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Google Calendar: Scheduling Office Hours and Appointments
The Appointment Slots feature in Google Calendar can be used to schedule office hours and other recurring appointments that students or team members can sign up for. Appointment slots are useful when you don't know who needs to meet with you, but you want to make yourself available. You can offer people a block of time on your calendar that they can book time slots within. For example, you can set aside 2 hours that you're available to meet with people in 30-minute slots. Others can then book one of the 30-minute slots within that time that works best for them.
Step 1: Setting Up
To set up appointment slot:
- Navigate to Google Calendar at calendar.google.com and ensure you're logged in with your PLU account.
- Click the desired date/time in the calendar grid. A pop-up will appear.
- Enter a title, such as "Office Hours," and click the "Appointment Slot" option to the top-right.
- (Optional) To schedule it as a recurring event or adjust other details, click the pencil icon and change settings as desired.
- Click "Save" when done.
Step 2: Sharing & Inviting
To invite guests to sign up:
- Click the scheduled slot, and then click the link from the pop-up: "Go to appointments page for this calendar."
- Copy the URL from the web address bar.
- Paste the link elsewhere to share it, such as in an email, or Sakai Lessons Page or Announcement.
(Optional) Add a Video Meeting
Google Meet or Zoom meeting can be easily added for distance or virtual appointments/office hours. A slot must be reserved in order to add a meeting link, and guests will be able to click the link from the event for the slot in their own Google Calendar. Google Meet meetings can be added by default, but to add a Zoom meeting to a Google Calendar event, the Zoom for G Suite add-on is required.
To add a video meeting:
- Click the reserved slot. Be aware that a slot must be reserved by a student/guest in order to add a video meeting to it.
- Click the pencil icon to the top-right of the event pop-up.
- Click the "Add video conferencing" button, and select either the "Google Meet" or "Zoom Meeting" option. A meeting and join link will be generated in the event, which guests can click at the time of the appointment.
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