ok, the school system in my area is talking about holding class over Zoom.
On a scale of 1 to Oh fuck NO, how bad is that for my kids?
It is not ideal, but after all the bad press Zoom has tightened things up and there are guidelines for how not to get your Zoom meetings gatecrashed.
It's less bad than it was two weeks ago shall we say.
There is a F/OSS tool called Jitsi they could look at if they need something else.
@stark @Irishroze
Teacher here. I hope your school district has clear guidelines for staff and students regarding when student cameras are on or off.
Many of my colleagues are concerned of what we may see on student cameras. Teachers are mandated reporters of the state
Through many discussions, we have come to the conclusion that asynchronous is the better / safer model: Teacher records lesson; students submit evidence and/or recorded videos.
@stark @Irishroze
^ There is also the issue of fair and equal access. By now, most districts have likely gotten computers of some sort into the hands of students who need them. Did they also ensure all students have internet access?
Can all students be on for the lesson at the set time, or do their parents need the computer for their work? If so, then the web chat needs to be recorded. If that happens, student cameras must be off, by law.
@stark @Irishroze
^ These are concerns no matter what the platform.
If I was an administrator in a district that used Zoom, I would expressly forbid any kind of live video instruction until that company proves they can prevent meeting bombing. The risks are still too high for me.
So glad I have the input of actual teachers here that I can trust. Thanks very much!
Thank you very much, Volt!
I think they are trying to figure out the computer and internet thing right now.
They did a phone survey about that late last week and sent an email that they were working on a way to do remote teaching.
Sorry to say, my District is ill prepared.
@Irishroze
My district was also ill prepared. I think most were. There's a lot of assembling the plane while it's in the air right now, and that's understandable given that this is uncharted territory.
As long as all parties involved are patient and understanding of one another, we will be OK.
@voltronic
That is good information.
I need to check with the schools here what their rules are.
@Irishroze