General Class Message to Students and Guardians

Teachers can send messages to students and/or guardians to communicate class information, grade information, and general notifications using the Message Center in Campus Instruction. This section will discuss how to send a general Class Message.

The Message Center is also available through the Notification bell icon.

1 Class Messages
- 1.1 Class Message: Step 1
- 1.2 Class Messages: Step 2
- 1.3 Class Messages: Step 3

Class Messages

Class Messages are used to send general messages to students and/or guardians. To send a class message follow the directions below.

In Campus Instruction, select Message Center and click on the ‘New’ button.

Class Message: Step 1

Select Class Message in the Message Type drop-down list.
When you create a message, you have the option of selecting an existing message template or starting
from scratch. See the Message Templates page for more information about templates. Use the User/User Group and Template fields to select which template you'd like to start with, or leave the default option on New.
Select the Delivery Details:
1. Inbox - Sends the message to the recipient's Portal account.
2. Email - Sends the message to the recipient's email address on file.
3. Select the Delivery Date. This is the date the message is scheduled to be sent. The default setting is the current date; change the date to send the message on a future date.
4. Select the Inbox/Email Delivery Time, which will default to the current time.
5. NOTE: If you select Email, the Reply to Email box will display. This is the email address that displays when a recipient hits reply. This email address should be your email address. If this email address is incorrect, please submit an IC Support Ticket.
Scroll down to select the Message Details.
1. Enter a Message Subject.
2. Enter the Message Body. Format using the options above the message.
  1. The image icon allows you to insert a web link to an image.
  2. The link icon, which looks like a chain, allows you to insert a web link.
  3. Use the icon that has the letter F in a box to include Campus fields that populate based on the recipient, such as recipient.firstName that populates each student's first name in the message.
Click Next to move on and select recipients. Only use the Save/Save As buttons if modifying or creating a template.

When composing your message, please remember to add your name and/or email signature at the bottom, so that parents and students know who the message came from. On their side, they can only see the sender email address. (i.e. jsmith@columbus.k12.oh.us)

For example:

Sincerely,

Mr. John Smith

English I & English II Teacher

Any High School

Class Messages: Step 2

In Step 2, select message Recipients, which are grouped by term and section. Indicate if you want to send the message to All recipients from section(s) or select Specific recipients from section(s).
1. If selecting All: Expand a term and select the section(s) needed.
2. If selecting Specific: Once this option is selected, all assigned sections will appear in a drop-down list. Select a section from the drop-down list, and add specific recipients to the Recipient List. You can add recipients from multiple sections.
  1. To add students, click on the word Add. To remove a student that was added in error click on Remove.
Indicate if the message should go to Student Messenger Contacts, Students, or both. Student Messenger Contacts" are household member, usually parents/guardians, who have "Messenger" marked on their relationship with the student. This information is indicated in Infinite Campus: Index>Census>People>Relationships.
1. Important Note: If you select All Recipients you can select both Student Messenger Contact and Student at the same time. If you select Specific Recipients, you must select one or the other and add the recipients you would like to send a message. You can switch back and forth between the two options and add recipients from both lists.
Click Next to review the message prior to sending.

Class Messages: Step 3

The final step of creating and sending a message is to review recipients and send the message.

The Delivery Summary displays the options selected in the Delivery Details at the beginning, and the Recipient Counts, as well as a Preview of the Message(s) with any attachments. Recipient Counts indicate the total number of recipients, as well as:

The number who will not receive the message through any means (No Device),
The number with a Portal account who could receive the message through the Process Inbox, and
Those who had email addresses or phone number in Census with the appropriate messenger settings who received the message through those methods (Email and Voice/Text).

You can review specific recipients, by clicking Review Recipients at the bottom of the screen. To remove a recipient prior to sending the message, or to remove a delivery device, unmark the checkbox next to the individual or any of their message devices. Click Preview to view the message as the parent would see it with the appropriate Campus fields populated.

Recipients who do not have any devices listed below their names (such as email addresses and phone numbers) will not receive the message.

If you've made any changes to this screen, click Save and then Close to return to the preview screen. Otherwise, click Close to return.

Click Send to send the message at the indicated time. If any of the delivery devices is recognized as invalid, an error message displays and messages are not sent. Return to Review Recipients to remove erroneous devices.

Once messages are successfully sent, a summary screen displays recipient counts. To view a log of messages sent, mark the checkbox next to the delivery devices and click View Log to view a printable version of the log.

Here is a video from Infinite Campus on how to Create a General Class Message using the Message Center.