Please let them have some privacy. They need to be able to participate without worrying about you overhearing them, so let them set up in a location that gives them some latitude.

Plug in and close all other tabs: Video-conferencing uses a lot of machine power. It's a good idea to keep devices plugged in to the mains power. To prevent video from stuttering, close other tabs so the device can put all its muscle into the video.

Do a practice run: Role-playing is a great way to prepare your child for what's expected in the video-class environment. If you have two devices, you can set yourself up on the platform they'll be using, or just use FaceTime and video-chat as if you're leading the class. Pretend you're the teacher and send your child an invite for a meeting.

Set expectations for how your child should conduct themselves on camera: Face the screen; mute yourself when you're not speaking; unmute yourself when you're ready to talk; turn off the camera if you need to blow your nose; etc.

Students should behave appropriately when learning by video just the same as if they were in class.

Assemble necessary equipment: Students may need earphones, a microphone, and paper and pencils to take notes. Look at Edulink in advance to determine whether students need anything extra for their online sessions.)

Choose a neutral background: Broadcasting from the bedroom is a little intimate for a class setting. If they must, help them carve out a space where they can have peace and quiet but that doesn't convey too many personal details.

Don't bring your device into the bathroom: Just as with regular school, go to the bathroom before class. If there's an emergency, make sure your child knows how to temporarily disable the video and mute themselves and then turn everything back on again.

Be respectful of others: As in the class we expect our students to be courteous to the teacher and to others, appropriate behaviour should be maintained at all times.

Most of our students will be more than familiar with Google Classroom. For the ones that arent quite so familiar (and indeed for Parents to see how we are doing this) we thought a short video help guide would be useful. We have a few of these put together for staff; and this one for Students!

So this short video will show and explain how to access Google Classroom as a student and find where the Google Meet (We are using Google Meet with Google Classroom to provide LIVE video conference style lessons) link will be.

Please watch and enjoy the MicroBite!