Optimal Parent Teacher Conferencing™ – Help

Help

What is Optimal Parent Teacher Conferencing™?

Optimal Parent Teacher Conferencing™ is a new web site that uses the latest web technology to make the process of scheduling parent teacher conferences easier, more efficient and more convenient.

Optimal Parent Teacher Conferencing™ lets parents schedule conferences days in advance and from the convenience of their home or office. More importantly, Optimal Parent Teacher Conferencing™ uses your preferences and time constraints to find the best schedule that works for you.

How does it work?

To book a schedule (or itinerary), there are three steps, each of which is described in more detail below:

• Parents – In this step, first time users will register, and returning parents will verify and update their information.
• Teachers – In this step, you identify the teachers with whom you would like to meet. If you require multiple appointments with the same teacher (for example, if two children have the same teacher), you can tell us how many appointments you require with each teacher.
• Scheduling – In this step, you make or modify your schedule using the manual or automated scheduling features, and you can verify, print, and email your confirmed itinerary.

How do I gain access to the site?

Before you begin, you must gain access to the site by supplying your school's conferencing session access code. The access code will be communicated to the parents through your school. If you do not have this code, you must contact your school directly – we cannot provide this code to you. It is a violation of the terms of use of this site to share this code with anyone other than the parent population of this school. It may not be shared with students.

How do I register?

After accessing the site, you will be prompted for a primary home phone number. If you have not used the site before, you will be prompted to register. Follow the screens to provide the student’s last name, the parents’ names, the parents’ email addresses, and to create a password to return to the site.

What if each parent doesn't have their own email address?

Only one email address is required; however, you are highly encouraged to enter both primary and secondary email addresses for each parent. The more email addresses we have, the more reliably this site and your school will be able to communicate with you (for example, to notify you of schedule changes or to remind you of forgotten passwords.)

What happens in the "Parents" step?

In the Parents step, you can modify your profile, such as your email address or passwords. Please review this information carefully and keep it up to date to ensure that this site or school can contact you regarding your parent teacher conference.

What happens in the "Teachers" step?

At the teachers screen, click on the select teachers link to Select teachers.
Selecting teachers: The select teachers screen shows a list of all teachers for all classes. Find your child/children's teachers by scrolling down the list or by using the alphabet shortcut links. When you have selected all teachers, click the save button and you will be returned to the main Teachers screen.
If you need more than one appointment for certain teachers, click on the Appointments per Teachers link.
Once you are done selecting teachers, you can move on to the scheduling step.

What happens in the "Scheduling" step?

Here you find a schedule, either automatically or manually. You are not committed to either choice and may change your scheduling method at any time. Once a schedule is generated, either manually, or by the computer, you can modify it at any time. So you can try the Auto Schedule, and if you don't like it, change it. Or, you can choose to schedule manually, and if you want to see if the computer can generate something more optimal, you can.

Auto-scheduling

Here you will be prompted to enter your time constraints. You can enter how early you can start and how late you can conclude. Then you choose if you prefer the computer the generate an earlier or later schedule. What this means is that the computer will try to generate a schedule where your time is optimized, with the fewest breaks between appointments. If you prefer to start earlier, it will look for available time slots closest to your earliest arrival time. If you prefer to end by a certain time, chose a later schedule, and the computer will look for time slots later in the evening. You must enter realistic time constraints. If you enter a start and end time with a narrow time frame, there may not be any time slots to fit these parameters.
You can also specify how much time you would like between meetings (to allow you to time to get to the next meeting on time).

I entered my teachers and time constrains and the computer could not generate a schedule for me?

There are a few reasons that the computer may be unable to generate a schedule for you. First of all, the computer can only schedule appointments in available time slots. If many of the time slots are already scheduled, they are not available for you. Also, you must enter realistic time constraints. If you enter a start and end time with a narrow time frame, there may not be any time slots to fit these parameters. If the Auto-Scheduler was not able to find a schedule for you, you can either modify your time parameters or schedule manually.

What if I don't like the schedule that the computer generated for me?

You can always select a schedule manually, or modify an existing schedule. We suggest that you click Book It (to reserve the schedule) and then select the option at the top of the page to change it. This will direct you to choose a Manual Schedule where you can modify what the computer just generated.

Manual Scheduling

Here you can do it yourself. You will select from the list of teachers when you would like to schedule an appointment.

What are all of the different colors on the scheduling form?

• A dark purple slot indicates the time slot that you have chosen and reserved.
• A light purple slot indicates that the time slot is unavailable.
• A white slot indicates that the time is available.

Terms of Service

Use of this software is at your own risk. In no way will any party be liable for any damages resulting from the use of this site. Access to this site is limited to the parent population of the school that has licensed this site. Access by any other party is strictly prohibited. Parents may not share the access code to this site with anyone other than the parent population of this school. It may not be shared with students. All rights reserved.