Overview

This guide explains how to create and use the Scheduler activity.

Contents

Video guide

This video will show you how to create "sign-ups" in Learning Space, using the Scheduler activity.

What is the Scheduler activity?

The scheduler activity provides a way to facilitate students being able to book an appointment for a chosen activity or event. Examples would include the ability for students to book a weekly tutorial slot, or for students to book onto a special guest speaker event related to a course or module.  Schedules can be used for individuals or for groups, with this guide covering scheduling for individuals, which is the far more common use-case scenario.  

A Scheduler can be identified by a calendar icon.

Hyperlink iconGroup Scheduler: There is a separate guide which covers the settings you need to choose if you wish to setup a schedule for group bookings using Learning Space Groups.

Creating the scheduler activity

Navigate to the module / course page that you want to add the Scheduler activity to and ensure that you have editing enabled by clicking the "Edit mode" button.

Scroll down to the section on the page that you want to add the activity to and select 'Add an activity or resource'.

From the pop-up window click on 'Scheduler'.

Configuring the scheduler

General 

Enter a name for your scheduler and then add a description in the ‘Introduction’ text area. Text in the introduction field will be available for students to view after they click the activity to open it and should include information about the booking e.g., what the bookings are for, where they will take place and details about what you would like individuals to bring along to the session. 

Options  

In this section, you need to enter dates/times and select your preferences for appointment slots. 

  • Staff role – leave blank 
  • Mode – Select how many appointments each student can select in this scheduler or at a time. 
  • In this scheduler – the student is allowed to book the chosen number of slots in total for this schedule e.g., if set to 3, each student can book a total of 3 slots in this schedule. 
  • At a time – the student is allowed to book onto the selected number of slots at any one time.e.g., if set to 2, the student is allowed to be booked onto a maximum of 2 slots within this schedule at any one time. Once their first slot has been attended / completed, they are able to book a further slot. 
  • Booking in groups – Leave the default setting ‘No’ unless you have created Groups and want to allow group bookings.  If you do wish to do this, you should read our separate guide explaining the settings needed to setup schedules for Learning Space Groups. 
  • Guard time – If set this will prevent students from changing their booking shortly before the appointment e.g., if set to 2 hours, students will be unable to book a slot that starts in less than two hours. 
  • Default slot duration – The length in minutes of appointment slots 
  • Notifications – When enabled staff and students will receive notifications when appointments are made or cancelled. 
  • Use notes for appointments – Notes are useful to record details of meetings, follow ups required before the next meeting etc. Notes options include ‘none’, ‘appointment note’ (visible to staff and students, ‘Confidential note ‘(visible to staff only) and ‘both types of notes’.  

Booking form and student supplied data

This setting allows you to use a ‘booking form’ which adds an additional step that students are required to complete before being able to make a booking.  

You can use these settings to specify that certain rules must be met (for example a file submission or some text uploaded) in order to finalise the booking. A good example of this might be where the student is required to upload a draft of the work which will be discussed during the meeting. Note that this feature is disabled by default. 

To enable it, select Yes in the Use booking form setting and adjust the remaining fields as required.  

To save the options you have selected, click the Save and return to module button. This will take you back to the course or module page, where you should now see the tutorial booking icon.  

You have now created the tutorial booking. The next step is to create appointment slots for students to book.  To do this you will need to click on the schedule you've just created, in this example the schedule is called Example Scheduler Booking.  

Creating slots

Click the title of your scheduler activity to open the appointments page

Click on the Add slots link and select Add repeated slots’ 

Note: If you need to add a single slot to the scheduler, this can also be done from here. 

Work through the settings to set your appointment slots up. Each setting is detailed below.

  • Date - Select a date/time that slots will be available from 
  • Repeated time slots until - Enable repeated slots (if required) and select a date/time that slots will be repeated until. 
  • Add appointments on - Click the checkboxes next to the days that the slots will be available 
  • Time range - Select a time range – in this example bookable slots will be available between 10.00 and 12.00 
  • Divide into slots? - Select Yes 
  • Break between slots – If you want to have a gap between appointment slots enter the number of minutes. 
  • Force overlap – This setting determines how new slots will be handled if they overlap with existing slots. 
  • Maximum number of students – Allows you to specify the number of students that can book each slot – e.g., 1 
  • Location – enter the location where the appointments will take place. 
  • Display time slots to students – Options include Now if you want to share immediately, or you can select anything between one day before slot to six weeks before slot.  
  • Email reminder – Options include Never, or you can select anything between one day before slot to six weeks before slot. 

Click Save changes to create the slots within your scheduler booking. 

For information on how students interact with a schedule, please refer to the student guide on using schedules. 

Conflicting slot errors in Scheduler

When you create a slot in Learning Space, you may occasionally see an error messages such as 'The slot on <date and time> cannot be created due to conflicting slots'.

As a member of staff, you cannot be assigned to two overlapping scheduler slots. For example, if you are offering personal tutorials from 12pm-1pm, you cannot also be assigned to a workshop from 12pm-2pm in another scheduler activity, as these slots conflict with each other. These conflicts are not limited to the same course - you could conflict with another scheduler activity on any module/course/resource page in Learning Space that you're assigned to.

If such an error occurs, in order to add the slots successfully, you must either remove your slots in the other scheduler activity, or alternatively reschedule your new slots for a different time.

Manually adding a student to a slot

To add a student to a sign-up slot, first click on the scheduler activity so you can see all available slots. 

Next, find the slot you want to add the student, and click the 'cog' icon. 


Scroll to Appointment 1 and click into the ‘Search’ dropdown menu next to ‘Student’ to select the student you want to attend.

Note - If you set slots up to allow more than one student to book and wish to add another student to the time slot, click Add another student and select their name. 

Once you have added the student(s), click 'Save Changes'. 

You will then see the student name(s) next to the booking slot.  

Question mark iconFurther Support

For further support on Learning Space, or to report any issues with this guide, please get in touch with the Digital Learning Team via dlsupport@falmouth.ac.uk. Alternatively, please refer to the numerous help guides found on our Knowledge Base. 


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