How to Setup Scheduler Activity
Overview
The Scheduler module allows you to schedule and manage one-on-one appointments with students. You can set your availability and define the duration of each appointment, while students can book themselves into available time slots. The module also allows you to record attendance and assign grades for each appointment.
In this tutorial, we’ll guide you through the step-by-step process of setting up a Scheduler activity within a course in the Learning Management System (LMS).
IMPORTANT: Before setting up a Scheduler activity, ensure that:
- You have Teacher or Admin access to the course.
- Both teachers and students are enrolled in the course.
Step Tutorial
Adding the Activity
1. Go to the course where you want to set up the Scheduler activity.
2. To start making changes to your course page, click the toggle to turn Edit mode on.
3. Click the + icon in the section where you would like to add the activity, then select Activity or resource.
4. Select Scheduler from the list of activities, then click Add.
Configuring the Settings
General
Field | Definition |
Name | Provide a name for the scheduled activity. |
Introduction | This is visible to students when selecting an appointment slot. Use this field to provide context about what students need to do or prepare for before attending the appointment. |
Options
Field | Definition |
Role name of the teacher | Enter the contextualised title you want to use for the person facilitating the appointment. This allows you to tailor the terminology to the type of session being scheduled. For example:
This is a display label for the appointment facilitator and does not determine which users are eligible to act as the teacher. |
Mode | This setting controls how many appointments a student can have booked within the Scheduler at one time. The appropriate option will depend on whether students need to book a single appointment or may need to attend multiple appointments. In this Scheduler – Limits the student to the specified number of appointments for the entire Scheduler. Once they reach this limit, they cannot book any additional appointments. At a time – Limits the student to the specified number of active appointments at any one time. Once an appointment has been completed and marked as Seen/attended by the teacher, it no longer counts towards the limit and the student can book another appointment. Example: If the setting is 1 appointment at a time, a student can book one appointment. Once the trainer marks that appointment as Seen, the student can book another appointment if required. This option is particularly useful for assessment or reassessment workflows, where a student may only need one appointment at a time but may need to book another appointment if they require a further attempt. |
Booking in groups | Allow students to book a slot for all members of their group. (Note that this is separate from the "group mode" setting, which controls the slots a student can see.) |
Guard Time | Guard time controls how far in advance of an appointment a student must make their booking. It prevents students from booking an appointment too close to its scheduled start time. For example, if the Guard time is set to 2 hours, a student cannot book a 10:00 AM appointment after 8:00 AM on the day of the appointment. This can be used to give trainers enough notice to prepare for an appointment and prevent last-minute bookings. |
Default slot duration | Specifies the default duration of a slot (in minutes) when adding slots. This value can be overridden when adding slots. |
Notifications | This setting controls whether appointment notifications are sent to students and teachers when appointments are booked or updated. When enabled, Scheduler can send notifications for relevant appointment events, helping students and teachers stay informed about their upcoming bookings. Yes – Appointment notifications are enabled. No – Scheduler will not send appointment notifications. For assessment bookings, enabling notifications is recommended so students receive confirmation and relevant updates about their scheduled appointment. |
Use appointment notes | This setting controls whether appointment notes can be added and who can view them. None – No appointment notes can be added. Appointment note, visible to teacher and student – Notes can be added that are visible to both the teacher and student. This can be useful for sharing information, instructions or feedback about the appointment. Confidential note, visible to teachers only – Notes can be added that are only visible to the teacher. This is useful for recording private assessment observations, outcomes or follow-up actions. Both types of notes – Enables both teacher-only and teacher-and-student appointment notes, allowing the appropriate type of note to be used depending on the information being recorded. |
Grade
Field | Definition |
Grade | Type = None, Scale, or Point If the appointment should be graded, select the desired grading method. Scale – Default Competence Scale. Suitable for appointments assessed as Competent/Not Yet Competent Point – Maximum Grade. Suitable for appointments assessed with a point-based scoring When Scale or Point is selected, Grade to pass field will be displayed. |
Grade to pass | Configure this to the passing score that aligns with the selected grading method. |
Grading Strategy | When mode is "one at a time", a single student might accumulate more than one "seen" appointment. There are two ways of calculating the given grade for the appointments:
|
Booking form and student-supplied data
Field | Definition |
Use booking form | This setting determines whether students are required to use a booking form when registering for an appointment. Yes – Enables the booking form, allowing you to provide booking instructions and, where configured, collect additional information from the student such as a message or uploaded files. No – Students can book an appointment without completing the booking form. Additional booking form options, such as booking instructions, will not be available. |
Booking instructions | Provide additional information or instructions about the requirements for the appointment. |
Let students enter a message | This setting determines whether students can enter a message when booking an appointment. Yes – Provides students with a text field where they can enter additional information for the teacher when making their booking. This could be used for questions, special requirements or information the teacher should be aware of before the appointment. No – Students cannot enter a message when booking their appointment. |
Maximum number of uploaded files | If file uploads are allowed, specify the maximum number of files a student can upload. |
Maximum file size | If file uploads are allowed, specify the maximum file size that can be uploaded. |
Common module settings
Field | Definition |
Availability | The availability option permits students to view and access the activity; there are two options available:
|
ID number | Enter an ID number to identify the activity for grading or other Moodle-related purposes. Otherwise, the field may be left blank. |
Force language | If you force a language in a course, the interface of Moodle in this course will be in this particular language, even if a student has selected a different preferred language in his/her personal profile. |
Group mode | This setting has 3 options:
The group mode defined at course level is the default mode for all activities within the course. Each activity that supports groups can also define its own group mode, though if the group mode is forced at course level, the group mode setting for each activity is ignored. |
Restrict access
Teachers can restrict students from accessing activities and resources based on a set of conditions. These conditions may include whether an activity has been completed, a specific date when the activity can be accessed, a required grade, a specified user profile, or a combination of restrictions.
Restrictions can be based on one or more of the available criteria.
Completion conditions
If this scheduled appointment should count towards the students required assessment activities and course completion, you would need to configure the completion conditions.
- Add requirements
- Receive a grade
- Any grade or Passing grade
If this is not an assessable activity, then completion conditions may be left as None.
Adding Slots
When a Scheduler activity is first added to a course, no appointment slots will be available. Each enrolled teacher can add their own slots if they have the required capability.
On the activity page, click Add slots. This allows you to add either a single slot or repeated slots.
Add repeated slots
Allows user to set up multiple slots in one configuration. Good for setting up regular availability or schedule
Field | Description |
Date | Set the start date for the first appointment |
Repeat time slots until | If enabled, set the date for the last appointment. Keeping it equal to start date will make slots for a single day. Over these dates, slots will be repeated based on the day of week and time. |
Add appointments on | Select which day(s) for the week to set up appointments. Take care to not disable all of the days in the date range you selected. |
Time range | Set the start and end time for the appointments per day. |
Divide into slots | If setting up multiple short slots, select YES. Otherwise, NO allows for a longer duration single session per day. |
Duration | If YES to divide into slots, select the session duration per slot in minutes. |
Break between slots | You may set a break to appear after each slot, allowing you time to write notes or rest. |
Force overlap when | This setting determines whether a teacher can be assigned to overlapping appointments.
For assessment bookings, No is generally recommended to prevent double-booking and ensure the teacher is available for each scheduled assessment. |
Maximum students per slot | Set the maximum number of students allowed per slot, if applicable. Once this number of students has booked the slot, it will no longer be available for additional bookings. For one-on-one meetings, this should be set to 1 student. |
Location | Describe the location of the meeting. This can be a physical address, an online meeting location (e.g., a Teams meeting link), or a direct link to the online room. |
Teacher | Depending on the configuration for your setting Role name of the teacher, this field will use the label you have specified. E.g. Practical Assessor, Coach, Mentor, Trainer. Select the users who will provide assessment for this scheduler activity.  NOTE: To display in the drop-down list, this user must be enrolled to the course and must have a user role of LMS Admin, Trainer or Non-Editing Trainer. |
Display slot to students from | This setting determines when an appointment slot becomes visible to students and available for them to book. The date and time entered here acts as the opening time for student bookings. Before this time, the slot will not be available for students to select. This is useful when you want to release assessment appointments at a specific time, rather than making them available as soon as the Scheduler is created. Tip: This controls when students can see and book the slot. It is separate from Guard time, which controls when bookings close before the appointment. If this course will be reused, we recommend always using NOW as the selection. |
Email a reminder | Determines whether students and trainers receive an email reminder before a scheduled appointment. You can specify when the reminder should be sent to the student. Options include Now, 1–6 days before, and 1–6 weeks before. |
Add single slot
This option allows you to add a single appointment slot. It is useful for adding extra slots or setting up one-off appointments that do not follow a recurring schedule.
And that’s how you set up a Scheduler activity in the LMS!
Congratulations on completing this tutorial. We hope this has been helpful to you and your organisation. For any questions or concerns regarding this function, please reach out to the contact support via email.