Learner Safety and Privacy: For Teachers

Teacher guidelines for learner safety and privacy

Our foremost concern is learner safety, and we approach this in several ways as described by our safety policy. This article describes your responsibility for safety as a teacher on SpeakingChalk.

Teacher responsibility for safety

Regardless of the topic you are teaching or the age group you are working with, you have a responsibility to create a safe online classroom environment. For this reason, teachers are required to teach all live classes on video platform made available by SpeakingChalk through the SpeakingChalk platform. We expect that you teach your classes in a way that encourages physical safety, mental wellbeing, and online privacy for all students. Poor judgment on safety and privacy can result in teacher restriction and removal.

Classroom Safety Basics

· Teachers are required to have their cameras on while teaching a live class.

· As the teacher, you should be present and supervise your meeting at all times. Please make sure you are able to be at your computer for the entire time that video platform is open and your live class is running.

· Before running your first class, be fluent in the basic video platform features you'll use to manage your classroom and respond quickly if safety or behavior problems arise.

· Ensure that all learners have their video enabled, or if they don’t, that you've interacted with them over video at the beginning of each class, to verify their identity. We encourage learners to enable their audio/video during the rest of class to create a more social experience for all learners, but it’s not required (some learners feel safer with video off). If you’ve never before seen a learner on video and they’re unable or unwilling to enable their video, please: (1) gently explain our policy, (2) let them know you’ll follow up after class, and (3) remove them from class.

· Parents are able to listen into class at a reasonable distance from their learner, but it is against SpeakingChalk’s policies for a parent (anybody other than learner) to listen in or watch class from a separate device.

· If a safety related incident occurs during one of your classes, contact SpeakingChalk support immediately to let us know: connectatspeakingchalk@gmail.com

Safety examples

If your lesson requires the learners to use any materials that could be potentially dangerous, such as sharp objects in a cooking class, or art classes make sure you designate time at the beginning of class to discuss the proper way to use/handle these materials. Or if your class involves a discussion on a topic, such as how to cope with anxiety, that may trigger more serious emotional responses, you should first make sure that your learners are equipped with the right skillset to participate in these conversations. In order to set the right expectations for prospective parents, you should also include this information in the parental guidance section of the class listing.

Sensitive topics

For teachers offering classes on any sort of sensitive topic, as defined in our class content policy, we ask that you take extra measures to ensure the safety of your learners. We encourage you to take the time to anticipate potential issues that may arise proactively. This could range from emotionally-difficult topics you might discuss as a part of the lesson, to follow-up questions your learners may have.

To ensure learner safety, discussions related to personal mental health issues - like depression, suicide, or abuse - are not allowed on our platform. If a learner initiates a conversation about a sensitive topic, please gently explain that SpeakingChalk classes are not the appropriate venue for these discussions and redirect your learners to a new topic. If you are concerned about a learner's safety, contact SpeakingChalk support immediately to let us know: connectatspeakingchalk@gmail.com.

Learner behavior

As a teacher, you may encounter situations in which a learner's behavior merits special attention. Perhaps it's a learner who appears to be a bully (or be bullied), or who behaves inappropriately, or whose behavior suggests trouble at home. It’s your responsibility to address learner behavior as part of classroom management, and to ensure a safe and welcoming environment for all learners.

We ask that you share any concerning incidents with SpeakingChalk support (connectatspeakingchalk@gmail.com), and we will work with you to resolve them. That may involve helping to contact the learner or learner's parents, or just in helping you decide how to proceed.

Responsibility to report

If you believe that a learner's safety may be in immediate jeopardy, you should first encourage the learner to reach out to SpeakingChalk and you should also simultaneously report the situation to SpeakingChalk's safety team (connectatspeakingchalk@gmail.com). In addition, if you either see evidence of or hear your learner describe abuse or neglect, SpeakingChalk requires that you immediately report what you've witnessed to our team.

For our teachers abroad, please be mindful that your jurisdictions, may also have mandatory reporting laws that apply to you in your work with SpeakingChalk.

Learner privacy

As a SpeakingChalk teacher, you are also responsible for maintaining learner privacy online. As a general rule, you shouldn’t reveal or encourage students to reveal any personal information about an individual student or a student’s family. Personal information can include, but is not limited to, a student’s full name, birthdate, personal email address, address, or phone number. Asking learners to share their location at the country, state, or city level is OK, provided you give learners an option to not share if they prefer not to.

In addition to not sharing personal information about your students, you also should not share any private information about your classes outside of class. This includes student voices (audio), student first names, or student faces. For example, you shouldn’t share a photo or video of you interacting with your students on your social media page.

If you would like to share any completed student work, such as a student essay or art project, you may need to first obtain learner’s / parent permission.

Since classes may be recorded, it is also important to protect learner privacy on the screen. In cases where learners have revealed personal information or otherwise breached their privacy on camera, you should request them to turn off their camera so that it is not captured by other learners. After class, you should reach out to the learner / (in case of child) parent of the learner in question and the SpeakingChalk (connectatspeakingchalk@gmail.com). In cases where learner privacy is compromised, SpeakingChalk may choose to delete a recording (if available).

Exchanging contact information

In general, you should keep all communication with SpeakingChalk. Learners may want to keep in touch with their classmates after your class ends and may ask to exchange contact information in video platform chat or the Classroom page. In order to protect learner privacy and continue to ensure they have a safe experience. Note that we also ask you not to share your personal contact information with parents or learners.

Online tools

When choosing other third-party tools to help run your class, please consider their approach to learner privacy and safety. If you would like to use another site that requires signing up for a new account, make sure you go through the complete sign-up process ahead of time to find out if that site has any age restrictions in place. If there is a minimum age requirement, do not encourage learners to lie about their age. You should instead disclose this in the parental guidance section of your class listing and explain that the parents will need to create an account with their learners.

Substitutes, guest speakers and co-teachers

Regardless of whether or not the individual is an approved SpeakingChalk teacher, we do not allow substitutes of any kind. We understand that unexpected emergencies or illnesses may occasionally arise at the last minute, preventing you from teaching your class. When this happens, you should cancel the meeting and communicate with the learners / parents to arrange a makeup meeting. The SpeakingChalk support team is happy to provide assistance when emergencies arise, and we can route communication thru us to parents.

If you would like to bring on a guest speaker to help enhance your lesson, you need permission from SpeakingChalk to do so and this permission has to be taken well in advance conducting classes. If you have a specific situation that you aren’t sure about, contact our support team and we will help you navigate this situation.