An Overview of Drop-In

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, the page will show check-in details, which will be the student's position in line, as well as how long the students above them in the queue have been waiting.
5. 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" on the Kiosk.
2. Input your school email address. If card readers are enabled, students will swipe their cards here and skip the email entry.
3. Select a course or resource. 
   
   • For courses, a student can view their enrolled courses if this setting is enabled on the admin panel.
     
4. Choose a specific tutor. If this setting is enabled, the student can select a specific tutor to work with.  
5. Check the tutor's availability. The student will be able to see the selected tutor's availability. If they did not choose a specific tutor to work with, the student will be able to see the general availability of the location. 
6. Select "Check-In".
7. The student will enter their name and pronouns (if this setting is enabled).
8. "Submit." 

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.

LOG MODE ONLY:

• After the Drop-In interaction, students will need to 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. 

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