How to Enable Family Sync in ClassLink

Audience: Seesaw Teachers

Seesaw supports students by providing a genuine audience for their work – including family members! Connecting families and getting them involved on Seesaw is now even easier. Simplify family engagement by enabling Family Sync. During your rostering sync, Seesaw imports family members from Classlink and sends them an invitation to connect.

Before Enabling Family Syncing

Family data will need to be pre-populated in the parent and guardian role types. Make sure the correct sharing settings are configured so that Seesaw can access the data.

Note: While allowing access to these fields is a required sharing permission, Seesaw only needs an email address OR a phone number for family members. Districts can decide whether they want to enter data into both the email and phone fields in their SIS.

If a family member account is already created in Seesaw with both an email address and phone number, then both fields are required in the SIS for the sync to recognise and connect the account.

District admins cannot change any data on a family account. If the email or phone number in ClassLink does not match what is in Seesaw, only the family member can update their account. 

1. Classlink: https://rosterconsole.classlink.com/apps/rule-based-permissions/edit/3
   Minimum permissions: District, email OR phone, name, Sourced_id, students, type, useragents, other agents.
2. Seesaw will automatically import relevant family members (specifically those listed in Classlink as parents or guardians) to be invited to Seesaw through the nightly roster sync. Or, you can choose to run a manual sync.
3. Synced families will appear on the School Dashboard in the Families tab. 

Enabling Family Syncing

To activate Classlink Family Syncing, follow the steps below: 

1. Log in to your District Administrator Account
2. Select District-Wide Settings
3. Select the Roster Sync Tab
4. Toggle ON Enable family syncing by sliding the toggle to the right. The toggle will be purple if Family Syncing is ON.

Family Member Experience

There are NO changes to the existing parent/family experience with this feature. The user flow is exactly the same.

Once a family member's information has been synced from Classlink, Seesaw will email the family member. The family member will then be directed to:

1. Create a Seesaw account if they don't already have one.

2. Claim the student connection that has been made by the sync. 

FAQs

1. If a parent is connected using this method but then they need to be disconnected due to legal reasons, will that happen automatically when they are removed from their Classlink account, or will they need to do this manually?
   
   This can be done automatically, depending on what settings the customer chooses
   
    
2. If a family receives the invite but thinks it is spam and deletes it, will they have to be invited again manually or will they continue to receive invites as part of the sync until they connect?
   
   We don't keep sending, since there is no way for us to know if they've deleted the invite or if they're just ignoring it. They would have to be added manually through the org dashboard.
   
    
3. If a family member has both their email and phone number in Classlink, which method of communication will be the default for the Seesaw invitation?
   
   Email is the default.
   
    
4. What happens if Family Access is turned off by the teacher or school?
   
   If Family Access is disabled by the teacher/school, the family will remain connected to their student, but they will not see any classes or student work.
   
    
5. When will the invitation be sent to the family members? 
   
   Invitations will be sent at the time of your Nightly Sync.