BYU-Idaho Online Knowledgebase

Availability

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At the beginning of each semester, our office emails all of the current instructors and asks them to update their availability in OSM and email us back to confirm that they have done so. However, some instructors don't update their availability or email us back to confirm so we follow-up by calling them. 

The locations and documents that you will need for this workflow are:

  1. Google Shared Drive
    • the current availability sheet
  2. OSM

Work Flow

Availability Email

  1. The Scheduling student will send out an availability email to all current instructors telling them to check and edit their availability in OSM and email us back to confirm that they have done so. 
  2. The scheduling student will then update the current availability document with the most current hours in OSM. They will also mark an "X" in the column. "Confirm" if they have confirmed with us. 
  3. **Most applicants read the first line, and then don't respond to our email. That's where the availability calls come in

Availability Calls

  1. Open the most current availability document
  2. Use can use a filter view to just see those that haven't confirmed with us 
  3. Use OSM to look up the instructors that haven't confirmed with us phone numbers and call them
    • Before you call, you have to check 3 things
      1. Their availability (make sure it matches what's on the availability sheet)
      2. If they have a pending contract
      3. notes in OSM
    • These 2 things will help you to know if you should/need to call them for a follow-up on their availability. 
    • Make sure you use the "Admin phone" and not the "Student phone"
  4. There is a script on the next tab that will help you with their FAQs, what to say on their voicemail and what to tell them if they answer and then call back. 

If you call and they don't answer (goes to voicemail):

  1. Use the "Script" tab and read what it says for "Voicemail"
  2. In the "Notes" column, type "VM [date]" for when you called and left a voicemail

If they want to confirm the same hours that we have on record:

  1. If they want to confirm that the hours that we have on the current availability doc/OSM is correct, then mark an "X" in the "Confirm" column.

If they want to change their hours from what we have on the current availability doc/OSM:

  1. Do not mark an "X" in the "Confirm" column and do not change the hours in the "Availability" column.
  2. In the "Change" column to the right of the "Confirm" column, mark an "X"
  3. In the "New Hours" column write their new hours.
  4. Go to OSM and change their hours
    • Click on "People" in the black bar on the top of the screen
    • Click "Employees" from the drop-down menu
    • Type the instructor's last name, first name
    •  Click on the "Availabilities" tab on the top of the screen
    • Change their availability with the correct hours for the semester that they want to change
    • Click the blue "Update All" button at the bottom of the screen
  5. Go back to the "General Info" tab in OSM
  6. Scroll down to the bottom where it says "Notes"
  7. Make a note that says something like:
    • "Changed S20 availability from 10.5 to 0 per their request."
  8. Go back to the current availability doc and in the "Date Changed in OSM" column mark the date current date, AFTER you have changed their hours in OSM and made a note. 
  9. In the "Check Schedule" column change the color from orange to yellow. This is to catch the attention of the scheduler.
  10. Send the scheduler over the instructor's course an email letting them know that you changed their availability. 

If the instructor is changing their hours to 0:

When an instructor is changing their availability to 0 hours, it's important to let them know that if they take a semester off, it affects their chances of getting a contract in the future. 

For example, if an instructor takes off the Spring Semester, then we may need to hire to replace them depending on how the Spring Semester enrollments come in. Then if the instructor returns for fall, they will be scheduled after the new hires. This means the instructor may not get a Level 1 contract and they will run the risk of not teaching. 

A possible script for this could be:

We certainly understand that instructors are not able to teach every semester. In most courses, we have enough instructors to allow for those needing to take a semester off. However, in some instances where there are only one or two instructors that teach the course, this is not the case. Our options are to either fill in an instructor or hire a new instructor. If we need to hire a new instructor to fill the empty section, it may take a semester or two to work the original instructor back in, and we may not be able to place them back into their preferred course. Generally, this hasn’t been a large problem because of our growth as well as the opportunity for individuals to teach multiple courses. One thing to note is that instructors will need to redo their paperwork to reactivate their status if they are gone for 3 consecutive semesters. If gone for more than 2 years, they would need to retake certification. You can go into your profile https://onlineadmin.byui.edu at any time to add availability for future semesters.

Or a more condensed version:

We certainly understand that instructors are not able to teach every semester. In most courses, we have enough instructors to allow for those needing to take a semester off. Because we will likely have to fill the vacancy we cannot guarantee that there will be a section to resume teaching. It may take a semester or two to work you back in and we may not be able to place you back into your preferred course. Would you still like to confirm your availability for 0 hours?

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