Comparison of attendance and evaluation methods: paper vs digital

It’s a fact: digital technology is everywhere in our daily lives (smartphones, computers…) and it’s hard to imagine life without it. However, in education, adoption is slower. Many training organizations still rely on paper forms, arguing that “it’s always worked fine.” Yet, traditional methods have flaws, especially concerning attendance and evaluation. So, paper or digital attendance? Let’s explore.

Whether for attendance or evaluation, people tend to reduce paper costs to the obvious: buying sheets, ink, or printers. But there are more hidden expenses. Storage costs, for instance, are significant, especially since law requires attendance sheets be kept for at least five years.

Even if you manage storage efficiently, there are less visible costs like management fees. Tasks such as creating, distributing, verifying attendance sheets, entering data into systems, and correcting errors consume considerable time—time that could be automated.

The situation is similar for evaluation: collecting and analyzing paper feedback is time-consuming. SoWeSkill automates training performance evaluation to simplify this process. Since time equals money, the real costs of paper are much higher than they appear.

Choosing between paper and digital attendance goes beyond costs, especially for evaluation, where digital tools add significant value.

Digital solutions centralize data collection and automate analysis, giving precise insight into learner progress. This fosters personalization, allowing trainers and HR to adapt evaluations to individual learner profiles. For example, if a learner struggles in a particular area, the evaluation level can be adjusted accordingly.

Attendance traceability is also easier with digital tools thanks to centralized data and real-time presence monitoring. Any anomalies trigger automatic alerts to trainers.

Many training centers hesitate to go digital due to psychological barriers like fear of change and unfamiliarity with new technologies. Teachers who’ve never seen a QR code or aren’t comfortable with smartphones may resist naturally. This requires a dedicated change management approach.

Here are some strategies to overcome resistance:

• Communicate clearly about the digital benefits. With SoWeSkill and SoWeSign, this includes significant time savings, improved data reliability, and reduced repetitive tasks.

• Organize sessions for trainers to familiarize themselves with digital tools smoothly. Since today’s solutions are quite intuitive, adoption tends to be quick.

• If doubts remain, seek feedback from involved staff. Dialogue leads to the best outcomes!