Navigate360: Faculty - Setting up Faculty Office Hours / Creating Availability in Navigate360

Overview

Faculty members and instructors have the option to create Availability Blocks in Navigate360 which will allow students in your courses and academic advisees to schedule appointments with you. 

We recommend that you include your Navigate360 scheduling information as part of your standard office hours information shared via syllabi so that students know when/how they might schedule with you via Navigate360 and/or when how they might drop-in to see you in your office, etc.

Special Notes

• Faculty have at least two roles within Navigate360: Professor and Staff.

Staff is the role that is the default home screen when you log in and is where you set up any office hour availability for your students/assigned advisees.

Professor is the space where you can see your courses/student lists, respond to progress surveys, etc.

To navigate between the roles, use the drop-down menu to choose what connections/role you’d like to see. You must use Staff Home to Create Faculty Office Hours / Availability Blocks. 

Faculty Office Hours configurations in Navigate

• A specific care unit named “Faculty Academic Advising” has been established to use for Faculty Office Hour/Advising sessions and all faculty have been connected to it.
• A general location called "Faculty Member Office" has been established for all instructors to use when creating office hours. This does not mean you need to host your office hours in-person, you do have a virtual office. Note that all locations in Navigate360 are generic across all areas.
• Current appointment services/reasons are set up with a generic title and then a specific time limit. When you schedule your office hour blocks, you must choose at least one reason; however, you can also choose multiple service options in one appointment block. When a student is scheduling on their end, the default appointment will be determined by what service/reason they select. For example, if they select “Faculty Advising/Office Hours- 15 minutes”, they will be limited to a 15-minute block based on your set upStudents have up to 12 hours before your office hour block to schedule an appointment through Navigate360. They can still reach out to you if they need to connect with you and an opening is less than 12 hours away; however, they cannot schedule this on their own in the system and will need you to either schedule the appointment for them or document your meeting as a walk-in meeting (information available on this below).
• There is only one location (Faculty Member Office) associated with this care unit, so it is critical that you put your specific appointment directions into the “Special Instructions to Students” area when you set up your availability. A sample message you can use and post here is available below. You will need to add it each time you set up an office hour block and best practice is to cut and paste the text you want to provide from a saved document for ease. 
  • Students are used to seeing these special instruction details and will look to them to understand when/how they will meet with you.

Sample Message for Special Instructions Sections:You can adjust what you include depending on what meeting types (in-person, virtual, phone) you select for your appointments.

I look forward to connecting with you soon!

If we are scheduled to meet in-person, please come to my office in XXXX building, office #.

If we are scheduled to meet virtually, please use the following link to connect with me on Zoom: LINK.

If we are scheduled to meet via phone, please call me at XXXXXXXX at our scheduled time.

Step by Step Instructions: Creating Faculty Office Hour Appointment Availability

1. Log into Navigate360 and find your home screen. Click on My Availability.

2. Click on Action and Add Time to establish a new availability block for advising sessions.

For all types of Faculty Office Hours appointments, complete the following steps in the Add Time screen (Screen Shots below)

1. Choose the days and times you want to hold your appointment blocks.
2. Choose how long this block should be active. In the very least, we suggest that you end your availability at the end of each term to ensure that you can readjust your availability if it changes for breaks/future semesters. You can also build shorter blocks, etc.
3. Choose if this availability block should be displayed on your personal availability link (PAL). You can find your personal advising link on the My Availability tab underneath your scheduled appointment blocks.
4. Choose Appointments as the type of block you are setting up.
5. Select your Meeting type. Can choose multiple modes. Options include: In-person, Virtual (zoom), or Phone.
6. Select the Care Unit: Use "Faculty Academic Advising".
7. Select the Location: Use "Faculty Member’s Office".
8. Select your appointment services/reasons. You can choose to select one per appointment block or choose multiple to provide different appointment length options to your students.
9. You can post your URL/phone number in the box labeled this; however, it is critical that you do step 10 listed below to ensure students get more details for your appointments via a confirmation email when an appt is sent.
10. Ensure you put Zoom links and your office location (building/room), appointment details in the Special Instructions to Student area (see samples on previous page).
11. Click Save to establish the appointment block.
12. Repeat as necessary until you have built all of the desired Availability Blocks. See related articles for more details, in particular the FAQ.

Still Need Help?

For Navigate360 staff system questions or issues, email navigate360@mnsu.edu or contact the Office of Student Success.