Setting Up Your Schedule

Loka's scheduling system lets students book lessons based on your availability. Set your weekly hours, define constraints, and sync everything with your personal calendar.

Setting Weekly Availability

To configure your recurring schedule:

1. Go to the Lesson Management page (accessible from your educator navigation) and select the Manage Schedule tab
2. Select the days you're available to teach
3. For each day, add one or more time slots (e.g., 9:00 AM -- 12:00 PM, 2:00 PM -- 6:00 PM)
4. Click Save to publish your availability

Students will only see open slots when booking through your school's booking page.

tip

Set your timezone in your Profile page settings before configuring your schedule. All time slots are displayed in your local timezone to students in theirs.

Time Slots

You can set multiple time blocks per day. This is useful if you want to block out lunch breaks or reserve time for preparation:

Day	Morning	Afternoon
Monday	9:00 -- 12:00	14:00 -- 18:00
Tuesday	10:00 -- 12:00	13:00 -- 17:00
Wednesday	--	14:00 -- 20:00

Slots that are already booked will automatically show as unavailable to new students.

Schedule Exceptions

Need to take a day off or adjust your hours for a specific date? Use Schedule Exceptions to override your weekly pattern:

• Block a date -- mark a specific day as unavailable (holiday, personal day)
• Modify hours -- change your available times for a particular date without affecting your recurring schedule

Exceptions take priority over your weekly availability.

Booking Constraints

Fine-tune how and when students can book with you:

Advance Notice

Set the minimum lead time required before a lesson can be booked. For example, requiring 24 hours of advance notice prevents last-minute bookings that you can't prepare for.

Cancellation Policy

Set the number of hours in advance that students must cancel to avoid being charged. For example, setting this to 24 means students must cancel at least 24 hours before the lesson start time. This is displayed to students at the time of booking.

Calendar Integration

Loka provides tools to keep your schedule visible in your existing calendar apps.

iCal Feed

Export your Loka schedule to any calendar app:

1. Go to the Lesson Management page and select the Calendar tab
2. Copy your iCal feed URL
3. Add it as a subscription calendar in your calendar app (Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, Outlook, etc.)
4. Your Loka schedule will appear as read-only events

Google Calendar Link

The Calendar tab also provides a quick link to open Google Calendar, making it easy to cross-reference your Loka schedule with your personal calendar.

note

The iCal feed is one-way -- it exports your Loka schedule to your calendar app. Loka does not read events from your external calendar.

Best Practices

• Be consistent -- students appreciate predictable availability week to week
• Set realistic hours -- account for preparation time, breaks, and admin work
• Use exceptions early -- block upcoming holidays as soon as you know about them
• Review weekly -- check your schedule every Sunday to confirm the week ahead looks right