Calendar Discussion Questions and Answers

“WHAT’S UP WITH YOUR CALENDAR?”

Presenters: Lori Balantic, Julia Browne, & Dot Wang

Connecticut College

SCCATuesday, May 21, 2013

Breakout Session III1:00 – 2:15 p.m.

Google calendar

Experience

Symplicity

Outlook

Other (Please name)

1. FOR MAKING COUNSELING/ADVISING APPOINTMENTS, DOES YOUR OFFICE USE:

Google calendar: 1. Connect icut Co l lege 2. Bates 3. Brande is 4. M idd lebury 5. Hamil i ton 6. Vassar 7. Smith 8. Mt . Holyoke 9. Co lgate 10. Holy Cross 11. Union ( is t ransi t ioning to use, used to use Out look) 12. .Co lby

Experience Symplicity:

1. Amhers t

Outlook: 1. Bowd oin 2. Wes leyan 3. M idd lebury 4. St . Lawrence 5. Amherst 6. Tufts 7. Tr in i ty 8. Dartmouth

Other (Please name)

1. FOR MAKING COUNSELING/ADVISING APPOINTMENTS, DOES YOUR OFFICE USE:

Phone

Email

In person

2. WOULD YOU SAY THAT STUDENTS REQUEST APPOINTMENTS MOSTLY VIA:

Phone Ba t e s We s le y an H a m i l t on # 1 Vas s a r Sm i t h C o l ga t e C o l by ( p r im ar i l y w i t h i n pe r s on ) Tu f t s ( m o s t l y ph o n e , d i re c t t o ca l l w h e n t h e y e m a i l ) Mi dd l e bu ry ( O N LY ph o n e , a s k s f o r n o EM A I L be ca u s e o f t o o m u ch t im e de l ay a nd po t e n t i a l f o r m i s s i n g s om e t h i n g ) Mt . H o l y oke ( ph on e be ca u s e we e n co u r age t h e m t o do s o a l t ho u gh we h a v e s t u de nt a b roa d w h o re qu e s t a ppo in t m e n t s v i a e m a i l . Ma ny m o re s t u de n t s o n ca m pu s

re qu e s t i n f o rm a t i o n v i a e m a i l , e ss e n t i a l l y i n l i e u o f an a ppo in t m e n t ) D a r t m o ut h ( Ph o n e be cau s e w e e n cou r a ge i t – be c au s e i t ’ s e a s ie r t o n e go t i a t e a m u t u a l t im e ) H o ly C ro s s ( # 2 a f t e r e m a i l ) C o n n e c t i c u t C o l l e g e ( fi r s t - t i m e i n a n d 2 n d t o e m a i l ) A m h e rs t ( bu t t r a ns i t i o n in g t o u s e S i m p l i c i t y ) Bo w do i n ( r a re )

Emai l : H o l y C r o s s # 1 Tr i n i t y U n i o n ( m o s t l y ) C o n n e c t i c u t C o l l e g e ( c o m b o o f d i r e c t c o u n s e l o r e m a i l s a n d a u t o G o o g l e e m a i l s ) Bo w do i n ( i f t h e y h a v e n ’ t v i s i t e d o ffice ) Ba t e s ( s o m e ) S t . L a wre n ce ( t h e y t r y t o s ch e du l e t h e m by e -m a i l bu t w e pu s h t h e m t o ca l l o r s t o p by ) Vas s a r ( i f t h e y e m a i l w e adv i s e t h e m t o c a l l o r s t o p i n t o m a ke app t . ) Sm i t h ( E m a i l qu e r i e s abo u t m a k i n g appo i n t m e n t s a re d i r e c t e d t o ca l l o r v i s i t ) C o l ga t e ( t h e y o f t e n do re a ch o u t v i a e m a i l t o a s k f o r a pp t s a n d w e d i r e c t t h e m t o ca l l . T h e on e e xc e p t i o n w e g i v e t h e m t o t h i s r u l e i s i f t h e y a re o ff - ca m pu s t r y in g

t o s e t u p Skype a ppt s . We t h e n a s k t h e m t o g i ve u s a bu n ch o f t im e s t h e y a re av a i l ab l e , t he n w e s l o t t h e m i n an d l e t t h e m k n o w w h e n t h e y a re s ch e du l e d . ) H a m i l t on # 3

In person: U n i o n : m o s t l y B r a n d e i s We s l e y a n H a m i l t o n # 2 S m i t h C o l g a t e H o l y C r o s s # 3 C o l b y ( p r i m a r i l y p r i m a r i l y w i t h p h o n e , We t r y t o a v o i d m a k i n g a p p o i n t m e n t s v i a e m a i l ) B o w d o n i ( i f f o l l o w - u p ) C o n n e c i c u t C o l l e g e ( i f f o l l o w u p )

2. WOULD YOU SAY THAT STUDENTS REQUEST APPOINTMENTS MOSTLY VIA:

Phone Bates Wesleyan Hamilton #1 Vassar Smith Colgate Colby (primarily with in person) Tufts (mostly phone, direct to call when they email) Middlebury (ONLY phone, ask for no EMAIL because of too much time delay and

potential for missing something) Mt. Holyoke (phone because we encourage them to do so although we have

student abroad who request appointments via email. Many more students on campus request information via email, essentially in lieu of an appointment)

Dartmouth (Phone because we encourage it-it’s easier to negotiate a mutual time)

Holy Cross (#2 after email) Connecticut College (first-time in and 2nd after email) Amherst (but transitioning to use email via Symplicity) Bowdoin (rare)

2. WOULD YOU SAY THAT STUDENTS REQUEST APPOINTMENTS MOSTLY VIA:

Email: Holy Cross #1 Trinity Union (mostly) Connecticut College (combo of direct counselor emails and auto Google

emails) Bowdoin (if they haven’t visited office) Bates (some) St. Lawrence (try to schedule them by e-mail but we push them to call or

stop by) Vassar (if they email we advise them to call or stop in to make appt.) Smith (Email queries about making appointments are directed to call or

visit) Colgate (they often do reach out via email to ask for appts and we direct

them to call. The one exception we give them to this rule is if they are off-campus trying to set up Skype appts. We then ask them to give us a bunch of times they are available, then we slot them in and let them know when they are scheduled.)

Hamilton #3

2. WOULD YOU SAY THAT STUDENTS REQUEST APPOINTMENTS MOSTLY VIA:

In person: Union mostly Brandeis Wesleyan Hamilton #2 Smith Colgate Holy Cross #3 Colby (primarily with phone, we try to avoid making appointments via

email) Bowdoni (if follow-up) Connecicut College (if followup)

2. WOULD YOU SAY THAT STUDENTS REQUEST APPOINTMENTS MOSTLY VIA:

Student worker

Professional staff assistant

Counselor/advisor

Students have access to calendar and select appointment times themselves

Other/mix/all-please explain

3. WHO TAKES THE REQUEST AND ENTERS THE APPOINTMENT TO THE CALENDAR?

Student worker: B a t e s B r a n d e i s M i d d l e b u r y S t . L a w r e n c e H a m i l t o n Va s s a r S m i t h M t . H o l y o k e A m h e r s t Tu f t s C o l g a t e U n i o n C o l b y

Pro fess iona l s taff ass is tant : B o w d o i n B a t e s B r a n d e i s We s l e y a n M i d d l e b u r y S t . L a w r e n c e H a m i l t o n Va s s a r S m i t h ( p a r t - t i m e ) M t . H o l y o k e A m h e r s t Tu f t s , C o l g a t e H o l y C r o s s , Tr i n i t y U n i o n , D a r t m o u t h C o l b y C o n n e c t i c u t C o l l e g e

Counselo r /adv isor: We s l e y a n M i d d l e b u r y Va s s a r C o l g a t e ( c a n s c h e d u l e , c o n fi r m e d b y o t h e r ) H o l y C r o s s ( i f s t u d e n t r e a c h o u t ) Tr i n i t y ( f o l l o w - u p ) U n i o n C o n n e c t i c u t C o l l e g e ( f o l l o w - u p a n d e m a i l )

Students have access to ca lendar and se lect appo intment t imes themselves C o n n e c t i c u t C o l l e g e

Other /mix /a l l -p lease exp la in

3. WHO TAKES THE REQUEST AND ENTERS THE APPOINTMENT TO THE CALENDAR?

Yes

No

4. DO YOU/DOES YOUR SYSTEM REMIND STUDENTS OF APPOINTMENTS?

Yes Bowdo in (gener i c ema i l “you have an appo in tment   tomorrow” reminder ) Bates ( immed ia te ly sen t th rough Goog le ) Brande i s Wes leyan ( reminders sen t p r i o r a f te rnoon ) Hami l ton ( e m a i l r e m i nd e r d a y be f o re , G o o g l e C a l en da r re m i nde r 1 ho u r be f o re , re du c e s n o - sh o w s

s i gn i fi c a n t l y ) Mount Ho lyoke Amh ers t (S imp l i c i t y w i l l a l l ow fo r ) Tu f t s ( s tuden ts rece ive a reminder phone ca l l th e day be fo re the i r appo in tment ) Co lga te ( send ou t a confirmat ion ema i l when they schedu le tha t i nc ludes p repa ra t ion s teps . We

have a l so s ta r ted to get i n the hab i t o f ca l l i ng a day ahead to remind s tuden ts when they a re schedu led in an effor t t o m i t i ga te the number o f no -shows)

Un ion Dartmouth Co lby ( th rough Goog le ca lender they ge t an ema i l confirmat ion and a 30 m inute reminder ) Con nec t i cu t Co l lege ( can se t op t ions to v ia Goog le Ca lenda r )

No Midd lebury (bu t sounds l i ke a good idea! ) St . Lawrence Vassa r Smi th (No au tomated sys tem. In d iv idua l adv i so rs may send reminders , bu t th i s i s no t a

sys temat i zed p rocess ) Ho ly C ross Tr in i ty

4. DO YOU/DOES YOUR SYSTEM REMIND STUDENTS OF APPOINTMENTS?

Walk-ins 15 minutes:

30 minutes:

45 minutes:

60 minutes:

90 minutes:

Other:

5. IF YOUR OFFICE HAS A STANDARD TIME BLOCK OR ALLOTMENT FOR APPOINTMENTS OF VARYING TYPES,CAN YOU NOTE THIS/THESE:

Walk- ins 15 minutes :B a t e s ( w a l k i n s a r e 1 0 m i n s , w i t h h o u r s c o v e r e d b y f e l l o w s )B r a n d e i sM i d d l e b u r yV a s s a rA m h e r s tC o l g a t eTr i n i t yD a r t m o u t h

30 minutes:B o w d o i nB r a n d e i sW e s l e y a nM i d d l e b u r yS t . L a w r e n c eV a s s a rS m i t hM o u n t H o l y o k eA m h e r s t ( p r e - s c h e d u l e d a d v i s i n g )Tu f t sC o l g a t eH o l y C r o s s ( R e s u m e r e v i e w / c o v e r l e t t e r r e v i e w a p p o i n t m e n t s )Tr i n i t y U n i o nD a r t m o u t h ( u n l e s s i t i s o b v i o u s t h a t t h e s t u d e n t r e a l l y n e e d s 1 h r . a n d M o c k s a r e 2 0 i n t e r v i e w / 1 0 f e e d b a c k )

45 minutes :B a t e sH a m i l t o nV a s s a r p r e - l a w a d v i s i n g a p p t . ( 4 5 - 6 0 )C o l b y

60 minutes :B r a n d e i sW e s l e y a n m o c k i n t e r v i e w s 6 0 - 9 0 m i n sM i d d l e b u r y m o c k i n t e r v i e wS t . L a w r e n c e a p p t . w i t h p e e r a d v i s o r a n d m o c k i n t e r n v i e w , a s s e s s m e n t r e v i e w sH a m i l t o n p r a c t i c e i n t e r v i e w sV a s s a r m o c k i n t e r v i e wS m i t h m o c k i n t e r v i e w s o r a s s e s s m e n t r e v i e w / i n t e r p r e t a t i o nTu f t s a s s e s s m e n t r e v i e w s a n d m o c k i n t e r v i e w sC o l g a t e 1 h r . m o c k i n t e r v i e w s a n d i n t a k e a p p t w i t h a d v i s o r s t h a t m i g h t b e a n h o u r . T B D .H o l y C r o s s 6 0 m i n u t e m o c k . D e p e n d s o n c o u n s e l o r b u t t y p i c a l l y c o u n s e l i n g s e s s i o n sTr i n i t y m o c k i n t e r v i e w sU n i o n I n t e r v i e w p r e p o r a s s e s s m e n t

90 minutes :C o l g a t e : 1 . 5 h r M B T I o r S t r o n g i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s

Other:W e s l e y a n : v a r i e s b y c o u n s e l o r a n d p r o g r a m

5. IF YOUR OFFICE HAS A STANDARD TIME BLOCK OR ALLOTMENT FOR APPOINTMENTS OF VARYING TYPES,CAN YOU NOTE THIS/THESE:

Bates:-We tried for over a year to use Symplicity's calendar system and experienced many difficulties. Ex. the calendar did not synch with Bates' old campus calendar system, Meeting Maker.-When we moved to Google, not all of the appointment details that we capture would synch from Symplicity to Google and vice versa.-Also, sometimes when an appointment was made in the Symplicity system, it would not save the appointment, or would not save some of the details and we would have to re-enter it multiple times.-The amount of time that was being spent by our staff to make this work was not worth the trouble in the end.

Colby:-We do not currently use the calender, however it is a prominent topic of discussion as we've had a lot of issues with our google calender system, primarily with appointments dropping from our calenders.

6. IF YOU USE THE EXPERIENCE OR SYMPLICITY CALENDAR “PLUG-IN” OR “MODULE” MIGHT YOU BE INTERESTED IN SHARING YOUR INSIGHT DURING THE CALENDAR BREAKOUT SESSION ON TUESDAY, MAY 21 AT 1PM?

Bowdoin:We have found the real-t ime exchange with students scheduling appointments invaluable (whether in person, on the phone or via email) as it helps us appropriately match students with the advisor that might best serve their needs.

Hamilton:We have a new init ial appointment system this year, in which students see first avai lable counselor, and then get referred to the best fit of counselor by specialty area.Addit ional ly, we tr ied lett ing students schedule their own peer advisor appointments onl ine, but then google calendar removed the appointment feature??? and we were unable to continue with i t . Our administrative staff had struggled to integrate this with out regular system anyway.

7.  OTHER COMMENTS OR INFORMATION TO SHARE?

Which schools use Experience?

Have you considered using the Calendar plug-in for appointment scheduling? Scan card? 3 Collaterals: 1. Event check-in, 2. Advising Check-in, 3. Appt.

Scheduling

If anyone wants, we have details of (above) Experience products

Connecticut College’s take on Experience plugins/collaterals Cost Cannot differentiate student access across counseling staff

EXPERIENCE

Which schools use Symplicity?

Reports on Calendar plug-in?very newBates feedback

SYMPLICITY

New system included Google Calendar

Ditched MS Outlook

Discovered faculty use of advising appointments

OUR COLLEGE’S MOVE TO GMAIL

Counselor appointments Fellows/Peer AdvisorsPros

Saves time (staff asst. and counselors)/reduces emails back and forth and waiting for email responses

Positive student response Students recognition of how “busy” counselors are Last minute changes Identifies next available appointment time

Cons Times zones Last minute changes Can self select location (library, dorm room, etc.) Counselor’s loss of control of appt. times and frequency Auto response if OUT OF OFFICE used is annoying Counselor has to accept all appts. individually

PILOT YEAR OF STUDENT ACCESSTO GOOGLE CALENDARS

Google appointments

DEMO APPOINTMENT FEATURE IN GOOGLE CALENDAR

Click on link to Appointment slots

Google appointments

DEMO APPOINTMENT FEATURE IN GOOGLE CALENDAR

Click Edit details, for more options

Google appointments

DEMO APPOINTMENT FEATURE IN GOOGLE CALENDAR

Once you set appointment slots and share page, students can click link to access Appointment page and see available slots

VariationsAway message vs. sending link

DEMO APPOINTMENT FEATURE IN GOOGLE CALENDAR

Variations Blocks vs. single time slots

DEMO APPOINTMENT FEATURE IN GOOGLE CALENDAR

Click offer blocks or single slot appointment

Questions?Comments?

Thank you to all the schools who provided feedback!

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