FAQ
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For professors
1. What is SmartSeats?
SmartSeats is IE's new tool for managing class attendance. It is integrated with Blackboard and lets students check in using the NFC tag installed in their seat.
2. How do I access SmartSeats?
You access it from the corresponding course in Blackboard. If SmartSeats does not yet appear in the course content, it must be added from the Blackboard Content Market following the available guide or with help from the support team.
3. What do I need to do before starting class?
Check that you can access SmartSeats from Blackboard and that the session, room and student list appear correctly.
In case of any problems with your course, contact us at milena.janowska@collab.ie.edu.
4. How do students record their attendance?
When check-in starts in SmartSeats, each student taps their phone on the NFC tag installed in their seat and follows the on-screen instructions. Once the process is complete, their attendance is recorded in SmartSeats and later in Blackboard Attendance.
For more information about the student experience in SmartSeats, go to the student guide. Feel free to download it and share it with the group if needed.
5. How can I check who has checked in?
Inside the session you can review the seating chart and the student list. The system will show which students have successfully recorded their attendance.
Later this data will be synchronized with Blackboard in the Attendance section. You can edit it there, if needed.
6. How do I edit attendance?
After the session is finished, all data travels back to Blackboard Attendance. You can edit it there.
7. What do I do if a student is in class but cannot check in?
First check whether they are signing in with their institutional account and whether they have an internet connection. If the problem persists, record or correct their attendance manually, using the roster on the right-hand side of the seating chart, and ask the student to report the issue through the channel available inside the SmartSeats app. You can report the issue to your program directory or directly to us at: milena.janowska@collab.ie.edu.
8. What do I do if the course, room, session or roster is incorrect?
Do not modify academic information yourself. Report the issue indicating the course name, group, date, time, room and the incorrect data so the Blackboard sync can be reviewed, through the channel available inside the SmartSeats app or by email to milena.janowska@collab.ie.edu.
9. Does SmartSeats also record participation?
SmartSeats includes attendance and participation features, but the initial rollout focuses exclusively on check-in. Participation is available but it is currently in the BETA version and will be introduced gradually once the attendance functionality is rolled out across all three campuses.
10. Who is “smartseat.integration”, listed as course creator in my Blackboard roster?
It is the technical user that keeps the course calendar in sync with SmartSeats. It does not teach, grade or change any academic content, so you can simply ignore it in your roster while it does its job in the background.
11. How should incidents be reported?
Incidents must be logged through the feature available in SmartSeats. The report should include user, role, course, session, date, time, room, device, problem description and screenshots when possible. The project owner is milena.janowska@collab.ie.edu.
12. Where can I get training or help?
There will be weekly training sessions and office hours. Specific materials for professors will also be available, along with a support channel for reporting issues. Join one of our training sessions or contact us at milena.janowska@collab.ie.edu.