WebDesk and Conferences

The WebDesk provides you with an easy way to setup available conference slots.

By creating the available slots in your calendar, you can either use these slots to plan your appointments or you can give parents and student the ability to schedule their own appointments with you.

The great thing about this screen is that you can easily create conferences, spanning multiple days and multiple time slots, in one click of the mouse.  

The display of conferences in the Parent Module is controlled on the Parents->Setup->Settings->School Settings->Conferences screen.

Looking for the Parent Conferences setup wiki? Click here.

Selecting the Fields for the Mass Conference Creator

1. What date(s) would you like to create the conferences for?

   • The first thing you must do is define the dates for your conferences.  keep in mind that conferences will only be created for school days.
     • Single Date - Select a single date to create conferences for.
     • Multiple Dates - Select a start and end date.  Conferences will be created for all school days between the two dates.
     • Calendar Event - A calendar event is an event that already exists on your school's calendar.  You do not have to select dates, since the dates for the event are already defined on the school's calendar.  This option can be used in conjunction with the Parents Module to allow parents to sign up for conferences for school events, like a Parent Teacher Conference night.

2. What time will the conferences start?

   • You are setting up a block of conferences that start at a specific time.  This is the time for your first conference in your set.  For instance, if you have 3 conference slots available from 9:00AM to 10:00AM, you would enter 9:00AM. 

3. Assign a staff member to the conferences

   • Select the staff member who you are creating the conferences for.  If you are an administrator, you also have the option of creating conferences for an entire department by selecting a department in the department drop down.

4. What is the reason?

   • Select a reason from the drop down.  The reasons are predefined by your district.

5. What is the location?

   • Select a location from the drop down.  The locations are predefined by your district.

6. Enter the subject for the conferences

   • This field will be pre-populated by the conference reason that you have selected.  If you would like to change the subject, simply change the text in the box.

7. How long will each conference last?

   • This is the expected length in minutes of each of your conference slots.

8. What is the time between conferences?

   • This is the expected length in minutes of the amount of time between the end of your conference and the start of the next.

9. How many conferences should be scheduled for each date?

   • This is total amount of conferences you are scheduling for each date.

10. Show these conferences in the Parent's Module?

    • This controls whether the conferences can be displayed in the Parent's Module.

Previewing Your Conferences

Once all of the fields above have been filled in, you can preview the conferences that will be created by clicking on the "Preview Conferences" button.

The "Conference Preview Window" on the right hand side will get updated with all of the potential conferences.

Here's an example of how conferences are created based on the fields you have filled in:

Let's say you selected 9:00AM as the starting time of your conferences. You also decided that you will have 3 total conferences that will last 15 minutes with a 5 minute buffer between them.

The preview will generate three total conferences, the first one starting at 9:00AM and ending at 9:15AM.  After the 5 minute buffer, the second conference will start at 9:20AM and end at 9:35AM.

Another 5 minute buffer will be added so the third conference will start at 9:40AM and last until 9:55AM.

If you have selected a department to create conferences for, all of the teachers within that department will be displayed underneath the conferences table.

Conference Times with Conflicts

If one of your conferences will conflict with an existing conference, the "Conference Preview Window" will display that time slot in red.

If you put your mouse over that time, you will be told that there is a conflict and a conference will not be able to be created at that time.

In order to create a conference for that time slot, you will need to remove or change the conflicting conference.

If you are creating conferences for an entire department, conflicts can be scheduled into your individual teachers.  The teachers will then have to fix the conflicts in their WebDesk Calendars.

Creating the Conferences

Once you have verified that the dates and times of the conferences in the "Conference Preview Window" are correct, hit the "Create Conferences" button on the top of the window.

The conferences without a conflict will be created for the staff member selected.  If a department had been selected, then the conferences will be created for all of the staff members within that department.

Controlling Conferences in Parent Access

Once conferences have been created, their appearance in the Parent Access and Student Access modules is controlled by settings on the Parents->Setup->Settings->School Settings->Conferences screen, shown below:

Turning on Conferences for Parents / Student Access

The "Show Parent Conferences" column controls whether the Conference are visible in the Parent Access / Student Access at all.  If this checkbox is checked, Conferences are visible.  If it is unchecked, they are not:

Displaying Specific "Conference Calendar Events" and Limiting Sign-ups

The "Events available for conferences in Parents" controls allows you to select up to 3 calendar-linked "Events" for which to display Conferences in the Parent and/or Student Access modules.  In addition, you can OPTIONALLY set a limit on how many conferences a single user (i.e. 1 parent or 1 student) can sign up for for the selected Event.  

For example, if a student has 6 teachers, can Conference slots are available for all 6, if the "Max:" limit is set to 3, the parent or student will be  allowed to sign up for a maximum of 3 conferences (regardless of how many the student's teachers have available Conference slots).

The "Max" field is strictly optional.  If you leave it blank, no limit is placed on the number of conferences that can be signed up for.

Which Courses to Offer Conference SIgn-ups For

You control the courses for which Conference sign-ups are displayed via the "Course Display" option.  

There are essentially two options:

• Display Conferences for all courses which are currently meeting (as of the days of the Conferences offered)
• Display Courses meeting during a specific Marking Period, which you select:

You may only select one option and this applies to all Conferences slots/Calendar Events currently marked as visible or scheduled by teachers.

Specifying who can Sign-up for Conferences 

Who is allowed to sign up for Conferences?  Parents and/or Students?  

This is controlled by two parameters, one for each of the two different kinds of Conferences:

The "Users who can schedule for an Event" controls which users, students and/or parents(i.e. guardians) can sign up for Conferences linked to a Calendar Event (e.g. Parent/Teacher Conferences).  

These appear under the "Schedule a Conference" link on the Parent/ Access module's "Conferences" tab.

The "Users who can schedule for Staff" controls which users can sign up for Conference slots created by individual staff members and which are not linked to a Calendar Event.  

These appear under the "Request a Conference" link on the Parent/ Access module's "Conferences" tab.

Looking for the Parent Conferences setup wiki? Click here.