Beginning April 27, Round Rock ISD will offer student group video chat options for check-ins with teachers while the district follows an e-learning curriculum through the end of the semester. District personnel will use Google Meet to host these check-ins, per an April 24 news release, as part of its asynchronous curriculum model.
Under the asynchronous model, RRISD students do not log onto a videoconferencing platform for set instruction times. District officials said the reasoning behind the model is to allow for increased accessibility and flexibility to parents and students during the coronavirus pandemic.
"We recognize the critical importance of the student-teacher connection and we are asking our teachers to provide at least one opportunity a week for students to join in a video chat through Google Meet," the release stated, adding the video chats are optional.
District officials said in the release an optional video chat lends itself to encouragement and student checkups, as well as offering a platform for answering assignment-related questions. While other districts have already implemented video chat offerings for students, district leaders said in the release that RRISD wanted to vet platforms and put in preliminary safety measures first.
