Hi Charlotte,
We're fortunate to have an online booking system tied to our student records system. Students book online, leave some notes about the nature of their query (required) and receive an email confirmation of the time and location of their appointment. The challenge we've had is having the right staff in place (with the appropriate experience) for when students book appointments. We have a drop down menu for several different types of appointment (IT, study skills, information search skills) and even have a holding page telling them which type of appointment addresses which type of support need. However, students often just select the first one and have turned up to see a member of staff who may not be most appropriate to help them - and/or the notes they leave don't explain what they need help with. We've switched to leaving the default option blank so they have to at least consciously select a type of appointment but not sure that makes much difference at the moment.
Sometimes other colleagues may be on hand to drop in and help but on occasions we simply have to remind the student about selecting the most appropriate appointment and ask them to re-book. Students can book up to 2 weeks in advance so this often gives us time to prepare for the appointment or see if someone is available who can address the specific query. I have taken the decision that we shouldn't have named colleagues available for appointments as we have found that some students become dependent on them. They will then only want to make appointments when that colleague is on appointment duty.
Hope that helps,
Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: Charlotte Barton [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 26 March 2015 15:07
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Appointment booking - how does your institution do it?
Hi All,
For those of you who offer students the opportunity to make an appointment to meet with a learning developer or librarian, how does the booking system work?
Do you have an online booking system that students can use? Is it fully automated or is some human intervention required?
Do students email a central email address to arrange an appointment?
If your team has individuals with different specialisms (e.g. faculties, specific software, dyslexia) do students contact the relevant member of staff directly?
We are currently looking to merge two previously separate booking systems (for librarians and learning developers) to provide a single point of contact for students seeking support, and a more efficient system. We would be very grateful to hear what has worked, or not worked, for others supporting students in a similar way.
I will be very happy to summarise responses and repost.
Many thanks,
Charlotte Barton
University of Surrey
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