Messaging learners

Messaging exists so the conversation about a piece of work sits next to the work, rather than in your personal email. It is deliberately narrow: you can talk to people in your circles and to nobody else.

Who you can message

Your circle members, and their teachers. That is enforced on the server, not just hidden in the interface — an attempt to open a thread with someone outside your circles is refused.

The consequence worth knowing: learners can message each other if they share a circle. If that is not what you want for a particular group, it is a reason to think about how you organise your circles.

When a message becomes an email

Only when the recipient has not already opened the thread. An active back-and-forth does not fill anyone’s inbox — the email exists to tell someone a conversation started, not to mirror it.

Learners can turn message emails off in their notification settings without leaving the conversation.

Using it well

• Reference the work, not the person — "You stopped at the exercises in Unit 3" is a conversation. "You have not been doing your homework" is an accusation, and the roster already told you the first one.
• Message once, not per assignment — A weekly note lands. A message every time something goes overdue trains people to ignore the notification.
• Answer where they asked — A learner who messages inside the circle expects the answer there. Replying by personal email splits the thread and loses it.
• Use it for the thing the roster cannot say — Progress data tells you what happened. Messaging is for why — and the why is usually not in the data.

What it is not

Not live chat — there is no presence, no typing indicator and no expectation of an immediate reply. Not a support channel either: messages go between circle members, so writing to us needs the contact form.

And not a record you should treat as private from the learner. Anything you write in a thread is written to them.