What can I use Compass Conferences for?
The Conferences module allows schools to manage conferences/interviews between different members of the school community. Parents or students (depending on your target group) can log in to Compass and book a time with staff members at the school. Here’s some examples:
Class Teacher Interviews
Year Level Coordinator Interviews
Kindy/Prep/Year 7 Welcome Interviews
Course Counsellor/Careers.
Advisor Sessions
How do I set up a Conference Cycle?
Staff with the PstAdmin permission are able to create/edit/delete Conference cycles.
To create a new Conference Cycle click the '+Add Cycle' button at the top of the page.
In the pop up window - fill in the Basic Tab as needed, including your enrolment bounds to pick up classes, time slot duration, schedule closing and staff parameters. Add your Conference cycle description in the second tab.
In the Classes tab, add the relevant classes to be interviewed for. If you’re setting up custom eligibilities unrelated to classes (eg. careers, counsellors) you can skip this step.
In the Enrolments tab, add the students who need to book for this cycle. If you have classes, Compass will automatically link up the students with their classes.
In the Staff tab, add the staff within this cycle (eg. class teachers, counsellors).
Add the time slot periods available within the Timeslots tab. You can do a number of periods if the slots span over a few days.
Conferences
Managing Staff Bookings
When a Conference cycle is set as 'Open to Staff', they’ll be able to click their ‘My Bookings’ button to:
Set Unavailable time slots (if allowed in your Cycle Settings)
Manage their bookings (if allowed in your Cycle Settings), which means they can book students with themselves on behalf of parents
Download their Running Sheet, either viewing through Compass or printing via a PDF file.
Parent Point of View
When the Parent/Student access for a conference cycle is set to 'Open' by the cycle administrator, they will be able to make bookings via their portal or the App. A green banner will display on the parent’s homepage to book their conferences, and you may also choose to publish a News Feed item or send an email to alert your community that this is now available.
Upon clicking into the cycle, the parent will see all available teachers/staff members with interviews available to their student, and they can select available time slots to book. The parent can also click the ‘Print Preview’ or ‘Email my Bookings’ button to download their own Running Sheet of bookings within this cycle.
Additional Conferences Features
The Conferences Cycle has extra features to assist with specific setup requirements, including:
Custom Eligibilities - edit a staff member via the pencil icon in the cycle’s Staff tab, and create a ‘Custom Eligibility’ to manually link students with a staff member. (required for those who don’t teach/don’t have a class with that student).
Interpreters - in Cycle Settings, allow parents to request an interpreter by picking the language/s you offer.
Online Locations - in the staff tab, you can enter an online location against someone to add a Zoom/Webex/online meeting link.