Canvas Calendar Appointments (Scheduler)

Description

Canvas calendar appointments may be used to create office hours, set up individual meeting times with students, allow students to select a presentation time, or schedule teaching assistant sessions. The Scheduler tool within the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) calendar can be used to create appointment group time slots that students can then self-select from their Canvas course calendar. 

Jump to:

How to Create Canvas Calendar Appointment Groups

Calendar View (Instructor)

How to Reserve a Canvas Calendar Appointment (Students)

How to Message Students Regarding Canvas Calendar Appointments (Instructor)

Access

Log in to Canvas using your NetID and password, then click on the Calendar icon in the Global Navigation (left side of screen). 

How to Create Canvas Calendar Appointment Groups

Once in the Canvas calendar, locate the calendar list. Select the calendar or calendars you would like to add the appointment group to by clicking each calendar's checkbox. Click the three dots to the right of the calendar's name to change the color of this course's events on your Canvas calendar. 

Click the plus sign at the top of the Canvas calendar to create a new event.

Alternatively, navigate to and click on the calendar date to which you want to add the appointment group.

In the resulting pop-up Edit Event window, choose the Appointment Group tab.

To continue, see the image and additional steps below. 

1) Type a descriptive name for your appointment group.

2) Type the appointment's physical or online location. 

3) In the Calendar section, click Select Calendars and choose the Canvas calendar(s) you would like to add the appointment group to. Click Done. 

4) Type the beginning and end time for your appointment group. Change the date of the appointment group if necessary.

5) The appointment group may be divided into time slots of equal time length. Type the length of each time slot and click Go. Each appointment time slot will auto-populate (not shown in above image). To delete any appointment time slot, click the "X" next to the appointment. 

6) Select desired options.
    a) Check the first checkbox to limit the number of students who can sign up for an appointment. 

    b) Check the second checkbox to allow students to see who has signed up for a time slot that is still available for student sign-up (in cases where more than one student may sign up for an appointment). 

    c) Check the third checkbox to limit the number of appointments a student may sign up for. 

7) Include any meeting details.

Note: The appointment time slots, date, and time range cannot be changed after the appointment group is saved. However, additional time ranges, dates, and time slots can be added to the original appointment group. 

8) Click Publish. 

Calendar View (Instructor)

The calendar will show available appointment time slots in a light color.  A "+" will also appear in the calendar icon of each available appointment.

After a student has selected an appointment time from their Canvas calendar, reserved appointments will appear in bold and the "+" in the calendar icon is replaced with a check mark. Reserved, upcoming appointments will also appear in the Canvas course's To Do list and the Coming Up list on the Canvas Dashboard. 

How to Reserve a Canvas Calendar Appointment (Students)

1) Click the Calendar icon in the Global Navigation or from within a course, click View Course Calendar.

2) Click Find Appointment.

3) Select the required course calendar from the drop-down menu and click Submit.

4) Click on the desired available appointment time slot and click Reserve in the pop-up window.  Students may also type comments for the instructor.

Note: Students may also cancel an appointment by clicking on the appointment time in the Canvas calendar and clicking Un-reserve in the resulting pop-up window. Students will be prompted to provide a reason for deleting their appointment reservation.

How to Message Students Regarding Canvas Calendar Appointments (Instructor)

1) Click on any appointment time slot within the desired appointment group in the Canvas calendar and click Group Details in the resulting pop-up window.

2) Scroll down and click on the Message Students button. 

3) Use the drop-down menu to send a message to Users who haven't signed up yet, Users who have already signed up, or to All users.

4) Type your message and click Send. Students will find your message in their Canvas inbox.

Application and Limitations

Appointments may be created for everyone in the course or for a specific course section. 

Scheduler events, such as appointment groups, cannot be modified or deleted after the end date of the course.

Students may sign up in groups if you have previously created at least one group set in your course. To allow students to join in groups, click the Have students sign up in groups checkbox when creating your appointment group. This option is only available if you have already chosen the calendar for everyone in the course, and not for only a specific course section. 

Avoid these Pitfalls

Students may not have experience reserving Canvas calendar appointments. Provide these students with instructions to reserve appointments in the Canvas calendar (see How to Reserve a Canvas Calendar Appointment (Students) above). 

Once an appointment group has been created, the time slots can not be edited, e.g. the appointment time cannot be changed. You can, however, delete an individual appointment time slot, the entire appointment group, or add more time slots to the appointment group.

Resources

What is the Scheduler? (Instructure)

How do I add a Scheduler appointment group in a course calendar? (Instructure)