For Students
If you are enrolled in any class at (or through) the University of Saint Thomas, you have probably noticed that each of your scheduled class meetings appears on your Outlook calendar as an appointment in purple:
(Well... that's what Microsoft considers "purple," anyway. We Tommies have a better idea of what "purple" is, but, alas, Microsoft picks the colors.)
If you open that appointment, you will find a lot of other useful information about the course:
Indeed, your calendar may be much more crowded with courses than this graduate student's calendar! Many of you have four lecture-based in-person courses, plus maybe labs on top of that, filling your whole week with appointments! These appointments are created and managed by the Outlook Class Schedule process, which officially relaunched in August 2023.
For Faculty
Starting with courses in J-Term 2024, instructors are also being included in Populate Student Calendars for the first time. If you're teaching a course, its meeting times (if any) will appear on your Outlook calendar as an appointment in purple:
The appointment contains other information and links for the course, including links to upcoming Zoom meetings, the Canvas calendar, and the bookstore's booklist.
Again, faculty will see this for courses starting in J-Term 2024. Since faculty are assigned to classes earlier than students, often before room assignments are set, that information may fluctuate in the weeks leading up to the start of term. Not to worry! Outlook Class Schedule will update your class information automatically as new data is received.
How it Works
Whenever you register for a course in Banner, Banner sends a notification to the Populate Student Calendars process. These notifications are queued up and processed in the order that they were received. It usually takes 10 to 20 minutes for your new course to appear on your calendar, although it can take up to 4 hours at peak registration times.
Likewise, when you drop a class, the Populate Student Calendar process is notified and removes the course from your calendar as soon as it can, normally in about 10 to 20 minutes.
If you are registered for a course that has a major calendar change -- for example, the class changes to a different room, or a different meeting time -- Process Student Calendar will receive a notification as soon as your instructor or department saves that change in Banner. It will then update the course for all students in the class. This takes a little longer, depending on how many students are in the class, but you can plan on seeing the updates on your calendar in 30 to 60 minutes.
The time delays are similar for professors who are added to or removed from a class.
FAQ
Q: I can't see all my courses on my calendar. Where are they?
A: The Populate Student Calendars process occasionally makes mistakes. This is especially true if you registered for a class between January and July 2023.
Please just send us a ticket. We will investigate and fix your calendar up!
Q: I am taking a class at St. Kate's (or another ACTC school) (or a study abroad program). My Outlook course appointments don't seem to show up on the right days. Is that right?
A: The Outlook course appointments showed on your St. Thomas Outlook calendar are always based on the Saint Thomas academic year. For example, your Fall Outlook course appointments will always start the Wednesday before Labor Day and end the week before Christmas -- even though Macalester may start a week earlier and St. Kate's may end four days later. We do not actually know what the academic calendar is for the other ACTC schools, since they change slightly every term, and they don't always stay in alignment with ours.
For this reason, you must check with your ACTC school to find out when classes actually begin and end, because your Outlook calendar will not reflect any variation between our calendar and theirs.
ACTC (or study abroad) course appointments in your St. Thomas Outlook calendar are prominently flagged with a warning message that the days and/or times may not be correct, and that you must verify with the other institution.
Q: My Outlook calendar says we have a class on Thanksgiving, but the school is closed and my syllabus says we don't and my professor wished us a happy Thanksgiving Break. Should I go to class?
A: No, you should trust your professor and syllabus. Populate Student Calendars often does not have complete holiday information.
Indeed, in general, data in Banner does not always perfectly represent what is actually going on at the college. Banner hopefully reflects real life, but real life is the source of truth.
Q: My instructor cancelled class on Friday for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Will my Friday class appointment disappear from my calendar?
A: No. Cancellations of individual classes are not entered into Banner, so Populate Student Calendars won't know about it.
Q: I am the instructor cancelling class for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. How do I submit that cancellation to Banner?
A: You can't. This just isn't something Banner covers at this time. Thank you for honoring Our Lady, but you will simply have to be clear with your students not to come to class on Friday.
As stated above, real life is the source of truth.
Q: I signed up for a course at Registration but it isn't showing up on my calendar. Does that mean I didn't get into the course and should never attend class?
A: First, double-check Banner (aka Murphy Online) to verify that Banner agrees you're registered and not currently on the waitlist. If Banner says you are in the class, then you are in the class, regardless of what your calendar says! You are paying tuition for that class! Attend the class!
In case of any doubt, contact your professor.
However, if the class still isn't showing up on your calendar, that's an error. Please let us know about it so we can investigate and fix up your calendar.
Q: I like to keep my Outlook calendar empty. Can I opt out of Populate Student Calendars?
A: No.
(Sorry.)
Q: Can I delete or modify my course calendar appointments myself?
A: You certainly can! However, if your class schedule or instructor changes, Populate Student Calendars will update your calendar to reflect the new information regardless.
There is no way to delete these appointments en masse. They are not part of an Outlook meeting series, but are technically all separate Outlook appointments. The easiest way to delete them in a batch is to open your Outlook calendar, search for the class CRN to get a list of all appointments, and delete them one after another, like this:
Q: Did this used to be called something else?
During the past decade, this process has also been called Outlook Class Schedules, Outlook Course Appointments, BEP-Populate Calendars, Banner Events Publisher (Calendars), Populate Student Calendars, WMS Exchange Java O365, and Exchange Calendars. And now all those terms are in the article, so they'll show up as keywords when somebody searches for one of the old names!
Q: I have more questions.
A: We have more answers! Drop us a line through a ticket. We hope you continue to find this a useful feature of the St. Thomas Outlook environment!