Midnight Shifts is a simple feature that enables Flex Courses to seamlessly track student attendance sessions during overnight shifts.

 

Feature Description

Enabling Midnight Shifts on Flex Courses

 

Midnight Shifts is a new setting that is available to all schools and can be enabled by simply enabling the midnightShift setting within your school configurations. When Midnight Shifts is enabled, whenever a student remains checked in at midnight, the system will automatically check students out of the current session and into the next, whenever available. Please note the following:

• midnightShift should only be enabled on Flex Courses
• midnightShift is not yet compatible with Attestations or Autocheckout or non-Flex courses
• midnightShift setting status will always be displayed on the Course Info UI
  • Midnight Shift: Off (default) or On
• midnightShift respects MaxPerDay thresholds, when enabled. If a student has reached the MaxPerDay value before midnight, the student will not be automatically pushed into the next flex session on the next calendar day.
• At this time, there is no concept/enforcement of a max number of consecutive Midnight Shift adjustments

Course Info page on a Flex Course with Midnight Shift enabled

 

Student Experience with Midnight Shifts Enabled

 

When Midnight Shift is enabled, the system will automatically check students out of attendance at midnight if they have not already checked out. It will also check them into the next session, if one is available - and that’s it! Students, admins, and instructors no longer need to take any specific actions to work around the midnight border during overnight shifts.

 

Midnight Shifts & Attendance Reporting

 

As is the case today, any hours awarded on Flex sessions will continue to be attributed to the respective calendar days on which they were earned, even if Midnight Shift has been enabled to automatically move students across the midnight border.

 

In the example above, notice the 4 hour real-life attendance session crosses midnight, and the corresponding time awarded is split between two Flex calendar days.

 

The Flex Attendance UI will not throw any blue flags associated with midnightShift activity. However, for transparency that Midnight Shift was applied on an attendance session, the UI will report an additional note on the applicable session records:

• Check Out Note
  • title: "Policy Adjustment - Midnight Shift"
  • note: "Midnight Shift Enabled: Student was automatically checked out of the session and will continue their attendance in the next day's session"
    
    
• Check In Note
  • title: "Policy Adjustment - Midnight Shift"
  • note: "Midnight Shift Enabled: Student was automatically checked in to this session to continue their attendance"
    
    
• Notes when Student has reached the OverMax threshold, and Midnight Shift (when applicable)
  • title: "Policy Adjustment - Midnight Shift"
  • note: “Midnight Shift automatic check out ignored. Student has already earned the number of hours specified by the Max Per Day setting.”

FAQ

 

Q: As is commonly the case, what if a course has consecutive 24 hour flex sessions scheduled throughout the week? Is it possible for a student who never checks out to be auto-CICO’d twice consecutively?

A: Yes, there are no specific maximums in place. Make sure to keep an eye on the students and leverage the Max Per Day setting when applicable. You can also keep an eye on the "Students Did Not Check Out" attendance report, as currently-checked-in students will be included in the report.

 

Q: What happens if Midnight Shift is enabled on a course with Max Per Day configured, and a student is already OverMax BEFORE midnight?

A: To respect the Max Per Day setting, the student will not be automatically pushed into the next calendar day. There will be a corresponding note in the Attendance Records to indicate this.

 

Q: How real-time is the Midnight Shift adjustment?

A: The system will automatically transfer the student to the next Flex session within 5 minutes of 12:00am. Neither students nor staff/admins need to take any actions to prompt or accept the transfer.

 

Q: Today, Flex sessions end at 11:59:00 PM and start at 12:00:00 AM and cannot be customized, which means there is always a 1 minute gap between the sessions on 2 consecutive calendar dates. Does that mean, with Midnight Shifts enabled, there could be upwards of 1 minute unaccounted for when students cross midnight?

A: Yes

 

Q: Do I need to create a new flex config just for this new Midnight Shift setting, or can I enable the setting on an existing flex config?

A: There is no issue with enabling Midnight Shift on existing flex configs, but note that Midnight Shifts will only be enabled on NEW courses created AFTER the setting has been enabled. In other words, you cannot retroactively enable Midnight Shifts on existing flex courses.

 

Q: When a student has been pushed from Flex Day 1 to Flex Day 2 using Midnight Shifts, if they haven’t checked out of Flex Day 2, will they be flagged on the “Student Did Not Check Out” attendance report?

A: Yes