Abstract

This article presents a field study arranged at a Finnish primary school where two classes and a total of 23 pupils between the ages of 6 and 8 trialed an attendance supervision system supported by Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. In the trial the pupils marked their arrival at and departure from school by touching a reader device or a NFC-enabled mobile phone with a contactless smart card. Parents were able to get their children’s attendance details via an online ‘citizen’s portal’ and through text-messages sent to their mobile phones. The system was designed to simplify attendance monitoring and to replace teachers’ manual roll calls. Information about user experience was obtained by using a variety of data collection methods. We evaluate how various aspects identified in new technology adoption affect the design processes of home-school interaction systems by examining the findings from the viewpoint of three end-user groups (children, parents and teachers). Our analysis also shows that a technology supported attendance supervision system can bring value for all end-user groups but it seems that the system will serve primarily the teachers and the parents.