Creating discussions and messages for your school community

Create a discussion in a year group

Admins, teachers and students can post to the year group discussion board.

1. Go to Year Groups, select the year group, then select Discussions > Create Discussion. You can also use Quick Add > Create Discussion.

2. Add the topic, category and body, link media or files, and set the notification and permission settings.

3. Select Create Discussion at the bottom of the page.

   

Admins and teachers can also:

• post to several year groups at the same time
• notify students, parents or both by email about new discussions
• create a private discussion that only other teachers and admins can see

Create a class discussion

1. Go to Classes, open the class and select the Discussions tab, then Create Discussion. You can also use Quick Add > Create Discussion.

   

2. Add the topic, category and body, link media or files, and set the notification and permission settings.

   

• The text editor lets you add lists, images, videos, files and tables, change text styles and switch text direction (left to right or right to left). Select the + icon for more options.
• Notify members via E-mail emails class members (students and teachers), and Notify parents via E-mail emails their parents.
• Private Discussion makes the discussion visible to other teachers only. Students cannot see it.

Reply to discussions

1. Select Comment or Open Discussion. A text box opens.

   

2. Type your comment. You can add images, files or an audio recording. Tick the checkbox to make it a private comment that only teachers can see.

3. Select Comment to post it.

You can react to comments with emojis (for example, Thumbs Up or Heart). Admins can edit or delete comments.

Reply to a comment in a thread

You can reply to other users' comments as well as to the original post.

1. Select Open Discussion, then Reply under the comment you want to answer.

2. Type your reply and select Add Reply.

Private discussions

There are two types of private discussion:

• Discussions and comments created by teachers. Only other teachers can see them.
• Discussions and comments created by students. Teachers and that student can see them.

Other students never see private discussions or private replies. When a student posts a private comment, teachers can see it, and a teacher's reply is visible only to that student. This lets students hold a private conversation with their teachers.

Tick Private Discussion on a post, or Private Comment on a reply.

Private posts show the Private Discussion label.

Student view of discussions

Students can only post to the year group, classes and groups they belong to. Students can:

• create discussions to start new topics
• reply to the author or to threaded replies
• add private comments that only teachers can see
• choose to send an email notification

Parent view of discussions

Parents open discussions and attachments from Discussions in the left menu or on My Workspace. They can also get email notifications for new discussions.

Parents see discussions from:

• their child's or children's year group
• their child's or children's classes
• their child's or children's activity groups
• the Parents Association, if your school uses it

Web notifications are sent by default and appear under the envelope icon in the top menu. Teachers and admins can also send an email notification for each post.

Create a discussion in the Parents Association

Teachers and admins can view and post discussions here. Parents can view and reply from their ManageBac+ accounts.

1. Go to Parents Association > Discussions.

2. Select Create Discussion. On narrow screens, this button may be at the bottom of the page.