Discussions

Running Moderated Class Discussions with Announcements, Questions, Best Answers, and Approval Before Students Post

A Discussion Board for Every Class

Every class a teacher takes already has a discussion board in SCL, built from the timetable the school is running. Teachers post an announcement, ask a question, or open a conversation; students reply, attach their work, and like the answers that helped them. There is no board to create and nobody to enrol.Teachers keep control of the room. A teacher decides, board by board, whether students may start topics at all, which topic types they may use, whether their posts appear straight away or wait for approval, and how long they can edit what they wrote. Question topics get a Best Answer that sits at the top from then on.Coordinators see every board in their subject and administrators see the whole school, so a conversation that needs attention is never buried inside one classroom. Discussions sits alongside the private messages, newsletters, and weekly bulletin in SCL's communication tools.

How Discussions Work

Boards Built From Your Timetable

Every class a teacher takes already has its own discussion board, so there is nothing to create, name, or enrol students into. Teachers see the classes they teach, and students see only the classes they are actually enrolled in.

Announcements, Questions, Discussions

Every topic is posted as one of three types: an Announcement that broadcasts to the class, a Question that can be answered, or an open Discussion. The type sets expectations before anyone replies, so a notice is not mistaken for a debate.

Best Answer on Every Question

On a Question topic, the teacher marks the reply that solved it as the Best Answer and it sits at the top of the topic from then on. The student who wrote it is notified, and the next student to ask finds the answer first.

Attachments on Topics and Replies

Students and teachers attach files to a topic or to any reply, dragging in several at once. The size limit per file is set by the school, so a class can share a worked solution or a marked-up draft without leaving the board.

AI Writing Assist for Teachers

Teachers can have SCL draft a topic body or a reply in a tone written for a classroom audience, then edit it before posting. It turns a blank box into a starting point on the days there is no time to write one.

It Knows What You Have Read

Unread counts sit on the sidebar and on every board card, and opening a topic drops you at the first reply you have not seen, under a New replies divider. Students and teachers stop re-reading forty replies to find the three that are new.

Control, Oversight, and Reach

Approval Before Students Post

A teacher can require approval on student topics, student replies, or both, independently on each board. Pending posts stay visible to their author and the teacher only, and the class is notified the moment the teacher releases them.

Board Settings for Every Class

Each board carries its own rules: whether students may start topics, which topic types they may use, how long they can edit a post, and after how many quiet days a topic locks itself. A teacher tunes one class without touching another.

Pin, Lock, and Auto-Lock

Teachers pin the topics that matter to the top of the board and lock the ones that are finished. A board can also lock topics automatically after a set number of quiet days, so old conversations close themselves without anyone policing them.

Notifications That Open the Reply

A new topic, a new reply, or a Best Answer marked on your post sends a push notification to the people involved, and the link opens the exact reply on the exact page. Everyone switches each of those on or off in their own profile.

Discussions in the Student App

Students read their boards, post topics and replies, edit inside the window, like a reply and see who else did, all from the SCL mobile app. The unread badge follows them, so a question asked at home is answered before the next lesson.

Oversight Across Every Subject

A Head of Department sees every board in their subject, and administrators browse the whole school by educational level and subject. A dashboard widget charts topics and replies over the last seven days, so leadership can see where conversation is happening.

See It Live

See How Discussions Run in Your Classrooms

Walk through a class discussion board, the approval controls a teacher sets per board, Best Answer on a Question topic, and the unread badge students follow in the mobile app.

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