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School-level feature — managed within your school portal at yourschool.deandesk.com.
Discussions give your courses and programs a built-in group chat. When you create a course or program, DeanDesk automatically creates a discussion group for it and adds the instructor as an admin. As students enroll, they are added to the discussion automatically — no setup required.

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How discussion groups are created

DeanDesk creates discussion groups automatically:
When this happens…DeanDesk creates…
A course is createdA discussion group named “[Course Name] General Discussion”
A program is createdA discussion group named “[Program Name] General Discussion”
A student enrolls in a courseThe student is added as a member of that course’s discussion
A student subscribes to a programThe student is added as a member of that program’s discussion
Instructors are automatically assigned as discussion admins. Course assistants are also added as admins.
You don’t need to set up discussions manually. They are created as a side effect of creating courses and programs, and membership is managed automatically through enrollment.

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Accessing discussions

Click Discussions in the sidebar to see all the discussion groups you belong to. Select a group to open the conversation.

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Sending messages

  1. Open a discussion group from the sidebar.
  2. Type your message in the input field at the bottom.
  3. Press Enter to send.
Messages appear in real time for all members — no page refresh needed. You can also see when other members are typing.

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Discussion roles

Each member of a discussion group has a role that determines what they can do.
RoleCan post messagesCan edit own messagesCan delete others’ messagesCan manage members
MemberYesYesNoNo
ModeratorYesYesYesNo
AdminYesYesYesYes
  • Course/program instructors are automatically assigned the Admin role.
  • Students are automatically assigned the Member role when they enroll.
  • Admins and discussion admins can promote members to moderator or admin.

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Custom discussion groups

School admins can create additional discussion groups beyond the auto-created ones.
1

Open Discussion Management

Navigate to the Discussion Management panel from the admin area.
2

Create a new topic

Click Create Topic. Enter a name and description for the group.
3

Set visibility

Choose Public (any user can join) or Private (members must be added by an admin).
4

Add members

Search for users and add them to the group. Assign roles as needed.
Custom groups can be organized by role (e.g., a teachers-only group) or for general school-wide discussion.

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Managing members

Discussion admins and school admins can manage group membership:
  • Add members — search for any user and add them to the group
  • Remove members — remove a user from the group
  • Change roles — promote a member to moderator or admin, or demote them back
For auto-created course and program discussions, membership stays in sync with enrollment. When a student enrolls, they are added; the group always reflects the current class roster.

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Notifications

When a new message is posted in a discussion, all other members receive:
  • Email notification with the sender’s name and a preview of the message
  • Push notification on the mobile app
  • In-app notification in the notification feed

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Best practices

  • Use discussions for ongoing conversation. Discussions are ideal for class Q&A, study groups, and collaborative problem-solving. For one-time important updates, use Announcements instead.
  • Assign moderators in large groups. For courses with many students, promote a trusted student or TA to moderator so they can help keep the conversation on track.
  • Keep custom groups focused. Create custom groups for specific purposes (e.g., “Faculty Lounge”, “Student Council”) rather than broad, unfocused groups that no one checks.