Scheduling Student Appointments

Graduate student appointments are to be set for one hour and Undergraduate appointments are to be set for half an hour.

As we are using outlook to schedule appointments, please included the following information when scheduling appointments:

• Student name (please have student spell their name for you)
• NSU ID or date of birth
• Phone Number
• Type of appointment (in person or phone- please not if the student prefers to call in)

Scheduling students that are not showing in the system

The front staff have been instructed to place students on our calendars via Microsoft Outlook, if for some reason they are not “showing up” in the online booking system. (See e-mail’s sent below). Because of this, you may have students on your account that are not currently admitted. Whether the student is an admitted student, a prospective student or their student account has a hold, it is my expectation that you see the student. As advisors, we are expected to guide all students to the appropriate resources that may be necessary to get them reaccepted into the program or perhaps to consider an appeal especially for a student who has not been here a while. The other option is that the student is an existing student who does not have your name attached to their SGAADVR record and because of this the front office has to take additional steps to add them to our calendar.

So in summary please follow the three rules listed below:

1. See all students booked on your calendar. If you feel there was an extreme error in the booking, then bring that error to the attention of the Assistant Director of Advising attention so he or she can find an appropriate solution. Undergrad please go to Frank and graduate please go to Sarah, however you may speak to either one of us, if one of us is not available or out of the office that day.
2. If you receive a note/e-mail/post it note (any communication) from the front office asking you to attach your name to the student’s SGAADVR record please do so immediately or by the end of the day. To apply your NSU ID to a student record please go to Applying/Removing an Advisor to Student Record
3. On your calendar, if any student has a notation at the bottom of their summary stating that the student has no SGAADVR record attached to their account; Consider that note as your notification that the advisor needs to add their name to the student’s SGAADVR record. Please attach you name immediately or by the end of the day.

Web appointment scheduling

1. Click on the appointment and open it to see the reason for the appointment as well as student program and contact information.

2. You can schedule appointments for other advisors by going into the portal and using the administrative calendar. Please view Utilizing the Online Student Appointment Scheduler to see how to book an appointment with the administrative calendar.

3. There will be an “all hands” function where we can block out all advisors ahead of time. HOWEVER, that will not preclude you from booking appointments on your Outlook calendar. Please mark those dates on your calendars, as usual.

We have developed an online scheduling system for students, which will allow students to make appointments with their assigned advisor via the web. It will also allow advisors to schedule appointments for other advisors, so if you are with a walk-in, you will no longer need to refer them to the front desk. You will be able to make the appointment yourself! It is our hope that this will alleviate much of the front desk phone traffic, as well as provide a helpful service to students.

Below is the framework for setting up your calendar. You must block out any time that is not available for student appointments, or the students will see that as “free”. Students will not see the content of your calendar, just the open spots. They will be able to schedule an appointment for the following day and into the future. So, please closely adhere to the following:

1. Block 8am – 9am on your regular days. Block 8am – 10:30am on your late day.

2.Block 5pm-7pm on your regular day. Do not block the evening hours on your late day.

3. Block your walk-in hours. Block out 8am-8:30 if you have morning walk-ins.

4. Block out your lunch hour.

5. Block out recurring meetings, including faculty luncheons and staff meetings.

6. Block out future events, such as staff trainings.

7. Block out your pre-approved vacation days, personal days, and doctor’s appointments well in advance.

8. Block out your administrative time. Do not block admin time ½ hour prior to or following lunch hour.

9. Remove any old meetings, cancelled appointments, etc. Your calendar will need to be accurate.

In order to help you manage your calendars more effectively, as well as to communicate with others, please indicate what tasks you will be performing during a specific block of admin time. This will help you budget your time to successfully complete the ongoing tasks at hand. You can choose to write the subjects in the body of the appointment, or in the attached notes section. Use whatever system works best with your style. The following tasks should be “budgeted” and noted on your calendar, as applicable:

• Degree conferrals
• Capstone audits
• Evaluation of transfer credits and/or prerequisites
• New student review and letters
• Probation/suspension review
• Update student list
• Email

It is essential that we adhere to the following practice:

• Be at your desk, ready to take the call, at the scheduled appointment time

Remain available for 15 minutes after the scheduled appointment time

• Call the student after a 10 minute wait to see if they want to keep the appointment or reschedule

Notify the front desk if you have to step away for any reason during this time

Our students should not be kept waiting, nor should our reception staff be expected to track down advisors.

Front Desk Staff:

When a student schedules an appointment, please use the following notations (in addition to the usual continuing student, ID, phone, etc.) to indicate the type of appointment:

1. Coming in

2. Phone appt.

3. Phone appt. (call student)

• Inform students who are making phone appointments that the advisor will call them. A suggested statement is “Ok, Mary, Henry will call you at 9am on Monday, March 10.” If they express a desire to call the advisor instead, use this notation.

If a student calls in at the scheduled time but the advisor is on the phone with a previous appointment, send the call back to the advisor. The advisor will take the call and decide to put it on hold or call back. Reception should not hold any calls for the advisor.

Advisors:

• You are expected to call all of your appointments with the notation “phone appt.” Unless there is a specific notation that the student will call you, please call.
• It is essential that you call the student at the scheduled time. Try not to run over with other appointments. If you cannot avoid a delay, put the other student on hold, call your appointment, and offer to put them on hold or call back. Please be courteous to students who have scheduled appointments and do not keep them waiting.
• If a student is supposed to call in but does not, call the student after 5 minutes and leave a message if necessary. This will help reduce the confusion that has been happening wherein each person thinks the other was going to call. Please remember to document all attempts in Banner, so that a student won’t claim you missed their appointment or “never call”.