Allowing students to self-serve their own timetable switches

Did you know that you can configure your Vasto courses and modules to allow students to switch between timetables? This can be helpful if your students need to change their learning/session dates themselves. You can even choose to associate a fee with this!

How to configure self-serve timetable switching

To allow your students to manage their own timetable switches, you'll first need to navigate to the course/unit you want to allow this for. Open up the corresponding specifications page, and on the left side of the page, locate the "Allow self-serve timetable switching" tickbox (found just above the "Learning Timeframes" heading);

You can also optionally specify a fee associated with switching timetables, which will be charged to the student upon finalisation.

The self-serve timetable switching process

From within their own Student Portal, if a student has opened up a course/unit that has self-serve timetable switching enabled, there will be a Switch Class button near the top of the page;

For this example, three timetables for the Certificate III in Business have been configured;

The student has been placed into the 27th May timetable, so when they click the Switch Class button, they are presented with the other two available options;

Clicking on either Select button will result in a confirmation page being displayed...

... and if the student confirms that they wish to proceed, their enrolment will be moved into the selected timetable.

Note that if a price for self-serve timetable switching for this course/unit has been configured, a Pay Now button will be displayed on the confirmation page instead;

This will result in a new Payment Request being generated, and the student will be asked to provide payment, based on the various methods you have configured to take payment (e.g. credit card gateway).

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a way to configure this self-serve timetable switching functionality for all of my courses/units at once, in bulk?

No, this functionality is configured on a per-course/per-unit basis. You will need to activate it individually for all courses/units as required.

Can I assign different prices to different timetables?

No, the price for self-serve timetable switches is configured at a course/unit level. It is not currently possible to make, say, weekend timetables more expensive to enrol into.

Can students switch themselves into timetables associated with other courses/units?

No, students can only switch themselves into timetables associated with the exact course/units they're already enrolled in - and only if the timetable supports the Pathway they're placed in. If they need to be switched into a different course/unit/Pathway, this will have to managed by an Admin user.

Can my students use this functionality if I'm only using offline payment methods?

Technically yes, although it may be simpler to have your Admin users manage timetable switches themselves in this case.