Along with many other demands currently placed on you, you’re now being asked to schedule parent-teacher conferences without being able to invite parents and guardians into your classroom. If you’re conducting online conferences, don’t let the scheduling be a stressor. One simple tech tool and about 20 minutes will ensure you have a seamless system to allow parents to book a time to meet with you and automatic video call links ready to go!
When we initially closed schools in response to COVID-19, I needed an easy and efficient way to let teachers book virtual technology coaching sessions with me. I turned to Calendly – a tool commonly used by other technology coaches and also business professionals. Calendly has turned out to be an awesome teacher tool and I appreciate how it makes scheduling online meetings simple and efficient!
What makes Calendly great
- The free version is awesome and offers great functionality (thank you Calendly!)
- Calendly easily integrates with your existing Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar
- You can easily set when you are available and let families choose the time that works best for them (without a bunch of calls or emails back and forth!)
- The ease of automation
- Calendly can automatically put appointments into your calendar and “reserve” that time for an appointment
- Calendly can add a video call link for Google Meet or Microsoft Teams for the appointment
- parents booking a time will get automatic email notification of their appointment time and the video call link to join
- automated reminder emails can go out to remind families of their appointment time
Tips for Setting up Calendly
- Sign up for a free account with your school email
- Turn on the calendar integration for Google or Microsoft
- Choose a meeting length (stick with one event type/meeting length if you’re keeping a free account!)
- Set your available dates and times
- Edit the event to set the meeting location to Google Meet or Microsoft Teams
- Do a test run: book an appointment on your calendar and ensure it works, then cancel the appointment
- Share your Calendly page with parents and guardians
Setup Screenshots
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