Starfish: Add, Document, Edit, and Cancel Appointments

ARTICLE INTENDED FOR:

Faculty and staff users of Starfish

INTRODUCTION:

Appointments in Starfish allow users to document narrative notes, speed notes, and appointment duration (both scheduled and actual). These functions enable reporting of time and topics covered during meetings. Appointments also allow students to check in for meetings on a Starfish kiosk.

Users can choose whether appointments are available on a drop-in basis within a time range or scheduled for a specific student for a particular duration of time. Users can add student appointments one at a time (as is demonstrated in this knowledge article), or they can open up blocks of appointment times for students to schedule themselves.

This knowledge article will cover adding, documenting, editing, and canceling appointments with a particular student. Alternatively, see the knowledge article on appointment blocks for student self-scheduling to learn more about adding, editing, and canceling blocks of available times during which students can schedule themselves for an appointment or attend drop-in hours.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS:

Add a single appointment

1. Log in to Starfish.
2. Click the Appointment button.
   
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3. The Add Appointment screen opens.
   
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4. Type the student’s name, PSU ID, or Access ID in to the Student dropdown field.
5. Select the desired student from the matches presented by Starfish.
6. Specify When the meeting will take place (date, start time, end time).
7. Select the location from the options available in the Where dropdown list.
8. Select a Reason for the meeting.
   
   • NOTE: The available reasons are based on the student’s relationship to you and the appointment types available to you through your Starfish role(s).
9. If relevant to the meeting, select a Course from the list presented.
10. Always leave the Shared radio button selected.
11. If desired, enter a Detailed Description of the meeting that will be visible to the student and anyone else viewing the appointment.
12. Click the Submit button to schedule the meeting.

Both you (as the calendar owner) and the student will receive an email with an iCal attachment for any future appointments. Appointments created to document prior meetings will not send an email. If you do not receive an email, check your email notification preferences.

The student is automatically sent a reminder of this appointment the morning of the scheduled meeting. If you set email notification preferences to receive reminders about your upcoming appointments, you will also receive an automatically-generated reminder email.

The appointment will appear on your Starfish calendar for the selected date and time and is visible on your Home page in the Appointments and Recent Changes modules.

The appointment will also appear on the Meetings tab of the student folder and will be visible to anyone who has role-level permissions to view the appointment. If you included a detailed description when setting up the appointment, it will be displayed on the Meetings tab.

Document outcomes from a meeting

1. Locate the appointment in your Starfish calendar under the Appointments tab.
2. Hover over the calendar icon () associated with the appointment. Note: Calendar events imported from your external calendar will have a lock instead of a number on the calendar icon () and cannot be edited in Starfish. 
3. A pop-up card opens. This card contains appointment details and four buttons: Outcomes, Edit, Cancel, and View.
4. Select the Outcomes button.
5. The Outcomes tab of the Edit Appointment screen opens.
6. If the student is a no-show for a meeting, check the Attendance box labeled “Student missed appointment.” This triggers an email to the student.
7. Enter narrative notes to summarize pertinent content from your meeting.
   
   • You have the option of checking a box to "Send a copy of note to student," which will email the student meeting notes if you choose. The meeting notes are not visible to students within Starfish. 
   • Note: Appointment notes become a part of the student's official record, requestable by the student under the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Make sure to follow ethical guidelines for documentation when recording notes in Starfish.
8. Click the SpeedNotes tab.
9. SpeedNotes are preconfigured appointment activities that can be checked off to quickly capture recurring meeting outcomes. If SpeedNotes are available to you, check the SpeedNotes that apply, if any. Only some roles will have SpeedNotes configured.
10. Click the Submit button to save the updates.

Your updates will be available in the student folder on the Meetings tab for this appointment.

Edit scheduling details of an appointment

1. Locate the appointment in your Starfish calendar under the Appointments tab.
2. Hover over the Appointment icon () associated with the appointment. Note: Calendar events imported from your external calendar will have a lock instead of a number on the calendar icon () and cannot be edited in Starfish.
3. A pop-up card opens. This card contains appointment details and four buttons: Outcomes, Edit, Cancel, or View.
4. Select the Edit button.
5. The Scheduling tab of the Edit Appointment form opens.
6. Change the information needed.
   
   • When and Where the meeting will occur.
   • The Reason associated with the meeting.
   • The Course associated with the appointment.
   • The Detailed Description of the meeting.
7. Click the Submit button to save the changes.

An updated iCal calendar attachment will be emailed to the student. You (as the calendar owner) will also receive the updated iCal if your email notification preferences are set to notify you when changes are made to an existing appointment (recommended).

Cancel an appointment

1. Locate the appointment in your Starfish calendar under the Appointments tab.
2. Hover over the calendar icon () associated with the appointment. Note: Calendar events imported from your external calendar will have a lock instead of a number on the calendar icon () and cannot be edited in Starfish.
3. A pop-up card opens. This card contains appointment details and four buttons: Outcomes, Edit, Cancel, or View.
4. Select the Cancel button.
5. The Cancel Appointment screen is displayed.
6. Type a note explaining the reason for the cancellation (optional but recommended).
   
   • Best Practice: Include an explanation for the cancellation, and provide guidance on how to reschedule or connect to other available resources.
7. Click the Submit button to cancel the appointment and send a cancellation email (and iCal attachment) to the student.

You (as the calendar owner) will also receive the iCal for the cancellation if your email notification preferences are set to notify you when changes are made to an existing appointment (recommended).

LINKS:

• Log in to Starfish at http://starfish.psu.edu
• Appointment blocks for student self-scheduling
• Email notification preferences
• Ethical guidelines for documentation
• Reading the Student Folder
• Messages sent to students from calendar events