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Cal Poly professor creates app to track student attendance

Posted at 6:18 PM, Jun 26, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-26 21:30:55-04

Cal Poly Physics Professor Tom Bensky has developed an app that uses the location on his student’s cell phones to take attendance.

Tom Bensky created an app that tracks student attendance better.

Bensky said after 18 years of teaching, he hadn’t figured out an efficient way to take attendance until now.

The app is called Are You Here and it has GPS, which means he will know if a student is really in class or not.

Are You Here app was created by a Cal Poly professor.

“I would just have to walk into class and say welcome to class everyone, please remember to check in with your phone,” Bensky said. “It was almost like magic for me.”

Benksy said he used the app to track attendance last quarter at Cal Poly, but attendance remained pretty much the same. But, he said having to physically take attendance is something he no longer has to worry about.