Accudemia: How do I enable online meeting links for tutor appointments?
INTRODUCTION
This is a new feature that we've added to Accudemia to help with managing the tracking of online sessions in Accudemia. By following this guide you will be able to:
- Enable a custom meeting link for your Tutors.
- Assign Tutors a meeting link in Accudemia.
- Customize the Accudemia Terminology to set the link label
- Enable specific Services to use the Meeting link only
- Create a Custom Email Template to show the Online Session link
- Optionally add a Custom Meeting Link for every Appointment
- Have a Student log into Accudemia and join their Online Session
- Have a Student click a link from their email to join their Online Session
STEP-BY-STEP
Enable a Custom Meeting link for Tutors
1 - From the top navigation menu in Accudemai click the Administration > Control Panel options:
2 - In the Control Panel click on the Virtual Session Module section:
3 - In the Virtual Sessions section check the checkbox for the 'Enable Connect Link for Users' option:
Assign Tutors a meeting link in Accudemia
1 - Now we need to make sure each Tutor that needs to use this Virtual Sessions feature has a URL link associated with their User Account. To do this we need to navigate to the Administration > User Accounts section from the top menu in Accudemia:
2 - In the User Account edit screen on the General tab simply copy and paste in the URL/link from your meeting provider into the "Connect Link" field:
3 - Click Save Changes at the top of this page.
Customize the Accudemia Terminology to set the link label
1 - If you want the system to show a different label than the default "Connect Link" label then click Administration > Control Panel on the top menu navigation of Accudemia:
2 - In Control Panel click on the Terminology section:
3 - Seach the "Connect Link" option and change the text field value to something else like "Zoom Meeting URL", etc.:
4 - Be sure to click the Save Changes button at the top of the page.
Enable specific Services to use the Meeting link only
1 - Now we have to look at the Center's Services to enable this meeting link for specific Services. To do this let's go to Administration > Centers and Classrooms section from the top navigation menu in Accudemia:
2 - Select the Center from the list and go to the Services tab. On that tab select from the list the Service you want to offer online by double-clicking on it. For this example we will take the "Online Tutoring" Service for the "Computer Lab" Center:
3 - Place a check in the checkbox for the "Allow online Sign-in for appointments" option shown below and click the Accept button:
4 - Finally, click Save Changes in the top right corner:
Important: If not set up like this then all the tutors will have a single URL link associated to them or you will have to add Appointment Notes that will use variable links that a tutor will need to add to the appointment before they start.Create a Custom Email Template to show the Online Session link
1 - If you want the system to send a "Connect Link" to the students on the various Email Templates available in Accudemia then click Administration > Control Panel on the top menu navigation of Accudemia:
2 - Next click on the Email Templates section:
3 - Once there click the Create New button (if you've never created a template for this type of message) or click the title of an existing Email Template to edit one of them that goes out to the students. Here are the four Email Templates that you would want to update with this link:
- Appointment Confirmation to Students
- Appointment Reminder to Students
- Appointment Rescheduled to Students
- Appointment Restored to Students
4 - Once you have an email template selected and you are editing the template then you'll want to choose one of two options:
1 - My Tutors will all have a "Connect Link" and we are doing only online sessions:
Then simply click on the Appointment Info button and click the JoinLink button. This will add the appropriate link to the template.
2 - We are going to be offering both online sessions and onsite appointments:
Then add the following code to the Body Template as shown below.
<ad:if test="#isdefined("Appointment_JoinLink")#"> This is an online appointment. Please open the following link when the appointment starts: #Appointment_JoinLink# <ad:else> #Teminology_Center#: #Appointment_Center# </ad:if>
5 - Click the Save Changes button at the top of the page and the Students will now add the "Connect Link" to your emails that go out to the students. Repeat steps 3-5 until all the templates are updated.
TIP: If you want the Tutors to have the link available in their emails as well you can also edit the same four templates that go out to the Tutors using this code:
<ad:if test="#isdefined("MailTo_ConnectLink")#">
This is your Tutor Meeting Connect Link:
#MailTo_ConnectLink#
<ad:else>
</ad:if>
Optionally add a Custom Meeting Link for every Appointment
1 - in order for the student to see and join a session using a Custom Meeting link per session then we need to set up a new option in the Virtual Session options. Start by clicking on the Administration > Control Panel section from the top navigation menu in Accudemia:
2 - In the Control Panel select the Virtual Sessions section:
3 - Select the Scope or Center for this feature (in this case the "Computer Lab" Center) to be used:
4 - Search for the option "Show appointment notes..." shown below and place a check in the checkbox for it:
5 - Click the Save Changes button at the top of the page:
6 - Finally let's edit an individual appointment and add a URL link to the Appointment Notes section:
7 - Click the + Add Note button to ensure the Custom Meeting Link for this online session is stored on the appointment.
Have a Student login to Accudemia and join their Online Session
1 - Now the student simply can log into Accudemia using their User ID and Password to see a link to join the Online Session. After logging into the student's account they will see a new Join Session button in the Upcoming Appointments section for the appointment we configured as an online session. At this point the student can simply click the Join Session button around the start time of the appointment as shown below:
2 - Once clicking the Join Session button IF The tutor has a session link configured in his account then a web browser with a screen that will show the following message for the student to join the online session will show:
Have a Student click a link from their email to join their Online Session
3-Configuring properly email templates can allow the Student to receive a link in their email to join their online session. Please follow this guide :
in the body of the message you will need to add this code in blue:
<ad:if test="#isdefined("Appointment_JoinLink")#">
This is an online appointment. Please open the following link when the appointment starts: #Appointment_JoinLink#
<ad:else>
#Appointment_JoinLink#
</ad:if>
The email will look similar to this:
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