How should online school mentors communicate with students?
A mentor working with a cohort of students needs three chats: a channel for assignments and announcements, a chat where students talk to each other, and direct messages for one-on-one support. Only the teacher and the mentor can post in the channel, and that’s usually where course assignments go. Students read the assignments and ask their questions in the thread, where the whole cohort sees the answer. Walk through the mentor’s side of it yourself below.
38 subscribers
This is where I post assignments and announcements. If you have questions about an assignment, ask them in the thread under it
HW 4: due Friday, 23:59
Assignments
Cohort 14 · 38 subscribers
This is where I post assignments and announcements. If you have questions about an assignment, ask them in the thread under it
HW 4: due Friday, 23:59
Why communicate with students in channels and threads
Usually the whole cohort talks in a single chat. Assignments and announcements get mixed in with student chatter, and an hour later the deadline announcement is buried under a hundred messages. Students can’t find it and message the mentor directly, so the mentor ends up answering the same question over and over. In Pachca, assignments go in a separate channel, and students ask questions about them in the thread under each assignment.
- Assignments don’t get lost in the chatter. In the channel, students only write in the threads under assignments, and they talk to each other in the cohort chat. That keeps the channel feed to assignments and announcements.
- One answer for the whole cohort. Questions about an assignment are collected in the thread under it, and every student in the cohort sees the mentor’s answer there. So the mentor doesn’t get the same question several times.
- The teacher answers in the thread. If a question needs the teacher, the mentor loops them into the thread with an @mention. The teacher gets a notification and sees the whole thread, even if they aren’t in the channel.
- All questions in one list. The mentor is subscribed to the threads under their assignments, and they’re all collected in Threads. Questions from every cohort show up there, and threads with new comments stay at the top.
- Students only see their own chats. Students are invited with the Multi-guest role, so they can only access the chats they’ve been added to. They can’t see the employee list or the school’s other chats.
- Deadline reminders go out on their own. The mentor writes a reminder ahead of time and sends it as a scheduled message, so it shows up in the channel on the set date and time. You can make it repeat daily, weekly or monthly.
How to set it up
You don't need a bot or any third-party services: everything is set up in Pachca. Only the Owner and Administrators can invite students to the workspace, so one of them takes care of the first step. The mentor can handle the rest on their own.
In Pachca
- 1
Invite your students
Go to Members, click Add member and invite students with the Multi-guest role by email or link. This role is available on the Company and Corporation plans. - 2
Create a channel for assignments
Click + next to search, select Channel and give it a name, like "Assignments." Add the cohort's students and mentors. Only the channel's creator, admins and editors can post in it, so give the other mentors the editor role. Students stay subscribers: they read the channel, react to posts and write in threads. - 3
Create a chat for students to talk
Click +, select Chat and name it something like "Cohort chat." Add the students and mentors. Any member can post in a chat, so students talk to each other here and the channel stays reserved for assignments. - 4
Put the cohort's chats in a folder
To keep the channel, the chat and your direct messages with students side by side, group them in a folder. Hover over any folder in your chat list, click the three dots and select Add new folder. Then drag the cohort's chats into the new folder. - 5
Pin the ground rule in the channel
Post this message in the channel: "Ask questions about an assignment in the thread under it." Then right-click the message and select Pin. - 6
Post each assignment as a single message
Put what needs to be done, the deadline and where to submit the work in one message. That way, all the questions about the assignment end up in a single thread under it. - 7
Loop the teacher into the thread
If a question needs the teacher, @mention them in the thread. They'll get a notification and see the whole thread. Pachca has cross-chat threads, so you can loop in someone who isn't even in the channel. - 8
Remind students about the deadline
Write a reminder in the channel, choose Schedule message in Send settings and pick the date and time to send it. If assignments are due on the same day every week, make the reminder recurring. - 9
Keep track of questions in Threads
You're subscribed to the thread under any message you post, so the threads under your assignments show up in Threads in the left sidebar. Threads with new comments are at the top, and the Unread only toggle hides the ones you've read.
With your team
- 10
Agree on rules for mentors
Agree on how quickly mentors should answer questions in threads. Mentors discuss grades and personal matters with students in direct messages, not in a thread the whole cohort can see.
Troubleshooting
- A student can't post in the channel feed. That's expected: channel subscribers can only write in the threads under posts.
- A student can't see the channel. Make sure they've been added to the channel and invited with the Multi-guest role, not Guest: guests only have access to one group chat.