As the person who started this thread I thought I
should let you know how we are progressing.   Our
Corporate Systems people here on campus have come up
trumps and have adapted an in-house diary system
for us to give a student booking screen and most of
the other features we were seeking.

The system sits on top of the University student
records system so management information is
available.   We can block double booking, send
automatic email confirmation, can type in short notes
of each consultation that sit on the student records,
can add searchable keywords to a record, can print out
the day's appointments, can deal with multiple tutors
on duty and different topics e.g. maths. vs. study
skills, can book group appointments and so on.

At the moment we are testing the system with a view to
launching it on one machine at our advice desk
sometime after Christmas so that there is always
someone around to help. The machine will sit where the
paper booking sheets used to be. If all is well we
hope to make the system available to students via our
student intranet next session.

I'll keep you posted.

Katy Barnett


On Sun, 7 Nov 2004 16:06:09 -0000 John Hilsdon
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jan Sellers [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 26 October 2004 15:27
> To: learning development in higher education network
> Subject: Re: Online appointment booking
>
> If anyone is still interested in this, I thought you'd like to know
> about
> our use of MeetingMaker for student advice appointments. We started
> using it
> in August this year and have not had any problems. As a team, we all use
> it
> as our online diary; advisers block in their appointment availability.
> It
> works as Anika outlines below.
>
> Our reception staff make the appointments for students on-line, and this
> allows flexibility; for example, if the total of appointments is to be
> eight, an adviser can block in ten options, of which only eight will be
> filled. I guess this degree of flexibility might only work for a small
> team.
> We're very pleased with it and I for one am glad to give up the desk
> diary
> for appointments - never did find one that really worked well for an
> advice
> team.
>
> We also use MeetingMaker to schedule bookings of our Training Room; it
> appears in the list as an extra person, which is not a problem. Again,
> the
> process works very well for us (and makes availability immediately
> obvious
> to everyone).
>
> All the best,
>
> Jan
> Dr Jan Sellers
> Coordinator, Student Learning Advisory Service
> Unit for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching
> University of Kent
> Canterbury CT2 7NQ
> Telephone: 01227-827124 or 824016
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Anika Easy" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2004 12:02 PM
> Subject: Re: Online appointment booking
>
>
> > At Bradford we use Meeting Maker as our online diary which isn't
> currently
> > available to students but it could potentially meet all the
> requirements
> > (block over-booking, 24/7, auto notification and reminders, plus
> > co-ordinating diaries for next available free space) except, as far as
> I
> am
> > aware, generating statistics automatically.  Overall I'd recommend the
> > software as I've found it very 'useable'.
> > Anika
> >
> > At 11:33 20/04/2004 +0100, you wrote:
> > >Hi Katy and All
> > >
> > >As we (UoP) have several sites (Plymouth, Exeter, Exmouth, Seale
> Hayne)
> > >where appointments are held, and very little admin or clerical
> support,
> > >we have given up trying to do online booking.  We did experiment with
> it
> > >last year but it caused us too many headaches with staff diaries! It
> > >seemed simpler for us to ask students to book on the relevant site by
> > >going to the library reception desk in person or by phone.  However,
> if
> > >there IS an electronic system anyone can recommend we'd be interested
> to
> > >know how it works ....
> > >
> > >John
> > >
> > >John Hilsdon
> > >Co-ordinator, Learning Development
> > >Educational Development
> > >University of Plymouth
> > >Drake Circus
> > >Plymouth
> > >PL4 8AA
> > >
> > >01752 232276
> > >[log in to unmask]
> > >www.plymouth.ac.uk/learn
> > >
> > >
> > >-----Original Message-----
> > >From: learning development in higher education network
> > >[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kathleen Barnett
> > >Sent: 05 April 2004 11:37
> > >To: [log in to unmask]
> > >Subject: Online appointment booking
> > >
> > >We presently have a paper-based system for students to book private
> > >appointments with study skills, academic writing and maths.
> > >tutors.   We are very keen to convert this into an online system
> > >to give privacy, 24/7 availability, automatic reminders, blocking
> > >of over-booking, more accurate student information and statistics
> > >etc.
> > >
> > >We are aware that there is a huge amount of commercial scheduling
> > >software available, such as AppointmentQuest.   Does anyone have
> > >any experience that they can share?   Any recommendations?
> > >Anyone tried this already?
> > >
> > >Katy
> > >
> > >----------------------------------------
> > >Kathleen Barnett
> > >Study Advice Services
> > >Centre for Learning Development
> > >Institute for Learning
> > >University of Hull
> > >Cottingham Road
> > >Hull
> > >HU6 7RX
> > >
> > >Tel. [01482] 465495
> > >Email: [log in to unmask]
> >
> > Anika Easy
> > Student Development Co-ordinator
> > University of Bradford
> > Telephone: 01274-23-5976
> >
> > Location: F26c Richmond Building
> > Mobile: 07990-791504 (internal shortcode ext: 1599)
> >

----------------------------------------
Kathleen Barnett
Study Advice Services
Centre for Learning Development
Institute for Learning
University of Hull
Cottingham Road
Hull
HU6 7RX

Tel. [01482] 465495
Email: [log in to unmask]
www.hull.ac.uk/studyadvice