Toddle Connect is our messaging module that helps streamline communication within your child’s school community. As a family member, you can easily participate in one-on-one chats and group conversations with your child’s teachers. Furthermore, use the powerful search functionality to swiftly find any conversation and stay updated with notification badges for new messages. Read this article to learn in detail about these features!
This article will cover:
Accessing Toddle Connect
One-on-one chats
Group chats
Using the search bar
Viewing the Messaging card for another child
Accessing Toddle Connect
As a family member, you can access the Messaging feature directly from your homepage by tapping on the 'Messaging' card.
💡The card will show only if the Messaging module is enabled by the school administrator for families.
Within the messaging module, you can view and participate in one-on-one conversations with the schools’ staff members. Furthermore, you can also engage in group conversations through channels. Let’s explore each of these in detail.
One-on-one chats
Using the 'Chats' tab, you can have one-on-one conversations with staff members of the school. Please note that you will be able to initiate a new chat with your child’s teachers only if the setting is enabled by the school administrator. All your previous conversations are also listed here for easy access. Use the search bar to easily find specific chats. Additionally, notification badges will alert you of any new messages. A pencil icon next to a conversation indicates that there's an unsent message or draft. And, the mute icon indicates any chats that you have muted.
To begin a new chat, tap on the '+' icon. This will open a list of staff members you can choose from. For faster access, you can also type their name into the search bar. Once you have selected the individual you want to chat with a new chat gets created between the two of you.
💡Please note that you will see the ‘+’ icon only when your school admin has enabled you to initiate chats. Additionally, you will only see those staff members in the list who are associated with your child.
Within the chat window, engage in conversation using text messages, attachments, emojis, and audio messages. Simply press and hold a message to reply to it in the thread and even add reactions with emojis. Additionally, if the setting is enabled by your school admin, you can edit or delete sent messages. The blue ticks will indicate whether or not your message has been read by the recipient.
The bell icon in the top right corner lets you mute notifications for specific individuals.
Forwarding Messages
You also have the option to forward messages from one chat to another. All you need to do is select the desired message in a chat. On doing so, you will see the forward icon highlighted below.
After you click the forward icon, you can select who you want to forward the message to - individual users and/or channels. At once, a message can be forwarded to a maximum of 20 conversations. Please note that any attachments added to the message will be shared in the selected chats as well.
On clicking continue, you will also get the option to adding your own message to the selected message before sending it to the selected chats.
This is what a forwarded message would look like.
Group chats
All your group conversations with teachers, students and family members are housed under the ‘Channels’ tab. Use the search bar to easily find specific group conversation channels or the filter icon to view conversations in a specific channel type.
There are two types of group conversation channels available to you - Family channels, and Custom channels. Let’s explore each one of these in detail.
Family channels
Family channels are meant for group conversations between a teacher and all family members associated with a child. These channels are created by school teachers. All family channels that you are a part of will be listed under the ‘Channels’ section.
Custom channels
Custom channels, created by staff member(s) or school admins, allow for group conversations with members of the school community, including students, teachers, and family members. All custom channels that you are a part of will be listed under the ‘Channels’ section.
Messaging in channels
Sending messages in channels works exactly like chats. If the setting is enabled by the teacher, You can engage in a conversation using text messages, attachments, emojis, and audio messages. You can also tag people in group chats using the ‘@’ option. To mute notifications for a specific channel, hit the bell icon on top.
You can reply to any message in the thread and even add reactions with emojis. Simply hover over a message to access these options. Use the 'Read receipts' option under the three-dot menu to track message recipients. Additionally, if the setting is enabled by your school admin, you access the option to edit or delete sent messages under the three-dot menu.
Using the search bar
The search functionality within the Messaging module is designed to provide you with quick and efficient access to specific chats. By utilizing the search option located in the bottom panel, you can perform keyword searches across chats and channels.
To make it easier to refer back to previous search queries or results, you can view your recent searches in the search bar. You can pick filters such as ‘Members’ or ‘Channels’ under the ‘Searching for’ section to narrow down your search.
For further refinement of search results, Toddle offers search operators such as ‘in:’ You can use these to tailor your search based on the chats or channels these keywords might be used in.
Search results are organized by category- Members, Channels, Messages, or Files, depending on the nature of the search query. When conducting a search, a preview of the search results is provided. The preview under messages includes snippets of messages that contain the searched keywords, enabling you to quickly assess the relevance of the results.
Viewing Messaging for another child
If you are a family member of more than one child, you can switch between your children’s profiles to view and engage in conversations with their respective teachers. To do so, tap on the arrow next to your child’s name and select another child whose profile you would like to switch to. This feature allows you to easily navigate and communicate with teachers for each of your children individually.
With Toddle Connect, experience a whole new level of communication and collaboration with your school community.
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