How to Create a Group
Under the Children tab, under Classes and Groups, on the Groups tab, Educa provides a way to create collections of children and/or teachers in as many groups as you need. This is in addition to assigning to a class. Similarly, you can also create groups for parents and teachers.
Filter Views by Group
Once a group is set up you can use the Message Board or Teacher Messages to communicate with members of that group. And use the "Filter By" option to see messages for that group. View All remains your feed for all messages.
Note, groups are not related to classes. If you add children to a class, only admins and the parents of that child will see that group. If you want teachers in that class to see the group messages, you need to add them to the group as well.
IDEAS & USE CASE FOR GROUPS
Children might belong to several groups:
Class attendance by day - Ladybird Monday, Ladybird Tuesday, etc.
Extra curricular activities e.g. music classes and sports teams.
Support groups or reporting requirements for children with additional needs.
Subject classes for schools.
Age groups.
Days of the week a child attends your centre.
Areas of interest.
You can assign children to as many groups as required.
FOR PARENTS
Similarly, you might use groups to segment the parents of children. For instance, committee members, event volunteers, families where the parent does not pick up the child, new families, leaving families.
FOR TEACHERS
You might want to communicate with teachers with classes in a certain age range, by seniority, project collaboration, pursuing specific PD, etc. You can use Teacher Messages to communicate with those teachers.
For each group, you can designate teachers to that group so that they can easily find the children they need and post messages and stories specifically related to the group.
ONLY ADMINS CAN CREATE GROUPS
To help programs manage group names and groups, only Admins can create groups. That way you won't get duplicate names, etc. And so if you want to add groups to your class, please contact your Admin.
Turning On/Off Educa's Group Feature
Site Administrators can enable the Group setting by heading to Site Settings and selecting the Privacy and Preferences tab. Simply check the box to allow Multi-Class and this change will automatically save.
Assigning Children to Groups
Head to the Classes and Groups tab under the Children menu. Open the Groups tab and select the Add Group option. Select a name for your group, assign teachers and select children to join the group. Click Save to apply your changes.
Utilising Your Groups
Once you've added a group, you can access the group by going to the All Children page and selecting Groups. Alternatively, you will see the groups you are linked to under your Profile Children.
You will also be able to select the group when creating a Group Story...
and when writing a message on the Message board...
If you have Student Users enabled, they will also be able to select a group when submitting their work to be approved. This ensures the correct teachers are receiving the work.