New for the Fall 2023 semester, faculty who are listed as a primary or secondary instructor for a course in PeopleSoft are now able to set Faculty Office Hour availability in Pathways. If you are a faculty advisor who sets up teaching or office hours availability in the Undergraduate Advising Care Unit along with your advising availability, this new Faculty Office Hours Care Unit allows students a more streamlined way to find the times you are available or schedule an appointment.
Faculty Office Hours can be set up to allow students to schedule an appointment with you, or they can be set up to just show the times you are available, but not allow them to schedule a meeting – similar to posting availability in a syllabus or on Canvas.
For more details about how this functionality works, please see the training resources and FAQs below and feel free to email PathwaysHelp@pitt.edu with any questions.
FAQs
Can all students see the availability I have posted or just students in my class sections?
The ability to view drop-in hours and schedule appointments is course-based, however it is not restricted by section or professor. If a student is enrolled in the course in the current or future term, they will be able to see your drop-in availability and/or schedule an appointment, even if they are not in your specific section. If they are not enrolled in the course, then students cannot see any availability or schedule appointments for that course.
What is the difference between setting up availability for Appointments vs. Drop-In?
Selecting the Appointments button will mean that students who are enrolled in the course will be able to see the time you have listed as being available, and be able to schedule an appointment with you. If you select the Drop-In availability button, then students will only be able to see that you are available, but cannot schedule an appointment.
If I set up availability for appointments, are students limited to the number of appointments they can make?
No. When a student schedules an appointment, the default time is 15 minutes, however they can schedule as many individual 15-minute appointments as they would like.
How far in advance can a student schedule an appointment with me?
Students can schedule an appointment up to 30 days in advance. However, students cannot schedule an appointment with less than 24 hours of notice. This means that you will always know at least 1 full day in advance if you have a student who has scheduled to meet with you.
How do students know when I am available to meet for appointments or drop in?
Students can see course-based availability by choosing the Faculty Office Hours appointment option in the Navigate Student App, and then selecting one of the courses they are enrolled in. Students can also schedule appointments by using a Personal Availability Link which you can create and send to them. This link will take the student directly to your availability and streamline the scheduling process.
How am I notified that a student has scheduled an appointment with me?
You will receive an automated email as soon as a student schedules or cancels an appointment. The email includes the student’s name, course, day/time of the appointment and any comments the student might have left.
Where are scheduled appointments visible in Pathways?
You will be able to see all upcoming appointments that students have scheduled with you, as well as recent appointments (past 90 days), on the Appointments tab of your Staff Home page. These appointments will also show up on the Appointments tab of a student profile, and as an entry on the History tab of a student profile. Pathways users with access to these sections will be able to view the appointment details.
Can I update my office hours if I am not able to hold them on a certain day or week?
Yes. Availability is very customizable. It can be set for an entire term, or it can be set and updated on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. If you have set up availability but can no longer hold those hours, you can edit or delete that availability so a student cannot see it and therefore will not be able to schedule an appointment. You can also cancel an appointment if a student has scheduled one with you but you are no longer available to meet.
I use Pathways as a Faculty Advisor. How will setting Faculty Office Hours availability affect the availability I have set up for advising appointments?
The only impact that faculty office hours will have on advising availability is if the blocks of availability coincide with one another. In that case, students in your classes may end up scheduling appointments for time that you had otherwise intended to be available only for your advisees. If you do not want this to happen, then the faculty office hour availability must be set for separate days and times from advising availability.
Help Documents
How To Set Office Hours for Appointments