Homework Discussion facilitates conversation between students and teachers around assignments that have been set - this feature allows students to support one another and sparks conversation around tasks outside of class, perfect for remote learners or completing work after school.
You will still have the option to exchange private comments with the student when direct feedback is needed. With Discussion, we are enabling a new collaborative channel of communication to solve the following teacher pain points:
Avoid posting repetitive comments to students individually for common questions
Easily broadcast a message or share a resource with the whole group
Reduce the teacher's workload by allowing students to converse, exchange information and assist each other
Facilitate the discussion for collaborative group projects
Homework Discussion is available for all task types. To share a message or file to the student list of a specific task, simply visit the Discussion on the website:
Or on the mobile app:
💡Top tip: Discussion can also be used creatively to foster conversations unrelated to homework, especially on Flexible tasks or Classwork.
For example, a monthly book club, a sports club or other extracurricular activities. Aside from regular teaching groups, tasks can be set to a custom group of students, a registration group or even a year group.
Who can view and post messages in Discussion?
Any student that was assigned this task will be able to view and participate in the Discussion. Just like with private comments, parents/guardians are also able to see the discussion but they are not able to contribute.
Also, all members of staff can participate in the Discussion, even if they don't teach this particular group.
Who receives notifications for messages in Discussion?
Staff members can enable email or mobile (push) notifications for new messages left by students. You can manage those from your account settings on the website or the app. There will not be any browser notifications - that's the 🔔 icon.
Students can choose from email, push and browser notifications for new messages left by members of staff but not from students, to avoid creating too much noise. They will, of course, be able to see all messages, including those from their classmates, if they visit the Discussion tab.
Who can moderate the Discussion?
Admins are able to delete any message from students and staff.
Teachers are able to delete their own messages.
Students are not able to delete their messages.
As with private comments, messages are auto-moderated with a profanity filter to prevent the use of foul language. However, you can always report inappropriate comments to your school administrators.
Additionally, although staff members are able to view everyone's profile picture, student avatars are hidden from their classmates. Students can only see their own profile picture and their teachers'.
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