Suggestions for Faithlife groups

PetahChristian

Rick had some questions about the Mobile Ed groups which led to some suggestions I'll list here (that others probably have asked for in the past).

1. Add a link to the group from the store's product page, so people can more easily discover the group.
2. Add a link to the group from the Courses tool plan, so people can more easily discover additional documents, such as notes or word lists. (The first activity usually suggests checking out the group, but not all courses have activities.)
3. Make the Resources_Linked document public, so you don't have to follow a group to discover that you are missing too many of the recommended resources. This would help unclutter the Groups sidebar and cut down on notifications/emails, as I don't bother to unfollow groups for courses that I don't own.
4. Create the groups before a course enters production, to avoid the unhelpful "Page not found" for most pre-pubs. This would help avoid any confusion about whether the URL is correct, etc.

Perhaps in the future, there could be additional integration right within the program, such as showing recent group discussions for a (finished or active) course plan that people might want to join in on.

Miles Custis

Thanks, these are good suggestions. I'll look into making #1 and #2 happen.

For #3, the course Faithlife groups themselves are already public, but it doesn't look like there is a way to make documents available to the public in the settings. That is likely an intentional setting to avoid having people in groups accidentally share something publicly.

For #4, from my perspective the main reason to have the groups available before the course ships is so that people can download the Resources Linked document. That document doesn't get created until late in the production process, so I'm not sure what value there would be for creating the groups earlier. Is there another reason you would want a Faithlife group for a course earlier?

PetahChristian

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/871787#Comment_871787

Miles Custis said:

Thanks, these are good suggestions. I'll look into making #1 and #2 happen.

Thanks, Miles!

Miles Custis said:

For #4, from my perspective the main reason to have the groups available before the course ships is so that people can download the Resources Linked document. That document doesn't get created until late in the production process, so I'm not sure what value there would be for creating the groups earlier. Is there another reason you would want a Faithlife group for a course earlier?

I think it was primarily to avoid any confusion over "Page not found." You or I can understand your process because it's known to us, but others might not understand why the group doesn't exist (yet).

But I think another (time-saving) advantage would be us being able to join/follow the group at the same time as we pre-order. We would then get the benefit of receiving notifications when new activity occurred (such as when you shared a document?). It would streamline the current process of having to repeatedly check for the group.

PetahChristian

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/871798#Comment_871798

Have you given any more consideration to creating the Faithlife groups immediately? The existing procedure forces us to regularly check to see if the groups have been created.

It would be expedient if we could join a group when we ordered a Mobile Ed Pre-Pub. Then a notification/post could let us know when you have shared  the Resources Linked document.

This would help us to not miss out on particular sales (considering how infrequently certain commentary volumes go on sale).