Your First Time

If this is your first time using Navigate for availability or office hours, we recommend the following steps:

Google Calendars Two-Way and Free/Busy Sync

  • Select Calendar for Two-Way Sync (Recommended Option): All calendar items sync back and forth between your Navigate calendar and your Geneseo Google calendar. Events from your Google calendar will display as Busy in your Navigate calendar. Navigate appointments will display on your Google calendar.
    • Calendar items with a status of Busy will show on your Navigate calendar. Items labeled as Free will not sync to Navigate.
    • If you typically create a calendar event for office hours or available appointment times, you must change the status to Free to have availability in Navigate. If they are Busy, Navigate will block those times as unavailable.
  • Select Calendar for Free/Busy Sync: This is usually the same calendar you use for two-way sync. If you want to block appointments as "busy" on your Google calendar but have the times free in Navigate, you can create a new calendar in Google and select it for Navigate free/busy sync. We recommend you name it something like "Fox Office Hours" so that you recognize the calendar you are using. If you implement this option, you must remember to create (or copy) meetings on this alternate calendar if you need to block Navigate appointments when you are unavailable.

Plan your Office Hours

Each time range (e.g. 11:00am - 12:00pm) requires a separate availability. We recommend planning what your office hours to help ensure you set up Navigate to accurately reflect when you are available for student drop-ins and appointments. For example:

Hour(s)Day(s)LocationDrop-In / Appointments
3:00pm-4:15pmFridayVirtualappointments
9:00am-10:00amTuesday, Thursdaymy officedrop-in / appointments
2:00pm-2:45pmWednesdayVirtualappointments

(warning) Default appointment length for office hours is 15 minutes. If you prefer a different length of time, contact navigate@geneseo.edu and we will discuss using a Campaign (Advising Campaigns in Navigate).

Special Instructions

This field is where you will enter information that will be shared with students regarding where and how they will meet with you. For example:

  • When you join Teams for office hours, I may be meeting with another student. You will be placed in a Waiting Room until I am available.
  • My Office is located in South Hall 201.
  • Office hours for Fall 2020 are by appointment only. My office is located in Erwin 217B (part of Study Abroad suite of offices) or we can meet by Teams.







Example of what students will see when they select your office hours.

Add Availability for Office Hours

  1. Log into EAB Navigate with your Geneseo credentials
  2. Click on the My Availability tab on the home page
  3. Click on the triangle to the right of Actions and select Add Time
    1. Select the days and times when you are available to meet with students
    2. Select A Range of Dates for the advising appointments. 
    3. Check the box to add this availability to your personal availability link. This will make sharing your office hours with students easy!
    4. Type of availability: Appointments and/or Drop-ins
    5. Care Unit: Faculty
    6. Location: Virtual Meeting or Faculty Office
    7. Services: Faculty Office Hours
    8. To create your Personal Availability Link (PAL), check the box.
    9. URL: Leave blank.
    10. Special Instructions: See above for recommendations, including how to locate your office or link to Teams meeting. Shared with the student upon making the appointment.
    11. Click Save
  4. Note that your new availability will be marked "Upcoming" if the dates have not begun

Navigate Guide: My Availability



Sharing your Office Hours Information with Students

NEW: Navigate has created an individual Personal Availability Link for all faculty and staff. Sharing this link with students will give them direct access to your available appointment times.

PAL link for sharing

PAL link ready to share!

PAL with no availability

PAL link with no availability

Students can also find faculty office hours easily in Navigate. If you would like to share directions with them, see below.

  1. Log into Navigate
  2. Click on the blue button labeled Get Assistance
  3. Schedule an appointment with the following options: 
    1. Type of Appointment: Faculty
    2. Options: Faculty Office Hours
    3. Pick a Date
  4. On the next screen, either select the faculty member from the circles on the right or enter the name of the faculty you would like to meet with. 
  5. Select an appointment time, or click on the button in the yellow bar to view Drop-In Times
     
  6. Confirm your appointment. You will receive an email confirmation and future reminders.
  7. When launching your Teams meeting, please be sure to do so from the Teams app.


Setting up Virtual Registration Hours in Teams

This self help guide from CIT provides information about office hours.


This self help document offers tips for holding virtual office hours with Microsoft Teams.

Before You Start

Microsoft Teams does not have a Personal Meeting ID to share with your classes. If you would like to offer your students virtual office hours, there are two ways to do so.

  1. Provide instructions for your students on how to contact you via their Microsoft Teams app. You can then start a video or audio call inside that private chat. We have included sample instructions below.
  2. Create a recurring meeting in Google and share the link with your students.

Sharing Teams Information with your Students

If you want to make it easy for people to chat with you or start a video call with you, you can share a link with them that allows them to chat or call you in Teams. 

Sample communication for your syllabus:

Virtual office hours are available between 3pm - 5pm on Tuesday. If you would like to meet with me during that time, send me a message in Teams via this link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/chat/0/0?users=username@geneseo.edu Once I have confirmed I am not meeting with another student, we can start a video call. You also may find it convenient to ask me a question in Teams any time! I will respond to questions submitted outside of office hours within 1 day.

Creating a Recurring Office Hours Meeting in Google Calendar

The way to do this is to create a recurring meeting for the office hours using Google Calendar. 

  1. Create a new meeting in Google Calendar and add Microsoft Teams Video Conferencing.
  2. Before you save the meeting, click on Meeting Options in the Google create meeting window.
  3. Change the following options:
    1. Who can bypass the lobby? Set to Only me and co-organizers
    2. Who can present? Set to Only me and co-organizers  if you would like to prevent students from admitting their classmates from the lobby
    3. Allow meeting chat. In-meeting only
      This prevents students from seeing each other's chat during meetings with you
  4. Save the Google meeting.
  5. Launch the Teams meeting in the app to get the meeting link information.
    1. The invitation link can be found at the top of the "People" tab.
  6. Copy the meetings link from your Teams app. It should look like https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MGFiYjM2NzUtYmJmOC00MmQwLTk4MTgtYmE3YWVkN2NkNDlj%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2202ce934f-066a-4d00-b828-cedba7cf4f79%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2205b67ceb-ce25-4791-b482-b80fea7b46fd%22%72d
  7. You can create a go.geneseo.edu link to share with your students. Visit https://go.geneseo.edu/urls/admin/add_url.php Select an easy-to-share link like https://go.geneseo.edu/foxofficehours


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