Diagnostic Network has announced support for student memberships, as well as the ability to control the minimum experience required to participate in topics and user groups. The goal is to allow less-experienced members to read and learn from discussions on the site, while participating in a limited and controlled way.

All discussion topics now have a minimum experience requirement of four or more years, so those with fewer years of experience (such as students) will only be able to read discussions, not create new ones, as well as vote on or reply to existing messages.

Instructors and others interested in working with those new to the industry can create user groups specifically for them. For example, instructors can create user groups for their students, then use the invitation system to invite their students to join Diagnostic Network for free and participate in that user group, while still being able to read and learn from all of the other discussions happening on the site.

Additionally, user group managers are now free to set any minimum level of experience required to participate in their user groups. Administrators have started by setting all existing user groups to a minimum of four years, like topics.

It’s worth noting that the Diagnostic Network topic remains open to members of any experience level, so that all may have input about the development of the online community.

To create and manage a user group, a premium account is required costing $49 per year.