Playground App: Posts

Posts in Playground can be used as a tool to capture observations, learning stories, anecdotal and running records, sociograms, jottings, work samples, photographs, family communication; the list in endless!

To access Posts in Playground App, you’ll need to navigate to the Learning Tab.

 View our interactive guide here

Creating a Post

After navigating to the Learning Tab:

1. Click + New Post

2. A new Post template will open for you to populate with text and content.

3. Adding a Title and Room is mandatory in order to publish your Post.

4. There is a 15,000 character limit when writing a description and a 75 character limit for your title.

5. Once completed, select Save or Preview.

Formatting Options -  COMING SOON!

• Undo/Redo - using these buttons or the associated keyboard shortcuts will allow you to undo mistakes or redo errors.
• Bold/Italic/Underline/Strikethrough - use these options to format your text within the body of your Post
• Text Colour - there are 20 pre-selected colour options or you can enter in the RGB colour code or hex code.
• Background Colour - there are 20 pre-selected colour options or you can enter in the RGB colour code or hex code.
• Font - there are 17 font options for you to choose from to customise your Post.
• Font Size - you can adjust the font of your text using the plus/minus buttons or by entering in a number and pressing enter
• Alignment - you can align your text right, left, centre or justify
• Lists - you can create numbered or bulleted lists and customise the bullet points 
• Emojis - you can add unicode emojis to your Posts using the dedicated menu or search all existing emojis using the search bar
• Page Break - you can add a page break to your Post by selecting this button
• Word Count - you can see your total word count against any text you have selected in your Post

Editing a Post

Once a Post has been saved as a draft or shared with families, teachers are able to edit, archive, duplicate, bookmark or move to folder.

1. Navigate to Posts

2. On the Post, select the 3 dots to the right of the tile

3. Select your intended action

Adding Media

When creating and sharing a Post, you have a variety of options with what type of attachments you can include.

• Photos - You can attach up to 32 photos which have already been taken and are stored on the device which you are using to access Playground App. Alternatively, you can use your device to take and upload a single photo.

• Videos - You can attach a video in Playground App with a maximum duration of 30 seconds or less. This video must take less than 5 minutes to upload otherwise it will time out and the upload will be unsuccessful. 

• Audio - You can use the device you are accessing Playground App on to record an audio clip up to 5 minutes in length.

• Files - You can attach up to 5 files to your Post, with a maximum size of 5MB each. Supported file types include docx, xlsx, pptx, pdf and txt. File types which are not supported will be automatically greyed out on your device’s dialogue box.

Tagging Children

When creating a Post, tagging a child determines which families this will be shared with in Home, if you decide to publish the posts to families.

If saved as a draft to only be visible to the service, this Post will be attached the the tagged children’s profiles and be visible in Learning Analysis.

• Tagging a Child - To tag an individual child, press the check box next to their individual name

• Tagging a Room - You can use the room filter to locate a room and then press ‘select all’ to tag all children attached to that room. Rooms can be attached to child profiles in Office under the Child Profile.

• Tagging the Service - You can tag all active children at a service by ensuring that no filters have been selected and then pressing ‘Select All’. Children can be made active/inactive in Office under the Child Profile.

You can further filter the child list by date and attendance status using the filters. The list fo children that appear can be sorted by photo consent, alphabetically and those already selected.

You will see the total amount of children tagged to a Post in the bottom right hand corner of the dialogue box, above the ‘Tag Children’ button.

Photo Permission

In Posts, child profiles which have opted out for photos at the enrolment stage or have had changes made in Office, are easy to locate. This profiles will have a "No Photos Consent" label which appears in red when tagging from the Children list. 

If you have chosen to tag a child which has a "No Photo Consent" label on their profile and chose to publish, before you publish you will see a remind pop up to confirm this is the case. 

• Untag and Continue - If you have tagged the child unintentionally, you can select this option to remove the tag and continue saving or publishing.

• Continue Tagging - If you have intentionally tagged the child and wish to save or publish the Post, you can select this option to continue.

• Cancel - Selecting this option will take you back to the Tagging Children dialogue box to make changes as needed.

Learning Outcomes

When creating Posts, you can tag learning outcomes against Learning Frameworks currently switched on and available at your service. Learning Frameworks include nationally approved frameworks as defined by ACECQA, as well as any customised learning frameworks created and shared by your service.

You can learn more about Learning Frameworks in Playground here.

To tag a learning outcome:

• Select or search for the learning framework you wish to use

• Expand the categories

• Press the tick box to tag the learning outcome.

Whilst there is no limit to how many learning outcomes can be tagged in a Post, we recommend reaching out to your Pedagogy Leader to confirm what the expectations for your service are and how they wish to have this feature be used by educators.

You will see a running total, outlining the total volume of learning outcomes tagged to a Post to the bottom right hand corner of the dialogue box, above the ‘Add Learning Outcomes’ button.

Posts which have Learning Outcomes tagged will be visible in Learning Analysis, which you can learn more about here.

Linking Documentation

When creating Posts, you can link already existing documentation in Playground in order to demonstrate the planning cycle and show connections between planned, spontaneous, child or teacher initiated experiences.

Whilst there is no limit to how many learning documentations can be tagged in a Post, we recommend reaching out to your Pedagogy Leader to confirm what the expectations for your service are and how they wish to have this feature be used by teachers.  

Future Plans

When creating a Post, you have the option to add a future plan description and date. Whilst this will not automatically add the Post to a plan or program, this feature can be used to keep a record of how this experience will be further built upon and share these plans with families.

Save, Preview and Publish Posts

Once you have added the mandatory information to your Post and are ready, you have the option to preview what your post will look in Playground before saving or publishing.

Once you are happy with your Post, you can then decide to save or share the Post.

• Draft - When saved as a draft, your Post will only be visible to teachers with access to Playground.

• Shared with Families - When Shared with Families, your Post will be shared with family members using Home App and Home Web. They will receive a notification if their child has been tagged in the Post and they have notifications turned on on their device.

• Comments - You have the option to enable or disable comments on your Post from families using Home. Once turned on for a Post, Comments cannot be turned off so please be mindful of your selection.

Adding Reflections (Coming soon!)

Private Reflections, which will not be visible to families, can be added to a drafted or shared Post.

1. Navigate to Posts.

2. Tap on the relevant Post and scroll down to the tags section.

3. Tap on Reflections, then New Reflection.

4. Type in the text field, then tap the paper air plane icon to save.

Replying to Reflections

1. Navigate to Posts.

2. Tap on the relevant Post and scroll down to the tags section.

3. Tap on Reflections, then tap on the Reflection you would like to respond to.

4. Type your response in the text field and tap the paper air plane icon to save.