Student Class Join Settings
Showbie allows teachers the flexibility to co-teach and cross-teach within their districts. However, sometimes schools may prefer a more secure and focussed learning environment. We have added Student Permissions to help Admins control the classes their students can join.
Visit the School Settings section in the Admin Dashboard to manage Student Permissions:
As an Admin, you can choose whether to allow or prevent your students from:
Joining classes external to your school
Changing their Profile Photo
🚨 This will apply to all students found on your Students list in the Admin Dashboard. Any updates to Student Permissions apply immediately to all students in your Student list on the Admin dashboard.
We recommend reviewing these permissions to determine what best fits your school's needs.
Allowing or Preventing Students from Joining External Classes
Allow External Class Joins - Toggle ON (green)
This option is ideal if your school shares teachers across the district.
Students can request to join any class using a class code, but a teacher must approve each request before they can join.
Prevent External Class Joins - Toggle OFF (grey, recommended – more secure)
With this setting, students can only join classes that include a teacher officially associated with your school.
This helps prevent students from accidentally joining classes led by teachers from other schools or by teachers who are not affiliated with your school or district.
💡For instances where you would like to use the more secure setting, but also need to accommodate cross-school teaching (for example, a music teacher shared between schools in your district), you can add a co-teacher from the relevant school to the class. This allows students to join because the class now includes a teacher approved by their school.
Student Profile Pictures
Allowing students to choose their own photo encourages independence and keeps students more engaged with their digital learning tools.
Giving Admins control over this keeps student profiles appropriate and effortless to manage. Less oversight, more peace of mind.
The school could decide, for example, to allow students to customize their photo for a week at the beginning of the year and then disable to lock that ability.
Teachers (in-app) and admins (admin dash) will still be able to update/clear inappropriate student photos.
Allowing or Preventing Students from Changing their Profile Photo
Allow changes
Toggle ON (green)
This is a great option to possibly encourage independence, and keep students more engaged with their digital learning tools
Preventing Changes
Toggle OFF (gray)
This gives you control over keeping student profiles appropriate, which means less oversight and more peace of mind.
✍️ You could decide to allow students to customize their photo for a week at the beginning of the year and then disable to lock that ability for the remainder if you'd like!
💡 Teachers and admins will always be able to update/clear any profile photos
Student Permissions FAQ
Student Permissions FAQ
Who do "Student Permissions" apply to?
Student Permissions apply to all students found on your Students list in the Admin Dashboard.
What happens when students try to join an external class (and "Allow Students to Join External Classes" is off)?
When a student tries to join a class which does not include at least one approved teacher at your school, they will get the error message "Class Unavailable."
But the class belongs to a legitimate teacher at my school! How do I correct this?
Simply invite the teacher to your school from the Admin Dashboard and have them accept the invitation via email in order for them to be added as an approved member of your school in Showbie. Approved teachers will appear in your Teachers list in the Admin Dashboard.
Does "Allow Students to Join External Classes" affect current class memberships?
No, current class memberships remain as they are. If you toggle this setting off (more secure), it will only affect your students' ability to join classes in the future.