Are you using the feature that syncs our Music Teachers Helper (MTH) calendar with Google Calendar? I’m sure I’m not alone in being interested to hear how you are making use of it. Please add a comment at the end of this post to tell us about it.
This sync feature came at a great time for me – just when I was upgrading my cellphone, and also at a time when I was going to be out of town a lot. While upgrading my phone, I added a feature for $10 to have access to mobile internet and email on my cellphone. The link to Google Calendar allows me to easily check my teaching schedule (or any other events I put on my MTH calendar) at any time, from anywhere. It’s very efficient: since I put in regular work to keep my MTH calendar up to date, why repeat that effort by entering it somewhere else as well? The sync feature does it for me.
The sync allows me to have simple access to my MTH calendar on my phone, without the high cost and impracticality of using a cellphone for real web access, which I would need in order to actually use MTH online. I did look into that possibility but phones are not quite there yet for me. I’d love to have a little netbook with the cellphone internet access, but can’t afford that setup…
There are always moments when I’m really glad I can quickly check my calendar on my phone. Sometimes there is an odd lesson time I didn’t keep in mind. Sometimes a student has taken advantage of the fact that I post my available lesson times on MTH, and they schedule a lesson at a special time. When asked by my wife or a student about my schedule, it’s really nice to be certain about it, with 3 clicks on my phone.
I set up my phone so that I have a shortcut to the mobile web with one click, a second click to see my favorites, and one more to see my calendar.
Still, for when I’m teaching, I like to have a printout of my Daily Summary Report, so that I have at hand what I did with a student last time (and the date of the last lesson), how much they owe or have credit for, and their phone number. This printout also gives me a good place to make notes about the current lesson, to enter into MTH later.
I have often been grateful that I could work with my MTH website online from different computers, whether from home, teaching studio, or for that matter, out of the country, as I was recently. Now I can consult my schedule from anywhere on my phone as well, via the Google calendar sync.
I really like the Google sync. It allows my students to see my entire schedule, which means they can arrange their own lesson switches (many of my students are friends in the same high school), and it also means that parents can see when others are coming and going and arrange rides. If a student or parent is wondering when I’m teaching on a certain day, they can find out on the Google calendar. I’d love it, actually, if my schedule on MTH was visible to all the students who log in. Why is it that students and parents can only see their own schedules? (Maybe some teachers don’t want everyone knowing their whole schedule, but I would love it.)
@Jane: You can have everyone view your schedule if you like. On a student’s lesson you can click on “For All Students” instead of “Choose Students” and everyone can see that lesson.
I finally got my MTH sync’d with Google calendar. I now can access from my computer (Mac ical program) and my iphone.
Question though… if I add something to the google MTH calendar will it show up on the MTH website calendar of is this a one-way sync?
@Maria: MTH servers send out our calendar info fairly often (like every 10 minutes or something) to Google calendar, but Google doesn’t send to MTH, so it’s really a one-way sync.
I love being able to continue using iCal and have all my MTH events show up on it automatically. However, the BEST thing about it is that I will never again have to answer the question from my significant other “What’s your schedule today?” (It’s different every day and impossible to memorize.) Since I have synced with Google cal and shared my calendar with him, he can see it on his iphone anytime he wants!