For teachers who teach BYU-Pathway Religion Courses, the weekly gatherings are some of the most rewarding events of the week. These gatherings are when both teachers and students deepen their conversion to Jesus Christ and His gospel and share what they have learned with each other.
Being able to communicate the correct time for these gatherings is an important step for both students and teachers - especially when students and teachers are located in different time zones. Because students choose the class time that works for them, it is imperative that teachers and students know the correct time of the weekly gatherings.
What is the Correct Time of My Gathering Class?
UTC time, or Coordinated Universal Time, is the world-wide standard for communicating time across multiple time zones. Each time zone is designated by a UTC offset. Those east of UTC 0 are designated by a + sign while those west of UTC 0 are designated with a - sign.
When BYU-Pathway communicates gathering times of classes, they use UTC-7 as their default time zone. This is the UTC offfest that Mountain Time is in during standard time (November - March).
The first step in knowing the correct gathering time is to know what your current UTC offset is. Your S&I Online Program Administrator may do this step for you, but if not, follow these steps:
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Identify your current UTC offset. You can do this by clicking on this link here. It will looks something like this (see yellow box below):
- Translate the UTC-7 time listed on your class assignment into the correct time for you. For example, if your current UTC offset was UTC-5 and the class time you were given was Wednesday 9:00 am UTC-7, then the correct class time would be Wednesday 11:00 am UTC-5.
- To assist with translating UTC times, click on this link. Using the example above, in the bar to add locations, type UTC-7. After adding that location, type UTC-5 to add another location. On the UTC-7 time, adjust it to 9 am. The correct UTC-5 time will then be displayed.
What is the Best Way to Communicate the Correct Gathering Time to Students?
Once it is clear what time you hold the weekly gatherings, the next step is to communicate that to your students.
Using the Canvas Inbox, email, or Canvas Announcements, inform students of the gathering time. Because our students may be in different time zones, it is best practice to communicate the gathering time in your time and help your students adjust to their time.
For example, you could share a message similar to this:
Hello everyone! I am excited to join you in our weekly religion gatherings this block. The Zoom link for our gathering is (insert Zoom link).
Our gatherings will be every (insert correct day of gathering) at (insert correct time of gathering, including correct UTC offset). If you are located in a different time zone than that, you can use the website https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/ to help understand what time that gathering is for you in your time zone.
How Can I Create a Calendar Event in Canvas for the Weekly Gatherings?
The Canvas Calendar has a great feature that allows users in multiple time zones to see an event at their local time.
To see how to create an event in Canvas, refer the Canvas Help Guide "How Do I Add an Event to a Course Calendar?"