What is Bookings:
Bookings is an Office 365 app that lets you create a link for students to schedule office hours during free times (or times you designate) on your Outlook calendar. When students use this link, their office hour automatically shows up on your calendar AND you get an email notification.
Why Use It:
- It’s free!
- You already have access to it via http://office.unc.edu
- Flexible scheduling (define time slots, number of sign-ups per slot, availability rules)
- Meetings automatically appear on your Outlook calendar
- Receive emails when booking requests are made
- Easy to post in Sakai, just provide a link to your published Bookings page, or send link via email.
- Can require students log in with onyens to book
- Can include TAs or other instructors to coordinate scheduling
Quick Note: The videos below demonstrate the “new” updated Bookings. You may default to the older version, which doesn’t have all the new features and looks a little different. We highly recommend using the new version. If you see a different interface in Bookings than shown in the videos, look for a toggle labeled “Try the new Bookings” in the upper right corner of the interface and turn it on. Then you’re all set to get started!
How To:
Get Started with Bookings
To use Bookings, you’ll login to http://office.unc.edu and find the Bookings app in the list of “All Apps” (sorted alphabetically). Once you open Bookings and click “Get It Now”, Bookings will create a Bookings calendar and scheduling page that you can start using right away.
See our video for details (7 min):
Note: Open the video in Panopto to view video table of contents.
Customize Your Schedule
By default Bookings will make you bookable according to business hours and your own Outlook calendar availability. But you can customize that if you want to make yourself bookable only during certain hours and days of the week, or for a limited period of time.
See our video for details (4 min):
Add Other Instructors or TAs
If your Bookings page is just for students scheduling with you, no need to add anyone. But if you need to coordinate with co-instructors or TAs, you can add them and allow students to schedule with them as well.
See our video for details (4 min):
Integrate with Zoom
If you’ll be doing all your meetings via Zoom, learn how to create a Zoom meeting that will be automatically included in all Booking calendar events.
See our video for details (4 min):
Get More Information
Lots of other institutions use Bookings and have developed very good instructions. If you’re looking for something we didn’t cover in a demo video, you can contact us via our own Bookings page (or just see an example of one in action), or browse through the documentation linked below. Note that some information may be specific to that institution.
- Book a Consult Now! – see an example of a Bookings page in action and request help, if needed.
- Online Office Hours Through Microsoft Bookings – from University of Chicago
- Microsoft Bookings Quick Reference Guide for Faculty and Staff [PDF] – from Northwestern University
- Scheduling Appointments with Microsoft Bookings [PDF] – from BJU Information Technologies
