Admins: Drop-In Flow

Drop-in is a mode of support where providers are on standby (in-person or virtually) to help any student who "drops in". Penji supports both in-person and online drop-in location types, and has both "Queue" and "Log" modes for any given drop-in location.

Before you use appointments, please review the article Admins: Set-Up Drop-In Mode.

Log Mode

In this mode, students will check-in via a Kiosk at your front desk, or anywhere else you would like to display the Kiosk link. The Kiosk collects data on Course, Check-in Time, and Student Info (which can be pulled from an ID card swipe). In Log Mode, you can list other reasons a student might come into the center, like Study Space, Computer Use, etc. Penji records this data for later review.

Students will enter the center, check in, and work with whoever they can find. For example, you might have tutors at tables with signs that indicate their general expertise, or some other system of organization of your choosing. In "Log Mode" Penji just serves as check-in and check-out system.

Queue Mode

With Queue Mode, students are placed in a queue after check-in. They are sent a link to check their position in the queue and their estimated wait time. Providers are responsible for collectively managing this queue from their own device (mobile app or web browser", hitting "Start Session" on the next person in line whom they're qualified to teach). This mode provides more structure for the center and more granular data on which provider worked with which student.

If the Queue Mode is for a physical location, a Kiosk Link will be generated for you to have at your front desk, or anywhere else you would like to display the Kiosk link. 

Queue Walkthrough

To use the queue as a provider

1. Schedule hours for a queue-based location (Teach > View Drop-in Rooms > Edit Hours)
2. Check in to the location to start your shift
   • From the admin website, Provider check-in/check-out data can be found under Tutor Hours > Check-ins in the admin panel.
3. Monitor the queue, hitting "Start Session" when you're ready to assist a student.
   • NOTE: The queue displayed to a provider only shows students who've checked in for a course/topic that this provider is certified to teach.

Provider Emails

Providers are sent email notifications that a new student has checked into the Queue when all the conditions below are met:

• They are eligible to teach the course
• They are checked in to the location or are scheduled to be working at the location
• They are not teaching a student or are teaching a student and don't have any other waiting students

To use queue as a student

1. Tap "View drop-in tutoring schedule" or other similarly titled button on the home screen
2. Select a course, which results in a filtered view of scheduled drop-in hours for that course at the various Locations available
   • To recap, admins create locations of different types, and providers add hours, resulting in the schedules shown to students in this step
3. For a queue-based location, the student can tap "Check In" if their are available hours
4. After check-in, they will receive mobile and email notifications updating them when they are up next and when their provider is ready for them.
   • NOTE: A student can also check-in to queue from a kiosk, instead of doing so from their Penji account; in this case, we collect their email and email them a link to check their place in the queue.

Using a Penji Kiosk (Incl. card readers)

While a student's Penji account can be used to check-in, Penji also has unique Kiosks for each physical drop-in location. Students can simply walk into the center and check-in, no Penji account is required.

The Penji Kiosk is loaded at the Locations (Drop-In) screen in your admin panel. A kiosk is only generated for locations that are Type = Physical. Open these kiosks on your front-desk device (anything that can support a browser, like an iPad or Laptop).

The basic kiosk flow for a student is:

1. Tap Check In
2. Select a course
   
3. View the Schedule of hours for this location and course; click Check In if there are currently scheduled hours.
4. QUEUE MODE ONLY: Enter your name. This is to allow the tutor to find the right student when it's their turn.
5. Enter your email. If you have enabled card readers (Penji starts this process and then you enable card readers in your Drop-in CSV), the prompt to swipe will show up here. Students will skip the email entry if they swipe.
6. QUEUE MODE ONLY: An email is sent to the student with a link to check their place in the queue. Updates will also be sent via email.
7. LOG MODE ONLY: After the Drop-In interaction, students will Check Out. 

Student and Provider Experience

More information on the student and Provider Experience can be found here: Providers: Drop-in Training and Students: Drop-in Introduction. 

Editing Check-In Details

Within your check-in detail, you have the ability to edit certain fields based on the type of check-in (Log vs Queue) and status. In Queue mode, you cannot edit any field while a student is waiting in the Queue, or if they have left the waitlist. If a student is waiting, you will see their check-in status listed as "Waiting". If the student has left the waitlist, their status will be "Cancelled". Once the check-in is complete you can edit the data fields. 

To edit a data field, select the check-in you would like to edit from the check-ins tab > select edit > select the field you would like to edit. See the below list of available edits:

• Change Duration
  • Changing the duration length will automatically update the recorded end time of the check-in
  • For Log mode, you can edit the duration once the student has checked in
  • For Queue mode, you have to wait until the check-in is completed to edit the duration
• Change (record) Tutor
  • You are able to add or change tutors for Log mode check-ins. You are not able to edit the tutor for Queue mode check-ins

Drop-In Use Case

There are a few use cases with Drop-in that are discussed in the following articles: 

• Admins: Drop-In - Community Zoom Room
• Admins: Drop-In - Chat Tutoring Via Discord