Creation of the Sign-up tool was motivated by requests from faculty who wanted to replace the 'sign up sheets on the door' with an online alternative. Faculty needed a system that would allow students to sign up for office hours, meetings, review sessions and other events in one convenient place. This tool can also be used in project sites to create meetings for the participants.
Various scheduling, participation, recurrence, and notification arrangements can be made. An instructor can assign participants to timeslots or allow them to select their own choices. If a timeslot is full, the instructor can allow participants to add themselves to a wait list, which automatically "promotes" a participant when a slot becomes available and sends an email notification. The Sign-up tool is group- and section-aware which gives instructors the ability to set up office hours or meetings which are visible only to their sections or to a group.
On entry, the Sign-up tool displays the list of meetings, if any, already created in the site. By default all future meetings will be displayed. For a view that includes past meetings, choose "All" in the drop down menu next to "View."
Two main displays are used:
Meetings page: The site’s meetings are listed here in table format including title, location, date, time, and so forth. They can be ordered with the column headings and filtered with the “View” selection box. Recurring meetings, those created as a set with a single title, can be expanded or contracted with the checkbox. Checking the box below, or checking the plus sign next to the meeting entitled “Presentations,” would reveal several meetings of that title on different days or times. Meetings can be removed (via the checkbox on the right of each). On this page, permissions can be set and meeting data exported (via the links on the top).
Clicking on a meeting title brings up its Meeting Details page.
Meeting Details page: Detailed settings and timeslots, for a particular meeting, are listed here. The meeting details can be modified or copied into a new meeting, or exported or printed. In the Time Slot table, timeslots can be edited. The organizer view shows those signed up and those on the waitlist; the student or participant view shows a “Sign-up” button (not visible below), active if the sign-up period has commenced.
Click Site Info, then Edit Tools and check the box next to "Sign-up." Then click Continue and Finish. You'll see the tool listed on the left side of the page.
In course sites, the instructors have permission to create meetings and students are allowed to sign up for them. Instructors can permit students in any of the courses they teach to sign up for a meeting.
In Project sites, the Maintainer can create meetings and everyone can sign up for them.
Note: if you would like to grant permission to students to create meetings, please email Sakai Admin and we will set the permissions for your site.