One of the first things teachers see after logging into QuickSchools is the Teachers Lounge, and we’re totally delighted with all the positive feedback we’re received about this module:

Although arguably not a core feature, the Teachers Lounge is a powerful tool for communication amongst staff. We’ve designed it to be easy, and inviting. And when teachers participate online, there’s a greater sense of community and connection with the school. Teachers will also feel inclined to stay logged in, and stay connected.

Here are some ideas / scenarios for using the Teachers Lounge:

Announcements – The most common use case for using the Teachers Lounge is to make announcements. You can make official announcements like school closures and reminders for events, like “Don’t forget to submit your report card grades by Friday”. But in addition, you can also include more social elements like “Hey, we have left over cookies and cake in the break room. Come and get it!” or “We still need teacher volunteers for the upcoming bake sale”.

Asking questions – Undoubtable, some teachers may have questions about a certain process in school, like “How do you guys submit expense reports?” or “Do you guys know which standards I should be using in my Gradebook?”. Asking it on the Teachers Lounge allows other teachers to pitch in, relieving stress on school administrators who may be occupied with other matters. And responses are available for other teachers to see and absorb.

Discussing ideas – Since the Teachers Lounge is only for teachers and staff, you can also use it to share and discuss ideas about the school. Some examples could be a new design for a club logo, or lyrics to a new school song. The entire discussion thread is available to all teachers, so people are always in the know.

Tools for Administrators

Our philosophy at QuickSchools is for users to self-regulate, meaning by default we trust that teachers and staff will act and participate responsibly within the QuickSchools system. But we know that this is not always the case. So school administrators do have the ability to curate responses, and remove comments that are inappropriate. Administrators can use the Teachers Lounge to communicate guidelines for online discussions, if/when that becomes necessary.

Also, at the start of the new year, you may decide that comments from the previous year are no longer relevant, and may be confusing especially for new staff. So administrators have the option of archiving comments from previous years, such that only comments from the active academic year are visible. More info in the article below:

https://blog.quickschools.com/2018/12/13/archive-teachers-lounge-messages/

In summary, we highly encourage schools to make use of the Teachers Lounge, as a means to share and discuss ideas with regards to the school. If you have further comments or suggestions for improvement, please don’t hesitate to contact us via chat or email.