Accudemia: How do I enable online meeting links for tutor appointments?

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.  By following this guide, you will be able to:
  1. Enable a Custom Meeting link for Tutors
  2. Assign Tutors a meeting link in Accudemia.
  3. Customize the Terminology to refer to the "ConnectLink" as what you call your meeting links.
  4. Enable specific Services to be set as "Virtual" or "Remote" in their Modalities
  5. Create a Custom Email Template to show the Online Session link
  6. Optionally, add a Custom Meeting Link for every Appointment (Option with a completely manual attendance tracking method)
  7. Test your Setup using a test student account!

STEP-BY-STEP

  1. From the top navigation menu, click the Administration > Control Panel section:

  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:

Now we need to make sure each tutor who needs to use this Virtual Sessions feature has a URL link associated with their User Account.  To do this, we need to:
  1. Navigate to the Administration > User Management > Users section from the top menu in Accudemia.

  2. In the User Account edit screen, look on the General tab, to then simply copy and paste the URL or meeting link from your meeting provider into the "Connect Link" field:

  3. Click Save Changes at the top of this page.
If you want the system to show a different label than the default "Connect Link" label, then do the following:
  1. Click Administration > Control Panel on the top menu navigation of Accudemia.

  2. In the Control Panel, click on the Terminology section:


  3. Search for he "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 be set as "Virtual" or "Remote" in their Modalities

Now we have to look at the Center's Services to enable this meeting link for specific Services.  To do this, do the following:
  1. Go to Administration > Campus Setup > Locations 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, let we will take the "Online Tutoring" Service for the "Computer Lab" Center:


  3. Place a check in the checkbox for the Modalities shown below and click the Accept button:
    1. Virtual Appointments
    2. Remote Walk-ins

  4. Finally, click Save Changes in the top right corner:
AlertImportant: If not set up like this, then all the tutors will have a single URL link associated with 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.
If you want the system to send a "Connect Link" to the students on the various messages that go out, then you need to use the Email Templates available in Accudemia:
  1. 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:
    1. Appointment Confirmation to Students
    2. Appointment Reminder to Students
    3. Appointment Rescheduled to Students
    4. 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 on-site appointments:
      Then add the following code to the Body Template as shown below.
      <ad:if test="#Appointment_IsVirtual#">
This is an online appointment. 
Please open the following link when the appointment starts: #Appointment_JoinLink#
<ad:else>
This is a face-to-face appointment
#Terminology_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 their 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="#Appointment_IsVirtual#">
This is an online appointment. Please open your meeting in the meeting platform directly or via this link when the appointment starts: #Tutor_ConnectLink#
<ad:else>
This is a face-to-face appointment
#Terminology_Center#: #Appointment_Center#
</ad:if>

For the student to see and join a session using a Custom Meeting link per session, we need to set up a new option in the Virtual Session options.

  1. 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, select 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.

Test your Setup using a test student account!

Next is to have a Student account log into Accudemia and join their Online Session.

  1. Now the student can simply 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:

    InfoNote: They can also use the link sent via email if that step was followed.


  2. Once clicking the Join Session button, IF The tutor has a session link configured in their account, then a web browser with a screen that will show the following message for the student to join the online session will show: