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What are Private Comments?

Learn how you can use private comments with students in 1:1 and Group Spaces

Alasdair McMillan avatar
Written by Alasdair McMillan
Updated this week

How to provide private comments

Comments are a great way to engage with your students and their families. You can use posts in your Class Space to foster an open discussion, but 1:1, Group, and Reporting Spaces are better suited to sharing private reflections or group-specific feedback.

Within 1:1 and Group spaces, teachers can still add posts that are visible to All Students, and broadcast an announcement or reflection prompt to everyone in the space. Students' comments on these posts will not be visible to everyone - only teachers will be able to see all student comments.

As a teacher, you can start a private discussion on these posts by clicking on a student or group at the top of the comments section for posts in 1:1 or Group Spaces:

  • Private comments in 1:1 Spaces are visible to that student only

  • Private comments in Group Spaces are visible to all members of the group you've selected

  • All comments in Reporting Spaces are visible to that student only - even if it was originally a group post with some comments visible to all students, any new comments added will only be visible in that student's reporting space

  • If any Spaces are set to be accessible by family, they will also be able to view private comment threads visible to the students they're linked with

You can also continue a private comment thread with a student by clicking on the Reply link that appears below the comment. Each student's private comment section can contain multiple threads of comments and replies.

To switch over and continue the conversation with another student, you can click on their name or avatar. You can also click All Students and go back to viewing all comments.

The comment box at the bottom of each post will also help you recognize who will be able to see each comment. If you're commenting with All Students selected, you'll see that in the form; otherwise, you'll see the name of the student who will see your comments.

Student comments within 1:1 or Reporting Spaces are never visible to other students, and those within Group Spaces are never visible to other groups. If you're posting something that you want all students to be able to discuss as a group, add it to your Class Space!

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