Direct messages: one-to-one chats between students and teachers
How a conversation starts, how teachers read and reply in the dashboard, the limits, and the owner's read-only view.
Direct messages let students and instructors at the same school chat one-to-one, without sharing email addresses.
Starting a conversation
Next to a person's name on a community post or comment there's a "Message" link; clicking it opens a conversation with them. Conversations only work between members of the same school.
The inbox
Students open it from the student portal: click "My courses" in your school site's menu, then "Messages" in the portal sidebar (a "Message" link next to a post lands there too).
Teachers (owner and instructors) reply right in the dashboard: sidebar Students → Messages. Each teacher sees only their own conversations:
- The left side lists conversations; search by name or show unread only. New messages show an unread marker, and the sidebar's "Messages" shows the number of unread messages (refreshed every 15 seconds); opening a conversation clears that conversation's unread messages.
- The right side is the conversation: type and send (Enter sends, Shift+Enter starts a new line). A failed send shows "Retry". New messages appear on their own — no page refresh needed.
- When the other person is a student, the top of the conversation shows the courses they're enrolled in and when they joined, with a link to open their student page.
- To start a conversation with a student, open their student page and press "Message" at the top right. A private message is in-site — the student sees it when they sign in to your website. To reach their inbox instead, use the "Send email" button next to it.
The student portal's list also has a top row, "Course questions", summarizing the questions you've asked in your courses and how many are answered.
Limits
- Each account can send at most 20 messages a minute; if you go faster the send is blocked — wait a moment and try again.
The owner's read-only view
The owner can open "View all school conversations (read-only)" at the top of the Messages inbox to see every private message between members. It's read-only — you can't reply — meant for looking things up when handling a dispute. Instructors don't see that link or other people's messages.