The Teacher Conference Scheduler helps teachers and families work together to book meetings that fit everyone’s schedule. In jmc Office, start by entering conference dates, setting meeting durations, and enabling scheduling — creating clear, effective communication between teachers and families.
Let's configure conference settings by logging in to jmc Office and going to Teacher Conference Scheduler > Settings.
Step One: Click the "Add New" button to create a new date and time range for your conferences or click the "Edit" button to update an existing conference schedule.
Helpful Tip: Need to remove a conference date? Click the "Delete" button to remove a conference date and time from your "Conferences" list.
Fun Fact: Conference dates and times can only be edited or deleted if no conference appointments have been scheduled.
Step Two: Select a name from the "Conference Name" drop-down list to link the conference date to an existing event, or enter a new name to create a new event, such as "Semester 2 Conferences."
Step Three: Enter a date in the "Conference Date" field, or click the calendar icon to select a day for your conference event.
Step Four: Enter a date in the "Course Term Date" field to determine which courses are available for conference scheduling based on their start and end dates.
Helpful Tip: To schedule conferences for a term that has already ended, enter a date within that term so past-term courses appear for scheduling.
Step Five: Enter a "Start Time" and "End Time" in the appropriate fields to define the length of your conference day, or click the clock icons to select the times.
Step Six: Enter the length of each conference time slot in the "Appointment Length" field to set the number of minutes for each conference.
Step Seven: Click the "Update" button to create a parent-teacher conference date or click the "Cancel" button to discard changes.
Step Eight: Repeat the above steps to add each additional day for parent-teacher conferences.
Step Nine: Click the "Teachers" tab to view the teachers available for conferences.
Fun Fact: All jmc courses appear on teacher conference schedules by default, giving families the opportunity to sign up for conferences for any course on a student’s schedule.
Helpful Tip: To exclude a course from teacher conferences, remove the checkmark from the "Include in Teacher Conference Schedules" checkbox on the Edit Course Data page.
Step Ten (optional): Remove the checkmark from the "Conferences" checkbox to make a teacher unavailable for conferences.
Fun Fact: All teachers with a "Yes" in the "Has Course" and/or "Is Advisor" columns will be available for conferences in jmc Family.
Step Eleven: Select the "Closed," "Open" or "Locked" radio buttons from the "Family Access" box to set the Teacher Conference Scheduler availability in jmc Family.
Closed: disables the Teacher Conference Scheduler in jmc Family
Open: allows families to sign up for available conference times
Locked: allows families to view scheduled conferences but prevents them from making changes
Helpful Tip: Select the "Locked" option before the scheduled conference to prevent families from making last-minute changes that could disrupt teacher schedules.
Step Twelve: When the "Open" radio button is selected in the "Family Access" box, return to the "Conferences" tab and click "Email Families" to notify them that it’s time to sign up for conferences.
Helpful Tip: A pop-up will display lists of families who were emailed and those who were not, helping you confirm that your conference dates are clearly communicated.
Fun Fact: If a family is already signed up for conferences, the email will remind them of their scheduled times instead of prompting them to sign up.