Starfish: Appointment Blocks for Student Self-Scheduling

INFORMATION FOR:

Faculty and staff users of Starfish

INTRODUCTION:

For students to schedule their own appointments with you, three conditions must be met:

1. The student must have a connection to you through at least one of your Starfish roles.
2. You must be visible to the student through a one-to-one connection (e.g., assigned adviser, instructor) or listed as a member of a public-facing service.
3. You must make appointment blocks available to students using one of the options detailed below.

Once you create this availability, students with a connection to you can see your open appointment times and select the time that fits their schedule. Students can only see appointment times that are currently available. By default, both you and the student will receive an .ical calendar invitation to your Penn State email that you can accept to your Outlook calendar.

• Note: If you have changed your preferred email in your Starfish contact information, you will receive notifications at the alternate email instead. Do not turn off notifications for "Appointment Changes" in your calendar preferences; opting out of these emails means you will no longer receive notifications when appointments are added, changed, or canceled and is strongly discouraged.

If you would like your Outlook calendar to "cover up" busy times in Starfish to prevent double-booking, connect Starfish to an external calendar.

When scheduling, students will see appointment availability for the next 21 days by default. Students can change the date selection to see more appointment times but can only see upcoming availability for the next 90 days, even if you have created availability further in the future.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS:

There are two ways you can add availability: use the Add Office Hours button to add recurring blocks of availability, or use the Scheduling Wizard to set up multiple appointment blocks that do not follow a consistent recurrence.

Scheduling Wizard Button (for adding non-recurring blocks of appointments)

This option is ideal for users who have calendars that change often and where appointment availability needs to fit around other calendar items in an non-patterned way. This method allows you to create multiple, separate blocks of availability and easily cancel or modify only specific blocks, if needed. This method will only allow you to set up availability for scheduled meetings; to create drop-in availability, see the instructions for using the Add Office Hours button in the next section instead.

1. Log in to Starfish.
2. Click the Scheduling Wizard button from your Starfish Home page or Appointments page.
3. This opens the Scheduling Wizard form. Note: The settings you choose will be be applied to all of the appointment blocks created.
4. Enter a Title (name) for the appointment. Students will see this name when they view your calendar. The title will also help your or others managing your calendar identify different types of office hours.
5. Select Where meetings will be held using the checkbox(es) next to your location(s).
   
   • If you choose more than one location, the student will be able to choose their preferred location for the meeting.
   • To add more location options, go to the Appointment Preferences page of your profile.
6. Select How long meetings can be by selecting a minimum and maximum appointment length. If you do not want students to be able to select the appointment duration, choose the same value for minimum and maximum.
7. Select the Appointment Types that should be made available to students for these appointment blocks. Appointment types dictate:
   
   • which students can schedule during this time (based on the role that connects you),
   • the appointment reasons shown to students,
   • which SpeedNotes will display, and
   • which roles can view the appointment and its notes.
   • Best Practice: Only select the appointment type(s) that you'd use regularly, and manually schedule any exceptions to your normal process. Starfish "remembers" the appointment types you've offered in the past, so if you make some appointments available with another appointment type, that option will continue to be visible to students in the future. If a student only looks for open times under that appointment type, it may seem like you have no appointments available at all. Eventually, options you no longer use will go away for students, but this takes time. If students are having trouble making appointments with you, see the faculty/staff and/or student troubleshooting guides. 
8. Use the Instructions box to enter instructions to students scheduling with you during this block of time, which are visible to anyone who makes an appointment. 
9. Click the Next button.
10. The date and time page of the wizard is displayed using a Monday through Friday grid for the current week. The date range is displayed in the top right corner of the grid.
11. Use the arrow (< >) controls to the right of the date range to navigate to the week in which you want to begin scheduling the appointment blocks.
12. In the selected week, enter the start and end times for each block in the appropriate day columns. You can schedule multiple appointment blocks on any day within the week.
13. If you need to schedule more than three blocks on any day, click “Add Another Block” under the column for that day.
14. To add blocks to another week, use the arrow (< >) controls to move to the next week and repeat until you have entered all of the blocks you wish to add at this time.
15. Click the Finish button to create all of the appointment blocks.
16. A summary is presented that includes a list of blocks that could not be created due to conflicts between the blocks you specified and existing calendar items. Make a note of failed blocks before clicking Finish to exit the wizard.

If your Appointment Preferences are set to send .ical calendar attachments for changes to your appointments, you will receive an email with a calendar invitation for each block of time that can be accepted to add to your external calendar.

Add Office Hours Button (for adding recurring blocks of appointments or drop-in hours)

This option is ideal for users who have predictable calendars, where meetings and appointment availability recurs on a repeating pattern that rarely or never changes. This option should also be used when you would like to make drop-in meetings available to students instead of or in addition to scheduled appointments.

Note: Editing or canceling recurring appointment blocks is possible but needs to be done with care. Instructions for modifying recurring blocks are in the next section below.

1. Log in to Starfish.
2. Click the Add Office Hours button on your Starfish Home page or Appointments page.
3. 
3. This opens the Add Office Hours form.
4. Enter a Title (name) for this block of time. Students will see this name when they view your calendar. The title will also help your or others managing your calendar identify different types of office hours.
5. Select What day(s) the appointment block will take place and indicate any recurrence (e.g., Repeats every 1 week on Wednesday and Thursday).
6. Select What time the appointment block will start and end.
   
   • IMPORTANT: Once this appointment block is saved, you will not be able to edit the days on which the appointments occur or their frequency (e.g., weekly), but you will be able to edit how often the block recurs (e.g., every 1 week vs. 2 weeks) and the specific times available.
7. Select Where meetings will be held using the checkbox(es) next to your location(s).
   
   • If you choose more than one location, the student will be able to choose their preferred location for the meeting.
   • To add more location options, go to the Appointment Preferences page of your profile.
8. Select the Office Hour Type for meetings you will take during this block.
   
   • Select "Scheduled And Drop-Ins" if you will be using the Starfish kiosk/waiting room features, and you plan to take drop-ins between scheduled appointments.
   • Select "Scheduled Appointments Only" if you will not take any drop-ins between scheduled appointments.
   • Select "Drop-Ins Only" to show the time as available to students but disallow anyone from making advance appointments.
9. Select How long meetings can be by selecting a minimum and maximum appointment length. If you do not want students to be able to select the appointment duration, choose the same value for minimum and maximum.
10. Select the Appointment Type you will use for this block of availability. Appointment types dictate:
    
    • which students can schedule during this time (based on the role that connects you),
    • the appointment reasons shown to students,
    • which SpeedNotes will display, and
    • which roles can view the appointment and its notes.
    • Best Practice: Only select the appointment type(s) that you'd use regularly, and manually schedule any exceptions to your normal process. Starfish "remembers" the appointment types you've offered in the past, so if you make some appointments available with another appointment type, that option will continue to be visible to students in the future. If a student only looks for open times under that appointment type, it may seem like you have no appointments available at all. Eventually, options you no longer use will go away for students, but this takes time. If students are having trouble making appointments with you, see the faculty/staff and/or student troubleshooting guides. 
11. Use the Instructions box to enter instructions to students scheduling with you during this block of time, which are visible to anyone who makes an appointment. Instructions are required for blocks that allow drop-ins.
12. Click the Start/End Date tab to set a timeframe over which a recurring appointment block will be available. When selecting an End Date for the block, you may choose between Never, End of Term, On Date (for a specific date), or After (for a certain number of occurrences).
    
    • NOTE: If you do not set an end date, it will default to Never. Setting an end date (either on a specific date or after a certain number of recurrences) is strongly recommended so that appointment blocks do not continue indefinitely.
13. Click the Submit button to save the appointment block.

If your Appointment Preferences are set to send .ical calendar attachments for changes to your appointments, you will receive an email with a calendar invitation to add the appointment block to your external calendar.

Edit or Cancel Appointment Blocks

You can edit or cancel availability after it is created. If students have meetings scheduled during any of the times you are editing or canceling, they will receive updated .ical calendar attachments.

Edit Appointment Blocks

1. Log in to Starfish.
2. Click on the triple-bar (or "hamburger") icon in the upper-left corner, and select the Appointments Tab.
3. Select the Agenda view of your Starfish calendar.
4. Hover over the office hours icon () next to an office hour title to open the Office Hours pop up card.
5. Select Edit Office Hours to modify the frequency of the appointment block’s recurrence, the time of day, locations, office hour types, minimum and maximum duration of appointments, appointment types, instructions, or a start/end date of the series.
   
   • Note about recurring blocks of appointments:
     
     • You cannot edit the days of the week or the nature of the recurrence (e.g., weekly).
     • You cannot modify the time range for a single occurrence of an office hour within a recurring block. Selecting Edit Office Hours will modify all occurrences of this set of office hours. To reduce availability within an office hour block on a specific day, add Reserve Time to cover the part of the office hours you want to remove from availability.
6. Click the Submit button on the Edit Appointment form to save your changes.

Cancel a Series of Appointment Blocks

1. Log in to Starfish.
2. Click on the triple-bar (or "hamburger") icon in the upper-left corner, and select the Appointments Tab.
3. Select the Agenda view of your Starfish calendar.
4. Hover over the office hours icon () next to an appointment block title to open the Office Hours pop up card.
5. Click Cancel, then click “The entire series” to cancel all occurrences of the appointment block.
   
   • NOTE: If students have scheduled appointments during this series, those appointments will be canceled and students will receive an updated .ical calendar attachment in their Penn State email.
6. You will be prompted to confirm the date from which to cancel the series, and to add a message that will be sent to anyone who had time scheduled with you during the office hours you are canceling.
   
   • Best Practice: Include an explanation and provide guidance on how to reschedule or connect to other available resources.
7. 
8. Click the Submit button to cancel the series.

Cancel a Single Occurrence of an Appointment Block

1. Log in to Starfish.
2. Click on the triple-bar (or "hamburger") icon in the upper-left corner, and select the Appointments Tab.
3. Use the calendar to navigate to the desired date.
4. Select the Day view of your Starfish calendar.
5. Hover over the office hours icon () next to an appointment block title to open the Office Hours pop up card.
6. Click Cancel, then click “Just this one” to cancel office hours for the selected day only.
   
   • NOTE: If students have scheduled appointments during this block, those appointments will be canceled and students will receive an updated .ical calendar attachment in their Penn State email.
7. You will be prompted to confirm the cancellation and can add a note that will be included in an email to those whose appointments are canceled.
   
   • Best Practice: Include an explanation and provide guidance on how to reschedule or connect to other available resources.
8. Click the Submit button to cancel the Office Hour occurrence.

LINKS:

• Log in to Starfish
• Starfish: Set Scheduling Deadline and Meeting Location Preferences for Appointments
• Starfish: Add, Document, Edit, and Cancel Appointments
• Starfish: Connect Starfish to an External Calendar
• Starfish: Update Contact and Profile Information