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Information for Teachers on Learner Verification
Information for Teachers on Learner Verification

Following Outschool’s protocol for verifying non-video learners

Updated over a week ago

As a teacher, you are responsible for the safety and security of your own classroom. Here at Outschool, the safety of our community is our number one priority. Our objective is to maintain and improve the trust and safety of our users. One critical step in protecting our classroom community during each class - and in promoting open and positive communications - is to ensure through a video check-in that each participant is in fact a child (ages 3-18).

To begin each class, teachers should take advantage of our waiting room security measures as they cross-check each individual learner against their classroom roster, admitting them one-by-one (never use the "admit all" button). Once a learner is admitted after verifying the name, then you do a personal video check-in with that child. [Ensure you can clearly and fully see or identify the learner - meaning you should clearly see their full face and not just their forehead. If the lighting does not permit you to clearly identify the learner, please ask them to move away from the window or turn on the light.

If a learner is not immediately identifiable, please remove them to the waiting room immediately. Do not allow the learner to stay in the classroom to fix the issue and you’ll check back in. If they do not have a working camera at that time, please tell them you’ll follow-up after class. You will also report this to safety@outschool.com.

We do recognize, however, that not all learners have video verification capabilities or do not want to enable video for a number of reasons. To accommodate those learners, we’ve added a new identity verification process.

To summarize, as an Outschool teacher you must confirm that all learners are indeed children through one of two mechanisms:

  1. The learner connects with you via video at the beginning of each and every single class meeting, even if you have seen the learner previously in class, to allow you to verify the learner’s identity (the learner can then disable video after their check-in)

  2. A “verified” badge appears next to the learner’s name in your class roster. If a learner has a verified badge, they are cleared to have their video off during class and have been verified by a member of our team

There may be situations when you cannot confirm the learner’s identity via one of these methods. If this occurs, please:

There may be situations when you cannot confirm the learner’s identity via one of these methods. If this occurs, please:

  1. Gently explain our policy

  2. Place them in the waiting room where you can check on them in a few minutes (as a reminder, there is only one way communication in the waiting room)

  3. Let them know you'll follow up after class if they are not able to get the video started after some time in the waiting room

  4. Notify us at safety@outschool.com. Please include the section link and learner’s name.

After class, please contact the parent to explain the policy (if relevant), and present one or some of the following options: (1) transfer the learner to another section so they can make up the missed session with video enabled; (2) provide access to the class recording after the learner has gotten the verified badge; or (3) withdraw the learner (learn more about managing enrollments)

If you run into any issues with parents over this process, we’ve got your back. Just make sure you have reported this immediately to our team, so we can document it. Then you can direct them to us for a refund (we’ll take it out of our pocket, not yours) and let us know if you receive a negative review as a result of this policy; we’ll investigate and remove the review, so long as you have kindly enforced policy and previously reported it to our team.

If you have any questions about a specific situation, please don’t hesitate to contact us at safety@outschool.com. For reference, parents can find the policy here and we will proactively share this policy with families to eliminate any confusion.

We appreciate all that you do to help kids love learning.

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