Calendar Discussion Questions and Answers

1. “What’s up with YOUR Calendar?”Presenters: Lori Balantic, Julia Browne, & Dot WangConnecticut CollegeSCCATuesday, May 21, 2013Breakout Session III1:00 – 2:15 p.m. Calendar Discussion Questions and Answers

2. 1. For making counseling/advising appointments, does your office use: • Google calendar • Experience • Symplicity • Outlook • Other (Please name)

3. 1. For making counseling/advising appointments, does your office use: • Google calendar: • 1. Connecticut College • 2. Bates • 3. Brandeis • 4. Middlebury • 5. Hamiliton • 6. Vassar • 7. Smith • 8. Mt. Holyoke • 9. Colgate • 10. Holy Cross • 11. Union (is transitioning to use, used to use Outlook) • 12..Colby • Experience • Symplicity: • 1. Amherst • Outlook: • 1. Bowdoin • 2. Wesleyan • 3. Middlebury • 4. St. Lawrence • 5. Amherst • 6. Tufts • 7. Trinity • 8. Dartmouth • Other (Please name)

4. 2. Would you say that students request appointments mostly via: • Phone • Email • In person

5. 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, asks 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 – because it’s easier to negotiate a mutual time) • Holy Cross (#2 after email) • Connecticut College (first-time in and 2nd to email) • Amherst (but transitioning to use Simplicity) • Bowdoin (rare) • 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 (they 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 • In person: • Union: mostly • Brandeis • Wesleyan • Hamilton #2 • Smith • Colgate • Holy Cross #3 • Colby (primarily primarily with phone, We try to avoid making appointments via email) • Bowdoni (if follow-up) • Connecicut College (if followup)

6. 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)

7. 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

8. 2. Would you say that students request appointments mostly via: • In person: • Unionmostly • 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)

9. 3.Who takes the request and enters the appointment to the calendar? • Student worker • Professional staff assistant • Counselor/advisor • Students have access to calendar and select appointment times themselves • Other/mix/all-please explain

10. 3.Who takes the request and enters the appointment to the calendar? • Student worker: • Bates • Brandeis • Middlebury • St. Lawrence • Hamilton • Vassar • Smith • Mt. Holyoke • Amherst • Tufts • Colgate • Union • Colby • Professional staff assistant: • Bowdoin • Bates • Brandeis • Wesleyan • Middlebury • St. Lawrence • Hamilton • Vassar • Smith (part-time) • Mt. Holyoke • Amherst • Tufts, • Colgate • Holy Cross, • Trinity • Union, • Dartmouth • Colby • Connecticut College • Counselor/advisor: • Wesleyan • Middlebury • Vassar • Colgate (can schedule, confirmed by other) • Holy Cross (if student reach out) • Trinity (follow-up) • Union • Connecticut College (follow-up and email) • Students have access to calendar and select appointment times themselves • Connecticut College • Other/mix/all-please explain

11. 4. Do you/does your system remind students of appointments? • Yes • No

12. 4. Do you/does your system remind students of appointments? • Yes • Bowdoin (generic email “you have an appointment tomorrow” reminder) • Bates (immediately sent through Google) • Brandeis • Wesleyan (reminders sent prior afternoon) • Hamilton (email reminder day before, Google Calendar reminder 1 hour before, reduces no-shows significantly) • Mount Holyoke • Amherst (Simplicity will allow for) • Tufts (students receive a reminder phone call the day before their appointment) • Colgate (send out a confirmation email when they schedule that includes preparation steps. We have also started to get in the habit of calling a day ahead to remind students when they are scheduled in an effort to mitigate the number of no-shows) • Union • Dartmouth • Colby (through Google calender they get an email confirmation and a 30 minute reminder) • Connecticut College (can set options to via Google Calendar) • No • Middlebury (but sounds like a good idea!) • St. Lawrence • Vassar • Smith (No automated system. Individual advisors may send reminders, but this is not a systematized process) • Holy Cross • Trinity

13. 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: 30 minutes: 45 minutes: 60 minutes: 90 minutes: Other:

14. 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: Bates (walkins are 10 mins, with hours covered by fellows) Brandeis Middlebury Vassar Amherst Colgate Trinity Dartmouth 30 minutes: Bowdoin Brandeis Wesleyan Middlebury St. Lawrence Vassar Smith Mount Holyoke Amherst (pre-scheduled advising) Tufts Colgate Holy Cross (Resume review/cover letter review appointments) Trinity UnionDartmouth(unless it is obvious that the student really needs 1 hr. and Mocks are 20 interview/10 feedback) 45 minutes: Bates Hamilton Vassarpre-law advising appt. (45-60) Colby 60 minutes: Brandeis Wesleyan mock interviews 60-90 mins Middlebury mock interview St. Lawrence appt. with peer advisor and mock internview, assessment reviews Hamilton practice interviews Vassar mock interview Smith mock interviews or assessment review/interpretation Tufts assessment reviews and mock interviews Colgate 1 hr. mock interviews and intake appt with advisors that might be an hour. TBD. Holy Cross 60 minute mock. Depends on counselor but typically counseling sessions Trinity mock interviews UnionInterview prep or assessment 90 minutes: Colgate: 1.5hr MBTI or Strong interpretations Other: Wesleyan: varies by counselor and program

15. 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? 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.

16. 7.  Other comments or information to share? Bowdoin: We have found the real-time 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 initial appointment system this year, in which students see first available counselor, and then get referred to the best fit of counselor by specialty area. Additionally, we tried letting students schedule their own peer advisor appointments online, but then google calendar removed the appointment feature???and we were unable to continue with it. Our administrative staff had struggled to integrate this with out regular system anyway.

17. Experience • 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

18. SYMPLICITY • Which schools use Symplicity? • Reports on Calendar plug-in? • very new • Bates feedback

19. Our College’s move to Gmail • New system included Google Calendar • Ditched MS Outlook • Discovered faculty use of advising appointments

20. Pilot Year of Student Accessto Google Calendars • Counselor appointments • Fellows/Peer Advisors • Pros • 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

21. DEMO Appointment feature in google calendar • Google appointments Click on link to Appointment slots

22. DEMO Appointment feature in google calendar • Google appointments Click Edit details, for more options

23. DEMO Appointment feature in google calendar • Google appointments Once you set appointment slots and share page, students can click link to access Appointment page and see available slots

24. DEMO Appointment feature in google calendar • Variations • Away message vs. sending link

25. DEMO Appointment feature in google calendar • Variations • Blocks vs. single time slots Click offer blocks or single slot appointment

26. Wrap up • Questions? • Comments? • Thank you to all the schools who provided feedback!