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 Tutorsonline.us
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 Zoom through the Tutorsonline.us platform. While parents are responsible for supervising their kids, we expect that you teach your classes in a way that encourages physical safety, mental wellbeing, and online privacy for all students. Poor judgement on safety and privacy can result in teacher restriction and removal.
Classroom Safety Basics
are required to have their cameras on while teaching a live class.
As the teacher, you should be present and supervising your meeting at all times. Please make sure you are able to be at your computer for the entire time that Zoom is open and your live class is running.
Before running your first class, be fluent in the basic Zoom features you'll use to manage your classroom and respond quickly if safety or behavior problems arise.
that all learners have their video enabled, or if they don’t, that you've interacted with them at least once over video to verify their identity. This can be a quick check-in at the beginning of the first class meeting. 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.
a safety related incident occurs during one of your classes, contact Tutorsonline.us support immediately to let us know: safety@Tutorsonline.us
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, 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 Tutorsonline.us 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 Tutorsonline.us: safety@Tutorsonline.us.
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 Tutorsonline.us support (safety@Tutorsonline.us), and we will work with you to resolve them. That may involve helping to contact the 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 call 911 and you should simultaneously report the situation to Tutorsonline.us safety team (safety@Tutorsonline.us). In addition, if you either see evidence of or hear your learner describe abuse or neglect, Tutorsonline.us requires that you immediately report what you've witnessed to our safety team.
Depending on your geographic location, you may, in addition, have an individual responsibility to report abuse or neglect to your local authorities or CPS. While abuse or neglect can be hard to define, you should immediately report any time a learner expresses that they believe they are in danger, or describes having experienced something more than acceptable physical discipline. For additional information regarding what may constitute abuse or neglect, please refer to https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/can/defining/.
For U.S. teachers, please review this site to determine whether you must comply with your state's mandated reporting requirements.
For our teachers abroad, please be mindful that your jurisdictions, including Australia and Canada, may also have mandatory reporting laws that apply to you in your work with Tutorsonline.us.
Learner privacy
As an Tutorsonline.us 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 kids 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 will need to first obtain parent permission.
Since classes are 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 turn off their camera so that it is not captured by other learners. You can then send the learner a private chat through Zoom to let them know what is in view of their camera without disrupting the class further. For more information on how to do this, please visit our article on Zoom Features for Teachers. After class, you should reach out to the parent of the learner in question and the Tutorsonline.us Trust & Safety team (safety@Tutorsonline.us). In cases where learner privacy is compromised, Tutorsonline.us may choose to delete a recording.
Exchanging contact information
In general, you should keep all communication on Tutorsonline.us.
Learners may want to keep in touch with their classmates after your class ends and may ask to exchange contact information in Zoom chat or the Classroom page. In order to protect learner privacy and continue to ensure they have a safe experience, parents should give consent before learners share this information with each other. Parents may message each other directly from the "For Parents" tab on the Classroom page.
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 coteachers
Regardless of whether or not the individual is an approved Tutorsonline.us 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 parents to arrange a make up meeting. The Tutorsonline.us support team is happy to provide assistance when emergencies arise.
If you would like to bring on a guest speaker to help enhance your lesson, you are welcome to do so! This individual does not need to be an approved Tutorsonline.us teacher, but we do require that you are still present at all times. If you have a specific situation that you aren’t sure about, contact our support team and we will help you navigate this situation.
