Are you using Scheduler? If so, how, and how well does it work for you?

[lynn_greenough]

We have had faculty ask about Scheduler, but we have not implemented it because it didn't have a high priority for development, and had some limitations. Any recommendations our there for or against?

[kona]

My English faculty love it! They do a lot of one-on-one conference sessions with students (to talk about their papers) and they think it's the best thing since sliced bread.

[shane_ohara]

 @kona 

I am curious - do you know how an instructor could user the Scheduler with their online cohort and then integrate that with the free BigBlueButton conference tool? Perhaps a note in the scheduler signup page that directs the student to access the office hours BBB session at their assigned time?

Thank you,
Shane

[kona]

 @shane_ohara ​, what you described is the best way I can think of to keep everything organized!

[RobDitto · Accepted solution]

In light of our institution's great experiences with Scheduler for three academic years, I want to give everyone in the Community a very positive recommendation. At Wharton, we have a strong tradition of faculty-student interaction outside the classroom, and Scheduler supports this need effectively on a course-by-course basis. Our most common uses of Scheduler include:

• Faculty-student meetings signup (typically lunches)
• Team project meetings outside of class
• In-class Individual or group presentation timeslot selections
• Office hours signup (either individual or group-based)

Because thedefault Canvas Notification Preference​ for appointments is ASAP, students interested in appointment signups start signing up right away -- easily the biggest "win" in this feature. Also, Scheduler has always included the Save / Save & Publish choice for creating appointment groups, a workflow now familiar to teachers and designers in Draft State.

The most significant everyday support challenge is that students not arriving via a notification link (or from the Syllabus, which provides a helpful link to each appointment group) must learn to locate the Scheduler view button in their Calendar, and then click the appointment group's name, in order to see a week-by-week view of available timeslots. In our training lesson for students, we call that view the "Scheduler weekly grid."

If your institution has switched from Moodle or Sakai, I'm sure you'll find Scheduler to be on par with Moodle Reservations or Sakai Sign Up. For everyone, if your institution has signup needs which relate to dates and times, Scheduler is absolutely worth a try. If you don't see Scheduler next to Week, Month and Agenda in your Canvas Calendar, ask your institution's Canvas admins about engaging with a Customer Success Manager to turn on this great feature.  Based on our school's experience, I'm confident that more customers using Scheduler will help build the case for future improvements.

[lynn_greenough]

Update: We had Scheduler implemented in mid September. I don't think there is heavy usage at this point, but I'm also not aware of any major issues.