Minga FlexTime replaces manual spreadsheets with a centralized system for scheduling school-wide flex periods. This solution allows school leaders to organize time blocks, empowers teachers to offer specific activities, and gives students the autonomy to register for sessions that meet their needs. By the end of this article, you will be able to configure flex schedules, manage activity templates, and monitor student attendance in real-time.
Permission Level Required: Owner | Manager | FlexManager
Note: Some features, such as the ability for Teachers to create their own activities, must be toggled on within the global FlexTime Settings before they become available.
In this article:
Setting Up Your FlexTime Schedule: Create the foundational time blocks for your school's flex periods.
Creating Activity Templates: Define the recurring sessions teachers will offer during flex periods.
Managing Student Registration and Assignment: Assign students to compulsory sessions or allow for self-registration.
Check in and Attendance: Streamline checking students into Flex sessions and ensure accurate attendance.
Monitoring and Reporting: Track attendance and identify unregistered students using the dashboard.
Setting Up Your FlexTime Schedule
You must first define when your Flex Periods occur before Activities can be assigned or Students can register. This foundational step establishes the date, time, and global permissions for a specific flex block.
Step-by-step Guide to Creating Flex Periods
Step-by-step Guide to Creating Flex Periods
Navigate to FlexTime from the main navigation menu, then select the Periods tab.
This page displays a list of existing Flex Periods and their current registration status.
Click the Create Period button.
A New Period window will appear where you will enter the period details.
Input the Title, Date, Start time, and End time.
•Use clear titles like "Morning Flex" or "Advisory Block" to help students identify the period.
Under the heading, Permission settings, you will configure the following:
•Toggle the Allow teachers/staff to add activities setting to ON to let Staff contribute their own sessions to this period.
• Toggle the Allow teachers/staff to manage student registrations to ON, giving Teachers and Staff the freedom to remove or add students to this flex period. If this setting is OFF, Teachers cannot register or assign their students to their activities themselves.• Enable deadline to set a registration deadline for Teachers and Staff. This prevents Teachers/Staff from making changes to activities after a specific time (e.g., 1 hour before the start).
• Toggle Allow students to self-register to ON if you want Students to choose their own activities.
• You can toggle on Enable deadline and enter a time to prevent Student registration before or after the Activity begins.Click Save to create the Flex Period.
For a comprehensive tutorial on creating Flextime Periods, check out our guide here:
Pro Tip: Use the Clone feature in the Periods tab to quickly copy a previous week’s schedule, including all activities and rosters, to a future date.
Creating Activity Templates
Activity Templates are the "blueprints" for the sessions offered during a Flex Period. Instead of creating a new session every time, you create a template that can be reused across multiple dates.
Step-by-step Guide to Creating Activity Templates
Step-by-step Guide to Creating Activity Templates
Navigate to FlexTime and select the Activity Template tab.
Click Create Activity.
Input the Activity Name, Description, Teacher (main), Activity Type, and Location.
• You can add additional teachers on the Activity teachers list. These teachers can manage the Activity but not edit the Activity Template.Enter a number in the Seats Available field.
If you leave this at 0, there is no limit to how many students can join.
Optional: Select or upload an Activity Banner to give your Activity an eye-catching visual.
Under Activity Restrictions, Toggle Limit Who Can Register to restrict the activity to specific grades or groups.
This is useful for "Seniors Only" meetings or "Grade 9 Intervention" sessions.
Toggle ON the setting Allow students to register to allow students to self-register to this Activity.
Under Settings, you can Enable self check in for students to check in without Teacher or administrative action. Toggle the setting Show student photo when checking in to ON to see the student's ID photo flash on the screen during check in.
Click Create.
For an in-depth walkthrough on creating activities, check out our guide here:
Managing Student Registration and Assignment
Students can be Assigned or Registered to your activities ahead of time to ensure they know where they are required to go. Students can also stay unregistered until they register themselves, if self-registration is enabled for the Period.
Assign vs Register
Assign vs Register
Students who have been Assigned to an Activity cannot unregister themselves or switch activities for the period. Teachers for other activities also cannot change the assignment or register the student to another activity unless they are a FlexTime Manager.
Use Assign for:
Compulsory classes
Make up sessions
Students who have been Registered to an Activity can switch their activity for the period by self-registering for a different activity (if allowed by the Period settings) and Teachers can register these students to their activity if they are registered for a different Teacher's activity (if this setting is enabled for the Period).
Use Register for:
Adding all Students to a home room class, allowing them to make different selections if they choose.
How Students Self-Register for Flex Activities
If allowed by the Period and Activity settings, Students can register themselves to FlexTime Activities, saving your admin and teaching teams a lot of admin.
Step-by-step Guide to Student Self Registration
Step-by-step Guide to Student Self Registration
Select My Tools from the main menu.
Click the FlexTime tab on the top of the screen.
The Flextime Periods that are available for students to register for will be listed under All Periods.
Select the blue Register button to view a list of all eligible activities.
Click on the activity you would like to attend.
Select Register to self-register for the activity.
If a student has already been assigned or registered to an activity, they will show under Registered in their FlexTime tab in MyTools.
For a detailed step-by-step guide on student self-registration, refer to this article:
How Teachers Assign/ Register Students to Flex Activities
Teachers can quickly roster students for their own activities directly from their classroom view using the MyClass Dashboard.
Step-by-step Guide to Teachers Assigning/Registering Students to Flex Activities
Step-by-step Guide to Teachers Assigning/Registering Students to Flex Activities
Navigate to My Class from the main menu.
On the Search Action dropdown menu, select FlexTime.
Select from the following actions:
• Register Activity
• Assign Activity
• Register to homeroom teacher's activity (this will register the student to the activity their designated homeroom teacher has for that Flex Period).Select the student(s) you wish to Register or Assign and click Continue.
Select the correct date and FlexTime Period from the date selector and FlexTime Period dropdown.
Select the activity:
My Activity — Registers the student for your activity.
Search — Use the search bar to find another teacher or a specific activity name.
Click Register or Assign.
To see a walkthrough of this process, check out our interactive demo here:
How Owners, Managers, or Flex Managers Assign or Register Students
Administrators in your school who are managing FlexTime, but may not have dedicated class lists, can Register or Assign Students to Flex Activities from the FlexTime module itself.
Step-by-step Guide to Assigning/ Registering Students from Activities
Step-by-step Guide to Assigning/ Registering Students from Activities
Navigate to FlexTime from the main menu and select the Activities tab.
Select the correct Flex Period from the dropdown menu.
Click the icon under the column Manage for the Activity you would like to Register or Assign a Student to.
Search for students by name, ID, User List, or grade.
• You can also upload a CSV file of students for bulk registration.Select the student(s) you would like to add to the activity.
Choose the registration type: a. Register — Places the student in the activity but allows them to switch if self-registration is open. b. Assign — "Locks" the student into the activity. They cannot move themselves to another session.
Click Assign/ Register to complete your action.
For an interactive walkthrough on this workflow, check out the resource below:
Check in and Attendance
Tracking attendance ensures student safety and provides data for participation reports. Staff can check students in manually or use a kiosk mode for self-service.
Manual Check In
Teachers typically use this method to verify students as they enter the room.
Step-by-step Guide to Manually Checking in Students to a Flex Activity
Step-by-step Guide to Manually Checking in Students to a Flex Activity
Navigate to My Class.
On the User List drop-down, find Activities (today) and select the appropriate activity.
Select the student(s) you are checking in.
On the Category dropdown menu (under the Search action dropdown), click FlexTime and select Check in.
To complete the process, select Check in to check in the student or Check in tardy if the student arrived late to the activity.
Kiosk Check in
Schools can set up a "Kiosk" (a tablet or laptop at the door) to allow students to check themselves in using their Digital ID.
Step-by-step Guide to Flex Check ins with Kiosk
Step-by-step Guide to Flex Check ins with Kiosk
Navigate to MyTools> More actions.
Select Kiosk mode.
Enter Kiosk mode and select Check in for kiosk type.
Click the FlexActivity tab.
Select the correct Flex Period and Activity (or multiple activities) that will be available on this device.
Click Enter kiosk mode.
Students scan their Digital ID barcode or type their Student ID number.
Monitoring and Reporting
The FlexTime Dashboard and Reports tabs provide live data on where students are and who has not registered for a session.
Viewing the Flex Time Dashboard
Navigate to FlexTime > Dashboard to see a snapshot of today's activities. You can view the total number of students Registered, Not registered, Checked in, and Not checked in. Clicking any of these numbers will take you directly to a detailed list of those specific students.
Step-by-step Guide to Finding Unregistered Students
Step-by-step Guide to Finding Unregistered Students
Navigate to FlexTime > Reports.
Select FlexTime Unregistered from the report filter.
Choose the specific Period and Date range.
Click Apply filters.
This generates a list of students who have not yet selected an activity for that period.
From here, you can now manually Assign or Register Students to an Activity. Or select Register to homeroom teacher to automatically register selected students to their Homeroom Teachers Activity for that Period.
For a deep dive into FlexTime Reports, have a look at our article here:
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
Issue: Students cannot see an activity to register for it.
Solution: If students cannot see an activity, confirm that the Allow students to self-register toggle is turned on for that specific Flex Period and that the Seats Available limit has not been reached. If the activity is full, it will display as FULL and disappear from student registration options.
Issue: The "Check In" button is missing for a teacher.
Solution: If a teacher cannot see the check-in options, verify in FlexTime > Settings that Enable FlexTime for teachers is toggled on. Teachers can only check in students who are appearing on their specific activity roster.
FAQs
FAQs
Can I limit how many students join my FlexTime activity?
Yes! You can limit the number of students who can join your FlexTime activity by entering a number in the Seats Available field when creating or editing your Activity Template. Once that number of students is registered, the activity displays as FULL and no additional students can register.
What is the difference between "Assigning" and "Registering" a student?
When you Assign a student to an activity, they are placed in that session and cannot unregister themselves. When you Register a student, you are placing them in a session (like a default Homeroom), but they still have the ability to switch to a different available activity if they choose.
Resources