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Volunteer Guide to SHW Voice

Understanding Our Users

Our platform welcomes a wide range of learners and tutors, mostly high school students and occasionally older middle school students and college students, each bringing their unique cultural backgrounds from around the world. These learners can sometimes can be impatient in waiting times and expectations due to the instant gratification that is so common in our day and age. This can sometimes influence their communications when they feel they are not being serviced/responded to within their time expectations. While they might occasionally approach things in a less serious manner, their intentions are usually good-hearted. Many of them may not realize yet that Schoolhouse is a small, volunteer-led organization, and assume that they’re dealing with a big company with bots and paid customer service agents.

What Tone of Voice should we adopt as the Volunteers of the Internal Teams at Schoolhouse?

As a volunteer within Schoolhouse's internal teams, it's important to recognize the additional responsibilities you carry for helping users acclimate to the culture of our community. Your role involves assisting the Product team in promoting a positive learning environment and entails having elevated permissions and platform insights. However, it's crucial to remember that the individuals using Schoolhouse are your peers – they are friends, classmates, and like-minded individuals who share common goals. Nurturing a positive connection remains a priority. To facilitate this, here are some valuable tone guidelines to bear in mind when initiating contact or responding to users

We Want to Sound:

Description

Do's

Don't

Casual

We're all peers here! We can chat comfortably, just like we would with a classmate during breaks. Our tone is relaxed and casual, aiming to create a friendly conversation with users. We're all about that laid-back vibe, connecting with users on a personal level.

Begin with a friendly "Hi" or "Hey" to create a warm greeting!

Add enthusiasm with exclamation marks (nor more than 1-2 per message) to keep the tone casual and exciting.

Sprinkle in appropriate emojis or happy faces for that informal and cheerful touch.

Maintain a communication style similar to chatting with your classmates.

Avoid using any slang or inappropriate language

Avoid overuse of “Hello” - while appropriate, this may sometimes overly formalize communications

Avoid structuring messages in paragraph format

Respectful

We're all about respect here! We never use our position as internal teams volunteers to alienate ourselves from the community. We are all equals!

Embrace a respectful and inclusive tone in all interactions.

When correcting someone on a behavioral mistake, avoid using an accusatory tone. Instead, explain the policy with the assumption that it’s not obvious, and explain why it’s important for the community to adhere to the policy.

Highlight shared goals and collaboration to showcase a sense of togetherness.

“System blame” - Instead of “Hey you messed up” it’s “Hey, your message got flagged for x, this is a friendly heads up about y”

Avoid using language that may distance internal teams from the community.

Avoid using language that makes anyone feel lesser or unequal due to their role or involvement in Schoolhouse

Empathetic

Empathy forms the core of our interactions – we genuinely attempt to understand users' motivation behind behavior, circumstances and needs.

Consider that there is a lot of context about the user that we don’t know—for example, they may have limited access to a device or internet, they may be under pressure from something or someone, or they may have other situations in their life causing stress and anxiety that transfers into their actions

Show genuine interest in understanding users' circumstances and needs.

Assume that their behaviors, if not in line with community policies, are not intentionally malicious - Give users the benefit of the doubt!

Avoid approaching interactions with a lack of consideration for users' motivations.

Avoid assuming that a user is purposely trying to be malicious/deviant to guidelines

Informative

We try to provide as much information to help the tutor/learner be a successful part of our community

Share your knowledge as well as ways for the user to self-educate themselves

Link helpful FAQ’s and community guidelines when helpful

Avoid assuming that the learner/tutor knows the rules if this is their first time offense

Avoid bombarding users with information; instead, provide clear and concise guidance that's easy to follow.

There are no rows in this table

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A Deep Dive into Communication Pillars

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Casual & Respectful ✅

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Scenario

A user shares personal identifying information (an email, phone number, last name, school or social media handle)

Yes or No

Sample Response

Hey [first name]! I’m on the moderation team at Schoolhouse and it looks like your message was flagged by the system for sharing personal contact information (type). Just wanted to give you a heads up that this is technically against Schoolhouse’s policy, for safety reasons, but I’ve redacted the info already so you’ve got nothing to worry about.

Explanation

The message has a casual tone. It demonstrates understanding, provides clear information, and maintains a respectful and casual tone but does not cross any boundaries. We come across as peers, who are interested in everyone’s success — which is our role as volunteers of Schoolhouse!

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Empathetic & Informative ✅

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Scenario

A user uses inappropriate language on the platform or reactions that are inappropriate - malicious intent is not 100% certain

Example Type

Great response

Sample Response

Hey [first name]! I’m a volunteer on the moderation team at Schoolhouse. I wanted to reach out to let you know that your recent message with Amira was flagged by the Schoolhouse system for inappropriate language. For context: because Schoolhouse is a global platform with people of different ages and cultures, they have a pretty high standard for keeping language classroom appropriate so that everyone’s comfortable. I just wanted to let you know so you can avoid future flags, as having too many can cause your account to be suspended. If you’d like, you can also edit your message to address this flag as well. For context - here are the Schoolhouse community guidelines.

Explanation

This message corrects behavior while giving the user the benefit of the doubt! We should always lean towards assuming that the user is unaware of our policies. It also system blames - by highlighting a system flag rather than individual flag, we’re more likely to come off as respectful and friendly rather than authoritative and alienating. We also offer resources - it’s important to note that not everyone will be clear on where to find our community guidelines, by pointing them in the right direction, we may prevent future infractions.

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Frequently Used Messages

It might be helpful to review commonly used messages across our volunteer teams so get a better idea of what kind of tone and voice we’re aiming for :)

Moderation Team

User Support Team

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Understanding Our Users

What Tone of Voice should we adopt as the Volunteers of the Internal Teams at Schoolhouse?

A Deep Dive into Communication Pillars

Casual & Respectful ✅

Empathetic & Informative ✅

Frequently Used Messages

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