Bridgette B.

Outschool demands cameras to be used in order for kids to participate on the platform. The platform is used by students in various countries. Online privacy matters and instances of online piracy is a high risk, as it is inevitable that oversight is not strict in certain countries to combat online privacy issues or online piracy. There's really no control over what people do with your child's image in the recorded class, especially if the players are out of the country. As an alternative to having children recorded, Outschool places families in another risk. If the child doesn't feel comfortable having a camera on to participate in paid classes, Outschool then demands a photo of the child and parent together. There is no public policy on what Outschool can or can't do with your child's image after they demand the photo to be transmitted non-encrypted electronically to their office. Even larger, more established fortune 500 companies with extensive security have been targets of ID theft. Outschool should eliminate the mandate for a parent to send a child's photo electronically non encrypted and/or they should reasonably create photo storage in a more updated, safe manner. A transparent public policy on what is done with a child's image is a basic necessity for parents to view if children not wanting to be on camera are forced to send Outschool photos. Most importantly, parents need to be aware that kids may leave the camera and audio on after a class is over. An Outschool teacher recorded a child's private home and audio well after the class time was over. There is no agreement nor allowance for some stranger to look into your home or listen to private conversation. There's no public policy made available to parents on Outschool to prevent teachers from doing so in the future. Experts know the dangers of recording any person, especially a child, in the privacy of their own home without consent. Talk about a nightmare once discovered. Given the complete lack of judgement for this teacher just for that, you already know for certain there are other problems with them. As others have depicted, teacher quality can vary. This specific teacher's example clearly shows her broad poor judgement, antiquated entitlement and manipulative behavior. An older teacher recording someone else's home and video interacting without that parents permission using Outschool as a platform shows a seriously tainted lens and a complete lack of self awareness.
Outschool can't have complicated camera mandates then allow a teacher to abuse a paying clients' privacy. Outschool can't just make for-profit decisions, they have to follow broader privacy regulations (sometimes varying by state), as well.