly to user request
collection process. Most respondents were female (65.9) AMoS instills confidence in users
6.0000 0.94006
while male was 31.1%. In term of study mode, the majority and reduces uncertainty
AMoS understands and adapts to
of student enrolled for fulltime course (95.5%), while part- the user specific needs
6.1591 0.93866
time and SML made up the rest. AMoS provides follow-up service to
6.0000 0.86266
users
TABLE II. DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILES

Item Description Frequency Percentage (%)

Table VI shows the mean and standard deviation for
perceived usefulness. From the table, it can be concluded that
Male 15 34.1 respondents agreed that perceived usefulness does
Gender
Female 29 65.9 contributing to the user satisfaction towards the use of
AMoS. The highest mean is 6.0909 while the lowest mean is
Fulltime 42 95.5
6.0455.
Study Mode Part Time 1 2.3

SML 1 2.3 TABLE VI. PERCEIVED USEFULNESS

Diploma 14 31.8 Item Mean Std Deviation

Study Level AMoS improves my learning
Degree 30 68.2 6.0909 0.88444
performance
AMoS increases my learning
6.0455 0.91384
Table III shows the mean and standard deviation for effectiveness
AMoS enhances my learning
system quality. From the table, it can be concluded that experience
6.0909 0.88444
respondents agreed that system quality does contributing to
the user satisfaction towards the use of AMoS. The highest
mean is 6.1818 while the lowest mean is 5.9091. Table VII shows the mean and standard deviation for
perceived ease of use. From the table, it can be concluded
that respondents agreed that perceived ease of use does
TABLE III. SYSTEM QUALITY
contributing to the user satisfaction towards the use of
Item Mean Std Deviation AMoS. The highest mean is 6.2955 while the lowest mean is
AMoS has an easy navigation to 6.2045.
6.1818 0.89632
information
AMoS has fast response and
6.2500 0.75097 TABLE VII. PERCEIVED EASE OF USE
transaction processing
AMoS can be used anytime when I
6.0909 0.83019 Item Mean Std Deviation
want to use it
Learning to operate AMoS is very
AMoS keeps error free transaction 5.9091 1.00737 6.2045 0.82348
easy for me
It is easy for me to become skillful
6.2500 0.75097
at using AMoS features.
Table IV shows the mean and standard deviation for My interaction with AMoS is clear
6.2955 0.73388
information quality. From the table, it can be concluded that and understandable
respondents agreed that information quality does
contributing to the user satisfaction towards the use of Table VIII shows the mean and standard deviation for
AMoS. The highest mean is 6.1364 while the lowest mean is user satisfaction. From the table, it can be concluded that
6.0455. respondents are satisfied with the use of AMoS. The highest
mean is 6.3409 while the lowest mean is 6.2955.
TABLE IV. INFORMATION QUALITY

Item Mean Std Deviation TABLE VIII. USER SATISFACTION TOWARD AMOS

AMoS provides complete Item Mean Std Deviation

6.0455 0.86144
information
All things considered, I am very
AMoS provides accurate
6.1364 0.82380 satisfied with the AMoS 6.3182 0.73998
information
performance
AMoS provides reliable information 6.1364 0.73424 All things considered, I am very
AMoS provides information in pleased with the experience of using 6.2955 0.70148
6.0455 1.09872 AMoS.
appropriate format
Overall, my interaction with the
6.3409 0.71343
AMoS is very satisfying.
Table V shows the mean and standard deviation for service
quality. From the table, it can be concluded that respondents

24
 V. CONCLUSIONS
The study attempted to investigate the extent of user satisfaction with Attendance Monitoring System
(AMoS). A quantitative study was conducted at the Faculty of Information Management, Univesiti
Teknologi MARA Kelantan branch. A total of five determinants were identified; each was descriptively
discussed in the findings section.

However, this study is not without limitation. First, we only use minimal number of variables for this
study. Future study should include more variables to gain more insight from the data analysis, such as task
complexity, task resources, and individual factors. Second, due to lack of respondents involves with the pilot
run of the information system, this study can only rely on the small number of respondents. Future data
collection should be conducted when the propose system have been fully implemented.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The researchers would like to thank the respondents at Faculty of Information Management, Universiti
Teknologi MARA Kelantan Branch, Malaysia that contributed to the success of the research. The prototype
of Attendance Monitoring System has won a Diamond and Gold medal award at 2019 Student Innovation,
Invention, and Design Competition (SIIDCOM) organized by Universiti Teknologi MARA Kelantan, and
also a Gold medal award at Bujang Valley International Innovation, Invention and Design Competition 2019
(BVIIEC) organised by Universiti Teknologi MARA Kedah.

REFERENCES

[1] Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Absenteeism. Retrieved from

[Link] aign=s
d&utm_medium=serp&utm_source=jsonld
[2] Schmulian, A., & Coetzee, S. (2011). Class absenteeism: Reasons for non-attendance and the effect on academic
performance. Accounting Research Journal, 24(2), 178-194.
[3] Reid, K. (2006). Raising school attendance: A case study of good practice in monitoring and raising standards.
Quality Assurance in Education, 14(3), 199-216.
[4] Patel, R., Patel, N., & Gajjar, M. (2012). Online students‘ attendance monitoring system in classroom using radio
frequency identification technology: a proposed system framework. International Journal of Emerging Technology
and Advanced Engineering, 2(2), 61-66.
Othman, M., Ismail, S. N., & Raus, M. I. M. (2009). The development of the web-based Attendance Register System (ARS) for higher
academic institution: From feasibility study to the design phase. International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, 9(10),
203-208