📖 M2 Group Types and Participant Access Types

Available for M2 users

⚠️ Important for K–12 Educators:
Please make sure your students create their accounts only by joining through the Reflection link you share.
If students create an account on their own, they will automatically register as adult users, which may result in limitations and prevent them from completing reflections properly.

Users with a Free or M2 plan can create groups and invite participants to complete assignments in groups.

Group Types

When creating a group, Group Owners can select a Type. The group type helps M2 understand the context of the activity so the feedback, takeaways, and engagement insights better match how the group is being used.

This is especially helpful when M2 is used outside of a traditional classroom lesson, such as for coaching conversations, observations, PLC meetings, professional development, family events, or higher education settings.

Example: Group Owners can select a Type when creating a new group.

Available group types may include:

• Coaching
• Observations
• Family Night
• PLC
• Professional Development
• Pre-K through K–12 grade-level groups
• Higher Education

Selecting the correct group type allows M2 to adjust the language and focus of the feedback. For example, if a principal or coach records an observation, M2 recognizes that the person using M2 may not be the teacher leading the class. The feedback is then worded for an observer who may be sharing takeaways with the teacher.

In other group types, such as Professional Development, PLC, or Coaching, M2 recognizes that the activity may involve adults collaborating rather than students participating in a classroom lesson. In these cases, classroom-specific rubric feedback may be removed when it is not applicable, while engagement and interaction insights remain available.

Group Type	Best used for	How M2 feedback is adjusted
Observations	A coach, principal, or other observer recording a classroom lesson	M2 recognizes that the user may not be the teacher leading the lesson. Feedback is written for an observer and may include takeaways that can be shared with the teacher. Rubrics and takeaways remain available when applicable.
Professional Development	A presentation, training, or professional learning session	M2 adjusts the feedback for a presenter or facilitator. Classroom-specific rubric feedback may be removed when it does not apply, while engagement feedback remains available.
PLC	Educator team meetings, data reviews, or discussions about student work	M2 recognizes the activity as an adult educator discussion rather than a student classroom activity. Feedback focuses on collaboration, interaction, and discussion patterns.
Coaching	A coach and teacher debrief, planning conversation, or post-lesson discussion	M2 adjusts the language to focus on collaboration between the coach and teacher. Feedback is based on the coaching conversation rather than a classroom lesson.
Family Night	Family engagement events, parent nights, open houses, or community events	M2 adjusts the feedback for an event that may include educators, students, families, and caregivers. The feedback is not framed only as a regular classroom lesson.
Pre-K through K–12 / Higher Education	Grade-level or education-level groups	M2 uses the selected education level to better align feedback language with the learning environment and participant age group.

Note: Group Type and Participant Access Type are separate settings. Group Type controls the context and language of M2 feedback. Participant Access Type controls how participants join the group and what they can access.

Login Full Dashboard Group

Login groups require participants to register for a MirrorTalk account using an email in order to join the group and complete a reflection. Participants can visit the Dashboard and view all insights and scores for each of their reflections. All insights and scores are also visible to the Group Owner.

Session Group

Session groups require participants to be added to the group by name, with no email signup required.

• Participants in Session groups receive immediate feedback after reflecting but do not have access to the Dashboard.
• Participants can be added to a Session group in two ways: Group Owners can add participants by name via the "Manage Participants" button on the Dashboard, or participants can add themselves to a group by name when they navigate to an assignment link shared by the Group Owner.
• Group Owners of Session groups can view reflection cards for each user, as well as longitudinal data about participants in Session groups.