online appointment-setter thingy?

December 17, 2007 2:01 PM

I'd like to set up an online calendar for my students so they could schedule appointments with me during hours I've marked as "available." but I would rather not set up 65+ google accounts. Is there a php script or a free web app that would work for this?

Setting up conference appointments in class is taking too much time. Thank you all.

posted by craniac to Technology (13 answers total)

MRBS is surely overkill, but it would do the job. It's a meeting room scheduler; you just have only one room.
posted by smackfu at 2:31 PM on December 17, 2007

Try ikordo.com

It might be overkill for what you want, but it's easier than setting up/hosting something yourself and it's loaded with Web2.0 goodness.
posted by grumpy at 2:37 PM on December 17, 2007

Here's a link. Ikordo

Just to follow up, I'm not affiliated with their site, but I did try it for a couple of days when they were offering free iTunes downloads to new members. I don't have that many appointments so, it was way overkill for anything I needed, but like I said, it was pretty slick and flexible.
posted by grumpy at 2:40 PM on December 17, 2007

This sounds like a job for PBWiki.
posted by Dec One at 3:09 PM on December 17, 2007

Why do you have to set up the Google accounts? I believe you can add your students as collaborators by sending invites to their existing email accounts. They would then set up their own Google accounts if they need to.
posted by danb1 at 3:10 PM on December 17, 2007

I think you're underestimating how many of your students have google accounts already.
posted by devilsbrigade at 4:14 PM on December 17, 2007

Are you against setting up individual Google accounts? How about Google Apps for you Domain? You just enter in a first name, surname and username for each user (and perhaps set a common default password). Sure it'll cost you for the domain but its a super cheap was of doing this.

I use this method quite a lot for individual projects.
posted by TheAspiringCatapult at 4:28 PM on December 17, 2007

I had this exact problem, and solved it.

You need one of these.

If you email ben at eschew dot org, he'll set up an instance for you. Tell him I sent you.
posted by dmd at 5:09 PM on December 17, 2007

Response by poster: 1. Ikordo seems to be aimed at inviting multiple people to a single meeting, the inverse of having a person select from multiple meetings.

2. Google calendar would probably work. It is not so much that I have to create 65 accounts as that I have to get *them* to create the account. I am pretty attuned to how many of them have gmail. About 20 percent. A lot of yahoo and hotmail out there. I usually *make* the hotmail users sign up for gmail. Or strongly encourage.

3. That ben@eschew.* thing looks great. Working through an intermediary would be klunky and unfair to "ben."

4. I will explore google apps for a domain that I have.

It looks like google calendar will work if they invite me to an appointment. I just needed to have the obvious pointed out to me. Thanks!
posted by craniac at 9:18 PM on December 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

Not free, but I recently purchased this for a client who was looking for a good scheduling script. It has worked out quite well and the support is quick:

http://www.schedule-organizer.de/en/
posted by perpetualstroll at 11:48 PM on December 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: p-stroll: I will check this out, thank you.
posted by craniac at 8:08 PM on December 23, 2007

I'm looking for something very similar. Have you figured out what works best for you yet?
posted by hipersons at 9:24 AM on January 11, 2008

Ohh, here's one I just found:
http://www.mysignup.com/
posted by hipersons at 9:35 AM on January 11, 2008 [1 favorite]