On Beebop any user can send messages to any other user.
The autocomplete text input with user profile photos facilitates communications even when users do not have the full name of the intended recipient, while keeping personal contact details private for anyone other than administrators.
Messages can include images, documents, media, and embedded content from external websites (YouTube, Spotify, Soundcloud, etc) .
When files are uploaded to a message they are actually uploaded to our personal files. Deleting them from Resources > Files will make them disappear from the messages we have sent.
The upside is that files uploaded once can be reused in multiple messages, channel posts, and course content without taking additional storage space. See files management for more details.
New messages can be created from the messages list, from calendar events, from the class members list, from discussion channels... it does not matter where we start from: in the end they all end up in our list of messages.
When sending a message to multiple users, each user will be able to see all the recipients and have the option to 'reply to all' - including user groups.
In practice though, if we want to have a back and forth conversation with a large group, using a discussion channel may be more approriate.
Any time we send a message, Beebop sends an email to the private address of the recipient(s) with a direct link to read the message.
Users who are already logged on Beebop will also see notifications and highighted messages directly on their homepage.
On our home page and in our list of messages we will be able to see the exact list of who has clicked to open each message (and when) and who hasn't.
The email notification includes the name of the sender and the title of the message.
While having the name of a tutor or administrator as the 'sender' of an email should already work as a good incentive for students to pay attention, we can increase our chances of getting our messages read by picking good titles for our messages.
Without going to the extreme lengths of the worst social media clickbaits ("ten ways to get top grades without studying, the eight one will surprise you") we should avoid picking unimaginative titles such as "READ THIS" for each message we send.
Beebop's read-receipt feature makes it possible to experiment with titles, and over time learn what works best.
One of the benefits of sending message via Beebop is that it allows anyone to communicate with anyone else without the need to share personal contact details (even if it just a work email address).
Another benefit is that it creates a permanent record of all the exchanges between users, which remains accessible to the school even if individual users choose to archive a message.
Not having to rely on external providers prevents the risk of messages being deleted or lost, whether intentionally or by mistake.
Messages work in exactly the same way for students and members of staff, with only two exceptions.