Overview
Outschool defines pods as a group of learners who learn at least two subjects in a set cohort, with one or multiple educators. Pods follow specific guidelines and policies detailed below.
Policies for listing a pod class
Pods should adhere to the following class listing policies.
Refunds: Pod classes should have a Flexible refund policy: Full refund until the class begins, then a pro-rated refund based on the number of class meetings that have occurred. This supersedes the class-specific refund policy that a class would have were it standalone.
Standards for Class Listings: An individual class can be a pod on its own as long as it meets the two-subject rule. If you would like to submit multiple classes for your pod to be taught together, each class title, summary, and educator name for all other associated pod classes should be included in the class description. This is to ensure families have a general understanding of what they are signing up for. These summaries may be replaced with links when all classes are approved; you do not need to submit for reapproval to do so. As with all classes listed on the marketplace, using the term Outschool in your class title is not permissible.
Class Types: Ongoing classes and one-time classes are not eligible class types for pod teaching since the content will need to carry over from week to week in a pod. All other class types are permissible for pods. Groups are a separate learner experience and do not count towards a pod submission
Class Content:
If your pod experience will be a “complete curriculum”-type of class, make sure to provide enough detail in your class listing for families to understand what you will be offering to their learners. Specifically, you should include any relevant standards or curricula you will be referencing in the Sources section. Because pod experiences tend to be semester-length classes, an exact weekly breakdown is not required, but you should provide a detailed description of the class content families should expect to see over the duration of the pod. Advanced teacher expertise may be required for covering certain subject areas, per our class content policy, and you should always list out your relevant expertise in the Teacher Expertise section when submitting a pod.
If you are looking to resubmit an existing class to be part of a new pod experience, you are welcome to do so, but keep in mind that it will be reviewed with our most recent standards and policies in mind. Classes that met standards at the time of approval may need revision and updating in order to align with our newest policies. To avoid unexpected delays in getting your class approved, please be sure to review our class content policy before you resubmit your class.
Creating Pods with Multiple Educators
Finding educators for a private pod experience
If you want to create your own private pod team with other educators, we recommend posting in the Outschool Facebook Hub to find educators to match with. Do not send unsolicited requests to educators on the Outschool platform requesting they join a pod. Once you’ve decided on your set of course offerings as a team, and associated classes have been approved on the platform, you should ensure that each learner that enrolls in one of your pod classes also enrolls in the others in order to meet the definition of a pod experience. You can do this by messaging families or posting in the Classroom of one of the classes.
Creating a pod experience as an organization
Because Organizations have the ability to change teachers within the same class listing, you will need to submit only one class listing for your pod experience. Your class listing should clearly explain the subjects and content that will be taught, as well as the teacher expertise that qualifies your organization’s teachers to address those content areas. Review our class content policy for more information about our teacher expertise guidelines. Organization pod classes should also follow the policies above.