Video Calling, Community Management, and Usage Guidelines

What video calling platforms are supported?

For Appointments: Zoom, MS Teams, GoBoard, and WebEx are supported.
For Drop-In: Zoom, MS Teams, and GoBoard are supported.

You can set these platforms up by configuring your Locations CSV file.

Note: MS Teams is not supported for Drop-In locations. If you try to use MS Teams for Drop-In, you will receive an error message similar to:
"Expected "Kind" to be "Physical" for in-person, "Zoom", "WebEx", or "GoBoard". "Kind" is now required for all locations. Locations previously entered with a blank value must now be entered as "Physical" to remain in-person. Received: "Teams"."

How are Video call links created for calls between a student and provider?

• For Zoom: Providers input their personal Zoom room information in Penji settings. They can also set up a recurring Zoom meeting to avoid using personal rooms.
• For GoBoard: A fresh link is generated for every call, based on your university’s GoBoard account (which is free – we can connect you with the company if needed).
• For MS Teams: Providers authorize their MS Teams account in Penji settings, and new links are automatically generated for each meeting.

The above applies to both appointments and drop-in sessions.

Reminder: MS Teams is not supported for Drop-In locations. If you try to set it up for Drop-In, you’ll see an error like:
"Expected "Kind" to be "Physical" for in-person, "Zoom", "WebEx", or "GoBoard". Received: "Teams"."

Can I disable my community, ie. prevent it from being live?

Yes, you can disable your community by adjusting the "Community Eligibility" field in Settings to "Use List". This allows you to upload a list of students eligible to see your community under the Students tab. To limit access, either don’t upload a list or only upload providers and yourself.

Should I use a single community for these centers, or multiple?

This depends on how different each center’s setup is. Think of a community like a folder – use it to group related content. Here are some factors to consider:

• Courses Supported: If one unit supports course codes (e.g., CHEM 1301) and another supports topics (e.g., Editing, Grammar), you'll need two communities, as each community can maintain separate course/topic lists.
• Modes Supported: If one unit offers drop-in sessions and another offers appointments and groups, consider using two communities.
• Topics Covered: If one unit focuses exclusively on writing and another on math, these are distinct experiences and may warrant separate communities. However, if there’s some overlap, you might combine them under a single community, such as "STEM" or "Tutoring."

Students can easily discover and navigate to other communities, as they are clearly visible in their Penji experience.

Note: Penji must build new communities for you. Please contact us for requests.

Can I add myself as a provider?

Yes, and it’s a great idea for testing. Your admin account can act as both a student and provider. Log into web.penjiapp.com instead of the admin site and add yourself as a provider to role-play interactions with colleagues.

For usage limits, what is considered the week? 

Penji uses a Sunday to Saturday weekly calendar.

I see there are two different locations CSVs, one for drop-in and one for sessions. Are there also two Courses CSVs for each mode? Providers?

No, Penji uses a single CSV for courses, providers, and students across all modes. However, Locations require two separate CSVs because Drop-In and Sessions have different attributes and are treated as distinct locations in the app.

Do I have to upload the same location twice, once for Sessions (appts and sections) and once for Drop-in?

Yes, since appointment locations and Drop-In locations have different settings, you’ll need to upload them under both the Sessions and Drop-In headings, even if it’s the same physical space (e.g., "The Learning Center").

How is the "Joined Courses" column populated within the student export? What does it mean?

"Joined Courses" refers to the courses a student has joined in a specific community. These come from two sources:

1. If course enrollment data integration is enabled, students are automatically joined in courses.
2. Students may also manually select classes when using the Penji app.

If a student has no joined courses, it’s safe to assume they haven’t used your services.

How is the "Joined" date determined on the student and provider tab?

The "Joined" date follows these rules:

• If the user hasn’t claimed their account, the field is blank.
• If the user has claimed their account, the "Joined" date reflects either when they claimed the account or when the profile was created, whichever occurred last.