Toddle helps you to stay connected with your school community. With Public channels, school admins and educators can now create open discussion spaces that are visible to the wider school community. These channels are ideal for sharing school-wide updates, announcements, or collaborative discussions that go beyond individual classes or private groups. Let’s explore how you can create and manage ‘Public channels’.

You can access the Messaging module directly from the admin portal (if you're an admin) or from your curriculum homepage (if you're a teacher) by clicking the ‘Messaging’ card or using the platform-wide messaging tray.

Once inside the Messaging module, you’ll see a new tab for ‘Public channels’ which shows all the public channels you’ve created or joined.

Let’s begin by understanding how you can create a public channel.

Public channels are open spaces where anyone in the school can join and participate in conversations. You can easily distinguish ‘Public channels’ from private ones by their icons - a globe icon represents a public channel, while a lock icon indicates a private channel.

You now have the option to keep custom channels as public or private. Click the ‘+ icon’ and select ‘Custom channel’.

💡Please note that all teachers in your school can create public channels if you have given them the required permission. However, students and family members do not have the ability to create any kind of custom channels - public or private.

While setting up the custom channel, you’ll find a new ‘Visible to’ section with two options:

Select the ‘Public’ option to create a Public channel. Click on ‘Next’ to proceed.

💡Please note that if you select the ‘Private’ option, the channel will only be accessible to the members you add. You can later change the status of a private channel to a public one, allowing others in the school to discover and join it. Since the ability to set channels as public or private is a new feature, all existing custom channels created before this update will be marked as private by default, unless you choose to update their visibility.

Next, you will see an option to add members to the group. Simply type in the names of the people you would like to add to this channel. You can use the ‘Group by’ filter at the top to filter your results by user group - staff, students, etc, or by year group, grade, or class to efficiently add members. Once you're done selecting members, click the ‘Create’ button at the bottom right corner of the modal.

As you create a public channel, all the members added to the channel will find it under the ‘Public channels’ tab in their Messaging module. Messaging in public channels works the same way as other group channels.

If you are an admin who has created or been added to a public channel, you can click on the participants list next to the mute icon in the top right corner when you enter the channel. Under the ‘About’ section, you’ll find the channel details, which you can edit as an admin. In the ‘Members’ tab, you’ll have access to the following options:

Under ‘Settings’, you’ll find options to restrict message-sending permissions for students and family members, and to mute the channel. At the bottom of the modal, there are three additional actions:

💡Please note that if you are a teacher, you can make changes to a channel’s details, members’ list, and settings only if you are the one who created the channel. If you have simply been added as a member, you will see the same options as students and family members — this includes viewing the ‘About’ section, seeing the list of members, and accessing the mute and leave channel options under the ‘Settings’ tab.

All public channels you are a part of will appear under the ‘Public channels’ section. To explore or join other public channels in your school, click on the ‘Browse public channels’ option, available both under the ‘+’ icon and at the bottom of the ‘Public channels’ section.

In the ‘Browse public channels’ section, you’ll see a list of all existing public channels in your school. Use the search bar to look up channels by name or apply filters, like the ‘All channels’ filter, to narrow down your view.

Channels you’ve already joined will display a ‘Joined’ label, as shown in the “Good Friday Celebration” example below.

As you hover over a channel, you’ll see the options to ‘View’ or ‘Join channel’. Clicking on ‘View’ allows you to preview the channel before joining.

When you view a public channel, you can see all the conversations that have taken place in that channel. You can also access channel details by clicking on the ‘View details’ option.

💡Please note, only admins can view conversations in a public channel before joining. Teachers, students, and family members will only be able to see messages after they join the channel. Once joined, they gain access to all previous conversations in the group.

Clicking on the ‘View Details’ option lets you see the channel’s ‘About’ section, along with a list of all members added to the channel. Until you join the channel you cannot make any edits to these sections.

Once you join a channel, it will start to appear under the ‘Public channels’ section in your Messaging module, and works like any other channel you are a part of.

As an admin, once you join a channel, you can access its settings by clicking on the participant list next to the mute icon. This opens a modal where you can manage all channel settings, just like during channel creation. If you are a teacher joining a public channel, then you will be able to view the ‘About’ section, see the list of members, and access the mute and leave channel options under the ‘Settings’ tab.

💡Please note that once you join a channel you’ll also be able to update the ‘About’ section and add or remove members from the ‘Members’ tab.

Public channels function just like any regular custom channel. You’ll find their conversations listed under the ‘Overview’ section, any flagged messages under the ‘Flagged’ section, and related insights in the ‘Analytics’ section.

💡Please note that you will have access to these sections only if you are a school admin.

That's all for now. We will continue to innovate and improve to make your Toddle experience better each day!