Appointment scheduling: Time blocks

Institutions using Stellic's appointment scheduling module can enable students to schedule appointments directly within the platform. This module may not be available for your institution, please contact your Stellic administrator for more information.

Getting Started

To use appointment scheduling in Stellic, you'll need to create and activate at least one time block. Students can only schedule appointments with advisors who meet two criteria:

• The advisor has permission to view that student within Stellic

• The advisor has created and activated a time block that overlaps with the student's availability

Creating a Time Block

Navigate to the Appointments tab in the left sidebar and click Create Time Block.

A time block defines the rules and availability for appointments that can be scheduled. You'll need to name your time block and configure its settings.

Setup Options

Custom Settings

• Start from scratch and configure every aspect of the time block from the outset

• Requires manual activation once you've finalized your settings

After clicking Create, you'll see an overview of your time block. Click Edit to modify any settings.

Configuring Your Time Block

Within the time block editor, you can customize:

Basic Settings

• Name: Identify your time block

• Start and end dates: Define when this time block is active

• Location: Specify where meetings will take place

• Purpose: Describe what the appointment is for

• Duration: Set how long appointments will last

• Instructions: Add guidance that students will see when scheduling

All changes are saved automatically.

Availability Windows

Select the specific days and times when you're available for appointments. Only the times you configure will appear as available to students, all other times will be blocked.

Date-Specific Availability

If your schedule varies from week to week, you can set availability for specific dates that override your regular weekly hours.

To add date-specific availability:

1. Expand the Date-specific availability section under your time block settings

2. Click Set availability on a specific day

3. Select a date from the date picker and set your available hours

You can also mark yourself as completely unavailable on a specific date by checking Unavailable on this date. This blocks the entire day from being booked.

Date-specific availability overrides your weekly availability for that day only-your regular schedule remains unchanged for all other weeks.

Example: Your weekly availability is Monday–Wednesday @ 9am–5pm, but you need to adjust next Wednesday to only 12–2pm. Add a date-specific entry for that Wednesday, and only 12–2pm will be bookable that day.

Good to know:

• Date-specific entries are automatically removed from the UI once the date has passed

• You cannot add availability for past dates or times

• If you delete a weekly availability, any date-specific entries for those dates will remain in place

Eligible Students

Important: Students must meet the eligibility criteria set in this section to schedule appointments.

• All Students (default): Any student you have permission to view in Stellic can schedule

• Filtered criteria: Limit appointments to students who meet specific requirements

• Student list: Enter specific usernames to restrict access to designated students

Note: If there are students at your institution you cannot view in Stellic, they will not be able to schedule appointments with you.

Buffer Time Between Appointments

Add a short break after each appointment to give yourself transition time between meetings.

• Choose to add up to 60 minutes of buffer time after the end of the previous appointment within a time block

• When enabled, students cannot book another appointment until both the meeting duration AND buffer time have passed

Example: With a 30-minute appointment duration and 5-minute buffer time, available slots would be:

• 10:00-10:30 AM

• 10:35-11:05 AM

• 11:10-11:40 AM

Only appointments created from this time block will include buffer time. Meetings added from external calendars or other time blocks won't have buffer time applied.

Appointment Parameters

Start Time Increments Configure when students can book appointment slots. For example, setting 20-minute increments would create slots starting at 9:00 AM, 9:20 AM, 9:40 AM, and so on.

Duration Settings Define how long each appointment lasts (e.g., 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour).

Daily Appointment Limit Set a maximum number of appointments you'll accept per day for this time block.

Custom URL Create a user-friendly URL to make sharing your scheduling link easier.

Managing Time Blocks

Activating and Deactivating

• Time blocks with standard settings activate automatically upon creation

• Time blocks with custom settings require manual activation

• To pause scheduling, use the three-dot menu to deactivate the time block

• Deactivated time blocks won't appear to students but preserve all your settings

Duplicating Time Blocks

Save time by copying existing time blocks:

1. Click the three-dot menu on any active or inactive time block

2. Select Create Copy

3. A duplicate appears in your inactive time blocks with all settings preserved

4. Rename and modify as needed

5. Activate when ready

Each copy is completely independent, changes to one don't affect the other.