What are Teachable Comments?

Teachable comments are messages that students and authors can leave on lessons.

These comments allow for interaction and discussion directly on the course content. Students can ask questions or share thoughts, and authors can provide feedback or additional insights.

Each Teachable lesson can have its own comment area enabled or disabled. Only current students can see the comment areas, so they're not public.

Basic functionality of Teachable comments

• Adding comments - Students and authors can type their message in the comment box and hit Post. The comment area appears underneath the lesson content, making it easy to find and follow.

• Attachments - People can add attachments to a comment, such as images or documents, to provide more context or information.

• Interacting with comments - Students and authors can reply to comments, fostering a more dynamic and engaging learning environment.

4 Ways to Use Teachable Comments

#1: Use comments as a support channel

You can use Teachable comments to provide direct support to your students. This helps in addressing their queries quickly and effectively. Other students can also see your response, so someone with the same issue in the future won't need to contact you with the same question.

Example: If you have a course on digital marketing, students can ask specific questions about SEO techniques, and you can provide detailed answers right in the comment section for all students to see.

#2: Keep students motivated

You can ask students to add comments about their progress as they work through your course. This can help build a sense of community and student interaction, which in turn helps in keeping students motivated and engaged.

Example: In a fitness course, students could share their progress in the comments and encourage each other, making it more likely they'll stick to their goals.

#3: Identify areas for improvement

Teachable comments can give you valuable insights into what students are struggling with or interested in. You can then use that information to update and improve your course content.

Example: If many students in a programming course are asking about a specific coding error, you could create a new lesson to address that specific issue.

#4: Collect testimonials and reviews

Towards the end of your course, you could request testimonials via the comment area. This social proof can help in building trust and marketing your course to future students. Just make sure your lesson explains how you'll use these reviews if students comment.

Example: If students in a photography course leave comments about how much they’ve improved, you could use these comments on your sales page or email marketing to build trust.

Moderated vs Unmoderated Comments

Unmoderated Comments

Unmoderated comments are posted immediately without any review. This allows for faster interactions and a more dynamic discussion, but it also means there's a risk of inappropriate or off-topic comments appearing.

When a student posts a comment, it's immediately visible to other students.

• Pros: Promotes faster and more dynamic interactions, encourages spontaneous discussions, and reduces the author's workload.

• Cons: Risk of inappropriate or off-topic comments, can lead to less control over the discussion quality.

Moderated Comments

In moderated comments, each comment is reviewed and approved by the author before it becomes visible to other students. This ensures that all comments are relevant and appropriate, maintaining a positive and constructive learning environment.

When a student posts a comment, an admin must approve it before it's visible.

When their comment is approved (or if anyone replies), students get an email notification from Teachable.

• Pros: Ensures quality and relevance of comments, prevents inappropriate content and language, and allows the author to control the discussion.

• Cons: Slows down conversation, requires more time and effort from the author.

Which should you use?

Moderation is usually unnecessary if you're confident that your audience will comment responsibly. You'll still get an email for each new comment and you can delete any if you have an issue.

If you're worried students might leave inappropriate comments, turn moderation on.

How to Enable Teachable Comments

Enabling comments in your Teachable courses is a simple process. Follow these steps to allow your students to interact and engage with your course content through comments.

Turning comments on for a lesson

1. Open your Teachable dashboard. 

2. Go to Courses in the sidebar.

3. Click on the name of your course.

4. Go to Curriculum in the sidebar.

5. Click on the name of your lesson.

6. Scroll to the bottom of the page.

7. Click the Student comments toggle.

Comments are now turned on (or off!) for this individual lesson.

Turning comment moderation on/off

1. Open your Teachable dashboard. 

2. Go to Settings in the sidebar.

3. Click Courses at the top of the page.

4. Scroll to the Comment Settings section.

5. Click the Enable comment moderation toggle.

6. Click Save.

This setting is school-wide so it applies to every comment area on your school.

Managing Comments Effectively

To keep your comment section productive and engaging, it's important to manage it effectively. Here are some tips to help you moderate and respond to comments in your Teachable courses:

Tips for Moderating Comments

• Set clear guidelines - Establish and communicate clear guidelines for commenting. This helps maintain a respectful and constructive environment.

• Regularly monitor comments - Check the comments regularly to address any inappropriate or off-topic posts promptly.

• Use moderation tools - Utilize Teachable’s moderation features to approve comments before they go live if necessary.

Strategies for Responding to Comments

• Be timely and consistent - Respond to comments in a timely manner to keep the discussion active and show students that you’re engaged.

• Encourage participation - Ask follow-up questions and encourage students to share their experiences or insights.

• Provide detailed feedback - Give thorough and helpful responses to questions to add value to the learning experience.

Fostering Constructive Discussions

• Highlight valuable comments - Acknowledge and highlight insightful or helpful comments to encourage quality contributions.

• Create discussion prompts - Post questions or prompts in the comments to spark discussion and engage students.

• Promote a positive atmosphere - Foster a supportive and encouraging tone in your responses to build a positive learning community.