As an educator on Outschool, you are responsible for the safety of learners who join your virtual classes. Parents choose our platform because of our commitment to protecting learners’ privacy and ensuring that every one of our online classrooms is secure. While the following policies are clearly outlined in this Help Center article and included in new educator onboarding courses, please take a moment to review the following ways we all must work together to create a safe, welcoming, and positive learning environment for every family.
1. Compare waiting room names with enrolled learners
When class is about to begin, cross-check to compare the names in the Zoom waiting room with the list of enrolled learners for that class. Only learners whose Zoom display names match the names on your roster should be admitted into the classroom one at a time. This means that you should never click the “Admit All” button when starting an Outschool class since you could run the risk of admitting a user who is not meant to be there.
If you come across a name that doesn’t match up to any on your roster, you can use the one-way chat feature to ask the user to change their name to that of the enrolled learner in the class (please do not provide the enrolled learner’s name to them). If the name is changed to one on your roster, then you’re good to go to admit the learner.
If they do not change their display name to one on your list, you may not admit them to the classroom. Instead, send another message gently explaining that, in accordance with Outschool’s safety policies, you cannot admit a learner whose name on Zoom does not match your list of enrolled learners. After class, please report this situation to safety@outschool.com.
2. Verify learners with a video check-in
You are required to verify that every learner is both a child (no adults allowed!) and a child of the appropriate age for your class with a video check-in at the beginning of every class. Each learner must enable their video for this check-in, even if you permit them to turn off their video feed for the rest of the class. We encourage learners to enable their audio/video during class time to create a more social experience, but it’s not required unless included in your class description (some learners feel safer with their video off).
If a learner enters your classroom and they are unable or unwilling to turn on their video for identity verification, you’ll need to:
- Kindly explain Outschool’s video check-in policy.
- Let them know you’ll need to place them in the waiting room, and that you’ll follow up with them after class is over to find a solution for next time.
- Report the situation to safety@outschool.com.
3. Help learners remember to keep personal information private
Outschool’s Golden Rules include that our community “Be Safe!” That means we keep all communication on Outschool and agree to not share personal information like full names, e-mail addresses, social media accounts, or phone numbers. Educators play an important role in upholding this safety standard by reminding learners to keep this kind of info private if they attempt to share it in class. You can review a full list of what type of PII should not be shared on Outschool in our Content Moderation Standards, which includes a kid-friendly safety video that explains this policy in terms learners can understand.
4. Don’t share Zoom links – even if parents ask
You should never send a classroom Zoom link to parents or learners (neither the Conversations tab nor the Learners tab in the classroom). Instead, begin all live class meetings by clicking the green “Start Live Meeting” button in the classroom. This ensures that everyone enters the meeting safely and securely through the Outschool platform.
5. When in doubt, reach out to safety@outschool.com
Our Safety Team loves answering questions and is passionate about supporting you as you help keep our community safe. We encourage educators to stay up-to-date on the most current policies on this page and our Help Center. If you encounter a safety or privacy incident on our platform, the best thing you can do is follow safety protocols in a kind and professional way and immediately report the incident to our safety team. Then, our team will document the incident so we can later help navigate any resultant situations like refund demands, parental harassment, or unfair reviews.
Thank you again for partnering with us to make Outschool a safe, fun, comfortable, and inclusive learning environment for families across the globe. We appreciate your proactive help in protecting our learners’ privacy.
