Acadly
Introduction
Acadly is a classroom attendance tracking platform and Student Response System for in-class polls and quizzes. It integrates with Blackboard, Canvas, PowerPoint, and Zoom. It can be used in in-person, online, and hybrid classes.
Acadly uses a Bluetooth based mesh-network attendance tracking technology that is both highly automated as well as fraud-resistant. Acadly's PowerPoint Add-In makes it easy for instructors to take attendance and ask poll questions in slideshow mode, without needing to switch to the website or mobile app.
Instructors can sign up using the Acadly Course Plugin available in both Canvas as well as Blackboard, or through the Acadly web app: https://app.acadly.com. The entire platform includes:
- Acadly web and mobile app for instructors and students
- Acadly Course Plugin for Canvas and Blackboard - for instructors only
- The Acadly Add-In for PowerPoint - for instructors only
- The Acadly Plugin for Zoom - for instructors only
Automated Attendance with Acadly!
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AVAILABLE TO: Faculty | Students | Staff
FUNDED BY: University
Features
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Using Acadly With Canvas or Blackboard
- Students in the course appear automatically in Acadly.
- Students can attend Zoom synchronous classes within Acadly.
- Students can chat, answer polls or take quizzes during Zoom sessions and have those activities available even after the class is over.
- Students can automatically see their grades for class activities and attendance in the LMS.
What can Acadly help instructors with?
- Tracking in-person class attendance in an automatic and fraud-resistant manner.
- Manually editing attendance whenever necessary, and collaborating with course TAs.
- Engaging students using in-class activities like polls, quizzes, discussions, and word clouds.
- Engaging students outside of class using pre-class activities.
- Exporting attendance and engagement data to their LMS gradebook (both Canvas and Blackboard).
- Bringing all the benefits mentioned above to online and hybrid classes with Zoom integration.
See the full list of Acadly features at acadly.com/features
Accessibility
Acadly offers accessibility features that allows users to easily navigate and read the Acadly web interface. The web interface supports screen readers for all available creator and viewer interfaces. The web interface also support keyboard access, allowing you to use the tab key to access all available functions. All sessions fully support adding and displaying captions.
For additional information on Acadly’s accessibility features, please visit Acadly’s Accessibility Conformance Report (WCAG Edition).
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Types of courses in Acadly
- Acadly Enterprise Course (Integrated with Blackboard and Canvas + Zoom)
Courses created through the Blackboard plugin automatically enable both the Blackboard/ Canvas and Zoom integrations. To use Blackboard without Zoom, deselect “this is an online lecture on Acadly” when setting up the lecture or course.
- Acadly Pro Course (Uses Zoom without Blackboard or Canvas)
A Pro course uses Zoom without Blackboard or Canvas. This works when LMS enrollment is inaccurate or when an instructor prefers not to use an LMS.
To set it up, log in to Acadly, tap +, and choose Create a Pro course. You’ll see a reminder explaining that if you need LMS integration, you should stop and create the course from within either Blackboard or Canvas.
- Acadly Basic Course (No integrations)
You can create one by tapping + → Create a basic course. But a Basic course offers little benefit because a Pro course lets you turn Zoom off per lecture and includes student emails in exported reports, which helps with manual Grade Center syncing. A Pro course is usually the better choice even without Zoom.
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Set Up Your Acadly in Blackboard
Login into Blackboard and go into your Original View course or Ultra View course.
Please note that Chrome is the recommended browser for using Acadly.
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Original View Course
Go into the Original View course that you want to use Acadly in
- On the navigation panel, scroll down to Course Tools under Course Management; open course tools and select Acadly Course.
- Once you click on the Acadly link, you will be prompted to import data by clicking on the Yes, Import My Data button.
- You will receive notification if your email is not linked to an Acadly account and you will be prompted to create an account by clicking on the Create A New Acadly Account button.
- You will be emailed a verification code to enter into the next screen and click the Verify button.
- You will then be prompted to set a password, check that you agree with the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, and click Continue.
- Or if you have already created an Acadly account, you will be prompted to sign in using your password.
- Next, you will need to view and set the course team, start and end date, duration, time zone, and then click Add a new weekly class button; this opens a pop-up window to add a weekly class schedule, when complete select the Done button.
- Select Save & Continue to see the course timeline, you can delete or add more classes as needed.
- Select Save & Continue again, this will bring you to the Import Student Data step, you will need to select Save & Continue and then Create Course button to confirm.
You can add a tool link in your Original View course for students to access by going to the navigation panel on the left side of your course by selecting the plus with a circle around it and selecting the tool link.
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Ultra View Course
Go into the Ultra View course that you want to use Acadly in
- You can add a tool link in your Ultra View course by going to the Books & Tools (under the Details & Actions panel on the left side of your course) and selecting the tool link.
- Once you click on the Acadly link, you will be prompted to import data by clicking on the Yes, Import My Data button.
- You will receive notification if your email is not linked to an Acadly account and you will be prompted to create an account by clicking on the Create A New Acadly Account button.
- You will be emailed a verification code to enter into the next screen and click the Verify button.
- You will then be prompted to set a password, check that you agree with the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, and click Continue.
- Or if you have already created an Acadly account, you will be prompted to sign in using your password.
- Next, you will need to view and set the course team, start and end date, duration, and time zone.
- Click Add a new weekly class button; this opens a pop-up window to add a weekly class schedule, when complete select the Done button.
- Select Save & Continue to see the course timeline, you can delete or add more classes as needed.
- Select Save & Continue again, this will bring you to the Import Student Data step, you will need to select Save & Continue to import students, and then click the Create Course button to confirm.
Please note that student enrollments are automatically added to Acadly through the set up process.
Consult the tutorials on this page or register for training before starting to use Acadly in your classroom.
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Set Up Your Acadly in Canvas
Open the Canvas course in which you want to use Acadly. Chrome is the recommended browser for using Acadly.
1. Enable Acadly in the Course Navigation
If you do not see Acadly in the left‑hand course menu:
- Select Settings at the bottom of the course navigation.
- Select the Navigation tab.
- Find Acadly Course Plugin in the list of hidden items.
- Select the three‑dot menu on the right and choose “Enable.”
- Select Save.
Acadly will now appear in your course menu.
2. Launch Acadly from the Course Menu
Select Acadly from the left‑hand navigation.
You will be prompted to import your course data.
- Select Yes, Import My Data.
3. Create or Sign In to Your Acadly Account
If your Canvas email is not linked to an Acadly account:
- Select Create a New Acadly Account.
- Enter the verification code sent to your email and select Verify.
- Set a password, agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, and select Continue.
If you already have an Acadly account:
- Sign in using your existing password.
4. Set Up Your Course in Acadly
You will be prompted to:
- Review the course team
- Set the start and end dates
- Confirm the duration and time zone
- Add weekly class meetings using Add a new weekly class
- Select Done, then Save & Continue
You will see the course timeline and can add or delete class sessions as needed.
5. Import Student Enrollment
Select Save & Continue to reach the student import step.
Canvas roster syncing is automatic, but you may be prompted to confirm by selecting Create Course.
6. Student Access
Students will access Acadly directly from the Acadly link in the Canvas course navigation.
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Getting Started with Acadly in Blackboard (videos)
- Setting up a “Blackboard-linked” Acadly course
- Syncing course enrollment and exporting grades using Acadly’s Bb plugin
- Creating a trial course to test (without Blackboard-linked functions)
Acadly’s Tutorials (How-To Guides)
- Getting started with Acadly as a professor – Part 1/2 (The basics)
- Getting Started with Acadly as a professor – Part 2/2 (Tips & Tricks)
- How to collaborate with Class Assistants for recording attendance inside the classroom
- How does Acadly use student data and what’s the privacy policy?
Attendance
- Professor Guide: Auto-attendance on Acadly
- Realtime troubleshooting during in-person attendance
- Student Guide: Auto-attendance on Acadly
- How can I check my attendance status (as a student)?
- Auto-attendance troubleshooting guide for students (iOS users)
- Auto-attendance troubleshooting guide for students (Android users)
Course Activities
- How can I add an activity?
- How can I move an activity from one class to another?
- My course just ended. Is it possible to reuse or copy its content and activities?
- Resources: How can I share a video that is not hosted on YouTube?
- Quizzes: What kind of quiz questions does Acadly support?
- Word Clouds for Classroom Discussions on Acadly | Professor Guide
- How can I export quiz, poll, attendance, participation and assignment data from Acadly?
- Can I hide or withhold quiz or poll results from students?
- Is it possible to view activities grouped by type, rather than by lecture?
- Is it possible to add activities or content to a lecture after it ends, as a post-class activity?
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Creating Courses
- How to create a course on Acadly
- How to add students to an Acadly course
- How do I remove students from my course?
- Can I add other instructors and Teaching Assistants to my course on Acadly?
- Everything you need to know about bulk-copying activities from one course to another
Course Scheduling
- How to add a recurring class to an Acadly course
- How can I cancel or reschedule my classes or lectures?
- How can I change a lecture venue?
- How can I add an extra class or extra lecture to my course?
Account Settings
- Managing your email and app notifications (push notifications)
- Why does Acadly use so many different colors on the course/class timeline? What do they mean?
- Deleting your Acadly account
- How to create a student account on Acadly
Product Demonstrations (videos)
- Attendance in in-person classes
- For in-person classes
- For online classes
- For hybrid/ blended synchronous classes
Using Acadly with Zoom (videos)
- Linking your Acadly and Zoom accounts
- Automating Zoom class attendance
- Using breakout rooms on Acadly – Here’s a blog post on B/O Room activity ideas
- Creating activities
- Creating a live class
- Understanding the in-meeting experience
- Understanding the student-side experience in online classes
- Understanding the student-side experience in hybrid classes