Scheduler: Planning attendance using the TeachCenter

From the winter semester 2020 onwards, students will again be allowed in lecture halls during lecture recordings. However, the contact details of those who are in the lecture hall must be recorded in advance for the purposes of contact tracing and due to the restrictions on the maximum number of students allowed. One way to plan these attendances is the scheduler in the TeachCenter (TC).

To use the scheduler, you need a TeachCenter course (TC course) for your course. If no such course exists yet, please send a request to the support and let us know the course number.

Open/Close

Is the scheduler the best option for me?

How do I create a scheduler and enter dates?

Creating a scheduler

To create a scheduler, activate the edit mode of your TC course (top right: Turn editing on).
Click Add an Activity or Resource in the desired section and select Scheduler from the pop-up menu. Click Add.

Overview of activities in the TeachCenter — Fig. 1: Add "Scheduler" activity

Enter a name for the scheduler.
You can now customize the most important settings in the Options section.
Mode specifies how many time slots students can choose. If you want to continue using the scheduler for the whole semester, select Unlimited here.
If you place a check mark next to Guard Time, you can set a deadline after which students cannot change their selection.
Under Default Slot Duration, you can set how long an available time slot is. Select the duration of your course here, for example 90 minutes.

Section "Option": Role of teacher, mode, booking in groups, guard time and default slot duration — Fig. 2: Customize settings

In the section Booking form and student-supplied data, you can specify that students see a separate booking screen before proceeding to the actual booking. For example, you can remind students here that they will be contacted in the event of a suspected Covid-19 case in the lecture hall and that they will be called to self-observe their health status.
To use the booking form, set Use booking form > Yes.
Enter Booking instructions.

Sample booking instruction — Fig. 3: Booking instructions

Adding time slots

Click Add slots in the upper lefthand corner and select single slot or repeated slots as needed.
Enter all relevant information such as date (the day or days of the recurrence, if applicable) and the time range .

Screenshots of the different settings — Fig. 4: Settings for time slots

Please note: Since there are restrictions on the maximum number of students allowed in the lecture halls, please activate Maximum number of students per slot and enter the maximum number of seats (according to Corona occupancy).
Under Location, you can enter the lecture hall name or number.

Screenshot of the location settings — Fig. 5: Settings for location

Click Save Changes. You will now see your appointment(s). You can still customize each appointment individually by clicking on the red gear, delete them by clicking on the red trash can or cancel them by clicking the thumbs down icon. On the far right, you can also see how many places are still available per appointment.

Appointments, their date, time and location are displayed; next to them are icons to customize them — Fig. 6: Overview of created appointments

Students can now register for appointments.

Please note: If you delete (click on trash can) or cancel (click on thumbs down) an appointment for which students have already registered, it is not possible to see who was once registered.

Using the scheduler with groups

If you are working with groups in your TC course, the scheduler allows students to not only choose a date for themselves, but as a group. Additionally, there is the option to restrict a scheduler to a certain group only, so that students can choose individually, but only students of a certain group can do so (e.g. for the following scenario: "Only students of group A can come to the lecture on August 4, only students of group B can come to the lecture on August 11").

To set that students can book or cancel an appointment not only for themselves but also for their entire group, go to the edit mode of the scheduler (click the red gear next to the activity on the main course page).
In the Options section, choose Booking in Groups > Yes, for all groups.

Option "booking in groups"; "yes, for all groups" is set — Fig. 7: Booking in groups

Click Save and display .

Please check that your time slots allow for group bookings (maximum number of participants more than 1). You can also see this by the person symbol in the time slots overview. An encircled symbol means that this is an appointment that can be booked by a whole group.

Screenshot of the different icons: trashcan, gear, person symbol — Fig. 8: Slots allow for group bookings

To restrict the activity to a group (i.e. only students in a group can select a date, but still book the dates individually), go to the edit mode of the scheduler (red gear next to the activity on the main page).
In the Restrict access section, click Add Restriction > Group.

Different restriction options — Fig. 9: Add restriction for groups

Select the appropriate group that can access the activity.
Click on the eye to hide the activity from students in other groups on the course main page.

Restriction: Student must match the following group: Gruppe_A — Fig. 10: Add restriction for a specific group

Click Save and return to course or Save and display if you still need to add time slots.

Students

How to use the scheduler as a student?

When students open the activity, they see all the time slots they can select.

Please note: If you have allowed the selection of time slots for groups, students must first choose in the upper lefthand corner whether they would like to book the date for themselves (Myself) or for their whole group.

Drop-down menu to choose an appointment — Fig. 11: Choosing an appointment

By clicking on Book slot, a time slot can be booked. If a booking form has been set, students are redirected to a second page where they have to confirm the booking.

Appointment details (date, time, location, available spots) and the "book slot" button — Fig. 12: Book a slot

Summary of the booking and the chosen appointment — Fig. 13: Confirm booking

To change the date later (before the guard time, if there is one), students can simply go to the same page and click on Cancel Booking. They can then select one or more new time slots.

Please note: If students have booked an appointment for their entire group, they can cancel the appointment either for themselves or for their entire group. They must first select whether they want to cancel the appointment for themselves (Myself) or their group. Please ask students to be careful not to cancel their whole group’s booking by mistake!

How to assign appointments manually?

You can also register students or whole groups manually for a time slot, e.g. in the following scenario: "I want all students in group B to be registered for the time slot on 11.8. If you cannot or do not want to come, you must cancel your registration."

Adding individual students manually

Option 1:

Click on the red gear next to the desired time slot.
In the Appointment 1 section, select the name of the person you want to add from the drop-down menu. By clicking on Add another student, you can open more fields to add more students.
Click on Save Changes.

Appointment and drop-down menu of names to choose — Fig. 14: Select a person to add to the appointment

Option 2:

Just below the list of available time slots, you will see a list of students who have yet to choose a slot.
You can click on Schedule > Schedule in slot directly next to each student’s name.

List of students — Fig. 15: Schedule student in a slot

Under Choose existing, you can choose one of the time slots set before.

Drop-down list of time slots — Fig. 16: Choose a time slot

Adding a group manually

Make sure that you have allowed registration in groups (Settings > Booking in groups > Yes, for all groups)
Below the time slot overview, you will see the section Schedule by group. Click on Schedule > Schedule in slot.

decorative image — Fig. 17: Schedule by group

Under Choose existing, you can now select one of the previously defined time slots and assign it to all members of the group.
Click Save Changes.

Please note: If students want to unsubscribe (individually) from this time slot, they have to choose Make appointments for > Myself in the upper lefthand corner, otherwise their whole group will be deregistered!

How to export results?

On the main page of your TC course, click on the scheduler. You are taken to an overview of time slots. In the upper righthand corner there is an Export tab.

Screenshot of the tabs my appointments, all appointments, overview, statistics, and export — Fig. 18: Export tab

In the section Format, it is best to select Appointments grouped by slot. This setting is clearest for group appointments.
In the section Data to include, you can select what will be displayed in the export file. If the list is printed out and the presence is not confirmed online in the TeachCenter, you can, for example, remove the check mark for Attended. Here you can also set whether the groups to which students belong should be displayed.
In the section File format, select the desired format - CSV, Excel, ODS, PDF or HTML.

Sections "general", "data to include" and "file format" to customize export — Fig. 19: Export settings

Click Preview to get a preview. To export the file, click Create export file.

Help & Contact

For questions on TeachCenter / TeachCenter Exam: tc@tugraz.at

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