[Scheduler] - Edit Appointments / Sign ups

Our instructors would like to be able to edit appointments in the scheduler instead of having to delete and recreate them.  If a student has already signed up for an appointment and it has been modified, it should notify the student and request an approval for the new time.

 

Instructors would also like to edit the sign up list.  They want to be able to add or remove course participants from the appointment.

 

There are a number of situations in which this capability would be useful.

- An instructor that has accidentally created a number of appointments and needs to change them.

- A group reschedules with the instructor, it would be easier to just modify the appointment than create a new one and have them sign up again.

- A student cancels an appointment but doesn't remove themselves from the calendar.

- The instructor needs to assign students to an appointment block. (Maybe they didn't sign up yet, but the instructor wants to lock them in)

Added to Theme

58 Comments
jordan
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

This idea is now open for voting! 😉

RobDitto
Community Champion

 @gladysie ​, the "remove" part of the second idea is already possible.  The creator of the appointment group, or any teacher, TA or designer in the same course, may click the "x" shown on the right when hovering over a signed-up student's name to clear that signup.

This overall idea gets my vote, especially since I often help our faculty delete and recreate appointments they need to move!  Many would also like to be able to sign up a student for an appointment. 

So glad to see others using Scheduler.

1086095
Community Novice

When students/groups sign up for the wrong slots, it prevents other students/groups from taking that spot (in appointment groups where participants are limited to reserve only one slot). While the instructor can remove the users who reserved in error, they cannot add people into this slot. They have to tell a student/group to sign up, wait for them to get the message and then reserve the slot- a process that can take some time.

The ability for instructors to reserve individual students/groups on their behalf would expedite this process. It provides them with a level of flexibility that will allow them to better manage their class.

I do see the conflict of interest or business logic that arises from this feature because then students do not have a say in when they can meet. What if they have another class or work during that time?

So, the other part of this feature request, which is a notification or alert that a student/group has been signed up for a slot by the instructor and that they must approve it, would be ideal. This would expedite the scheduling process, especially when errors are made in signing up and there is little time to resolve the mix-up.

RobDitto
Community Champion

Fantastic suggestion, 1086095​. Notifications have been key to our institution's success with using Scheduler, and I agree with you that an instructor signing up a student would need to notify that student.

walkers
Community Novice

I especially like the idea of adding students to the scheduler myself.

1086095
Community Novice

The need for a feature that allows instructors to sign students up on their behalf arose again today, as a bug has been detected with the Scheduler. If an instructor creates an appointment group that is available to two or more classes, only students from one class will be able to sign up.

This issue has been escalated to L2 for engineers to look into. The current work around is to create two different appointment groups, one for each course, and schedule it at different times within the same availability time frame. However, if you have already created one appointment group that has multiple dates and times, this can take a while, and you'll have to delete the original group so students will have to sign up again.

It would be great if instructors could sign their other students up on their behalf- those who are unable to sign up on their own because of this bug- instead of going through the tedious administrative tasks listed above.

RobDitto
Community Champion

1086095, thanks for sharing that information. If it's easy, could you note your bug ID number (this usually begins with CNVS-)?  Our institution has an on-hold bug about signup difficulties with appointment groups restricted to ​sections​ of two different courses; that one is CNVS-10852.

1086095
Community Novice

Hi,  @RobDitto ​- After searching, this issue is not currently communicated in the Canvas Known Issues site and, to my knowledge, does not have a bug ID number. If I hear anything from L2 or our CSM, I will make sure to update this thread.

RobDitto
Community Champion

Thanks so much for checking! I really appreciate that.

A00301621
Community Participant

@Stephanie_Walker This would be really nice because some students just email to set-up an appointment. I had a student who wasn't able to find the scheduler so she just emailed me. It would have been nice to book an appointment for her for the time she indicated in her email.