Scheduling Appointments in Canvas (and without email!)

Did you know that the Canvas you use for your classes every day also allows you to schedule appointments with your students? Perhaps you hold scheduled help sessions, or have groups of students meet with you regarding a collaborative project. Whatever the case, Canvas actually allows you to add appointment times to the Canvas calendar, associate them with a class, and have students sign up for these times. No more emails back and forth trying to coordinate schedules, and students no longer have to guess at times are still available.

To get started simply log in to Canvas and select Calendar from the left navigation bar. You will notice there are some different viewing options in the upper right corner, including Scheduler. By choosing scheduler, you will see all the options of appointment groups you either own or can sign up to attend. Select the Create an Appointment Group button on the far right to start a new category. From here you can name the appointment (consider adding the course number, section number if applicable, and a short description of the meeting type) and select appointment date(s) and times. However, there are a few other options that make scheduling easy.

The Divide into equal slots of ___ minutes actually allows you to set a block of time that you are available and have the scheduler break that up into several back-to-back appointment options. i.e. If I were available for 2 hours of time one afternoon, and I wanted each meeting to last 15-20 minutes, I would add the time block from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm and divide this appointment into slots of 20 minutes each. That automatically creates 6 appointment times for students to choose. Another nice feature is to limit those who can sign up to only 1 student per session or multiple students per session, depending on the type of appointment you are holding.

To learn more about scheduling appointments in Canvas, review the Canvas Guide, or contact CITL for an individual consultation. Have another Canvas feature you’d like to learn more about or have other Canvas questions related to your teaching and learning? We would be happy to schedule consultations, departmental workshops, or get you the documentation you are seeking. Subscribe to our blog to continue to get other great teaching tips and join the conversation.