One of the most challenging parts of student life is navigating the sea of an ever-changing and complex schedule. With classes starting again, it’s time to get organized. Your Grand Rapids Community College student email account can help you do just that. GRCC provides students with an account that allows them access to Google Calendar. The best part is that you can share this calendar with your other Google accounts and even with your iPhone. This is the perfect tool for managing your time. All you need to do is collect your class schedule, work schedule, and any other tasks that you have to do on a regular basis.
GRCC student email login screen
Logging In and Creating New Events
Once you’ve got these in hand, visit email.grcc.edu and login to your account. Your login password is typically the same as your Blackboard and on-campus login information. There are links on the login page if you need help.
Now that you’ve logged in, you’ll see your regular mailbox. Along the top edge, you’ll see a menu with several items on it. Choose “Calendar.” This will probably open a new tab or window with a blank calendar on it.
You’ll be asked to set your timezone, email and text messaging preferences, and link to instructions on how to sync with your iPhone or Android device. Once you’ve clicked through all the setup boxes, you’re ready to start creating your calendar.
Enter your new event here
Click on the “Create” button, being careful not to click the drop down arrow. Type the name of your first class into the field that says “Untitled event.” Then put in the date and starting and ending times. Instead of creating individual events for each class meeting, you can repeat the event until the end of the semester. This is true even if the class meets on multiple days.
Use these settings to set up your repetition.
For example, if you’re enrolled in a class that meets at the same time on Tuesdays and Thursdays, click the box marked “Repeat…” and a window will appear. In this window, you can select Tuesdays and Thursdays, and tell the event to end on April 27, 2013. This is the Saturday after exams.
After you’ve set up the event to repeat, you can enter the location and a description into the fields provided. This will be most helpful on the first day of classes when you’re scrambling to remember what room you’re supposed to be in.
There are some other settings you can change, but you’ll most likely be just fine with the defaults. Once you’re satisfied with the event, don’t forget to click “Save.” This will add your event and all its instances to your calendar. If you just click the back arrow, your changes will be lost.
Continue adding events until you have everything you want entered into your calendar. If your work schedule is irregular, you’ll be adding events each week or as you get your shift times.
Using Advanced Calendar Features
Add other calendars, including public calendars
Once you’ve added all of your own items, you can subscribe to others’ calendars. The Collegiate provides a GRCC Academic calendar that provides important dates such as Spring Break and Financial Aid Refunds.
Using the drop down arrow, open the menu next to “Other calendars” at the bottom of the list on the left side of the calendar. Click on “Add URL” and enter http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/email.grcc.edu_le1abk6c2p4gdsb7fi5v9av4as%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics into the URL field in the pop-up box and click “Add Calendar.” This will add all the events from The Collegiate’s academic calendar and update your calendar when new dates are added for future semesters.
Unfortunately, GRCC’s student mail accounts don’t sync directly with your Android device, but that doesn’t mean your new calendar is stuck in browser oblivion. You can share your calendar with your main Google account and your phone will happily let you know when your next class is or when you need to work.
Set up the share setting for this calendar
To do this, find your main calendar in the list and select “Share this Calendar.” About halfway down the page, you’ll find “Share with specific people.” Simply enter the email address of your main Android Google account and choose the permission settings. If you’re sharing this calendar with yourself, you can choose to allow full access to the calendar. If you’re sharing with someone else, you will want to select “See all event details” instead. Click on “Add Person,” and an email will be sent to the new account with a link to confirm the status.
Sharing with your Apple device is a little more difficult, but not impossible. Instead of directly sharing, you’ll need to click on “Calendar Settings” from the drop down menu. From there, you’ll have to scroll to the bottom of the page where it says “Private Address.” Anyone who has your private address can see all of your events, so keep it safe. For your iPhone, you’ll need to click on the ICAL button and copy the link given.