In the shift to online learning and teaching – and for those working from home – facilitating the space and time to coordinate meetings and catch-ups for student engagement can get tricky. Microsoft Bookings is an online scheduling tool that allows people to self-book into appointment times. In last week’s Tooltime, we showed how to set up Microsoft Bookings space to give your students the opportunity to communicate with you.
How can Microsoft Bookings help?
Scheduling tools have been one of the more common queries we receive, especially since the shift to online learning and teaching. Providing a platform where you allow students the opportunity to engage with their teachers empowers them to access services, and enables them to take action to advance in their course by receiving feedback, advice and guidance.
However, educators are constantly looking for a way to streamline any manual admin they need to do because scheduling meetings can be time consuming and laborious. The humdrum obstacle of effort and time spent into arranging this kind of support has educators asking themselves: Am I going to have to schedule all these meetings? How do I know what times suit them? What if I need different types of appointments?
By setting up a booking interface, it allows you to provide a support service for students with the convenience of having your appointment-related admin automated via the integration of your Outlook calendar. It allows you to provide the support you want to make available to students, without overwhelming yourself or your staff.
Getting started
If you’re a first time user to Microsoft Bookings, never fear! Accessing MS Bookings is quite easy (and free) with your UTS credentials. Simply go to office.com/bookings and login with your UTS email and password, or click the app launcher menu on the top left hand side of any online Microsoft application you have open in your browser. The interface is quite user-friendly and you can check out some handy resources I’ve linked below that you may find more helpful and interesting than reading a bunch of instructions written by me in a blog (ha!):
Keep an eye out for upcoming Tooltime sessions and LX.lab workshops via the LX Events page.