Seesaw - Parent Access and the Different Codes

        With the current Distant Learning situation, it's important to understand what families can see and do.  We as teachers have to remember that students are logging into Seesaw at home and have parents and other family members looking over their shoulders.  This can become an issue with student privacy.  How you set the student permissions has an impact on what families can see.  Click here to learn more!  There are three scenarios in how parents can interact with Seesaw.

Home Learning Codes

        (If you decide to block students from seeing each other's work in Seesaw, you don't need to worry about Home Learning Codes).  If teachers want students to see and comment on each other's work in school, the Home Learning Codes prevents students (and their parents) from seeing each other's work at home.    If a student uses a Home Learning Code on a device at home, it will make it so that ON THAT DEVICE the student will only be able to see the work that they have done, not the work that other students have done.  Please note - you would not want to do this on a device that comes back and forth to school because once the code is entered, that student will only see their own work no matter where they are.  

         For Parent Intercation - if a parent is looking over their child's shoulder, they will see announcements sent to students and can obviously see their child's work, but if they provide feedback, it will show up as the student's own comments or like.  Parents need to use Seesaw Family to comment, like, and get annoucements for parents...

Invite Codes and Seesaw Family

        Just like with ClassDojo, Bloomz, Remind, etc, to invite parents you can send them a special QR code, input their email address, or input their phone number.  They will get a link to download Seesaw Family and be able to be linked to their child's account (or they can log in from the Seesaw's website using any browser on any device.  In Seesaw Family, parents and guardians will only see their child's work (or work that their child is tagged in).  Up to 10 people can be assigned to one student.  Here's what they can do...

• See 'Family Announcements' that teachers can send to them.  
• Teachers can message parents and parents can message teachers (after the first message is sent).  (Please note, in Groton - teachers are being asked to use Remind as our Parent Teacher Communications app).  
• Teachers can send up to 10 pictures of what's going on in the class through Seesaw, but only 1 on Remind.   
• Able to like and/or comment on their child's work.
• Able to Share their child's work with others through a link or QR Code.
• Can save their child's work onto their computer / device.

Here are your Family Options.  You can find these settings under the wrench in the top right corner of each class.  Scroll down to 'Families.'  If you turn it on, then the first list of options will appear.

Here are your Family Permission Settings:

• Family Sharing - allows parents to get a link to their child's activity to share with others.
• Family Likes - allows them to like any work their child completes.
• Family Comments - allows family members to comment on their child's work.
• You have the option to require comments be approved by you before they post to the child's work.

Classroom Blog

If you enable the Classroom Blog and share the link with Parents/Guardians, then they would be able to access that as well!

Seesaw - Student Privacy / Abilities to Interact with Each Other

        Seesaw has many different ways that students can interact with each other within Seesaw.  Teachers can control what the students can and cannot do.  To find these settings, click on the wrench in the top right corner in each class.  Scroll down to the 'Students' section.

Seeing Each Other's Work / Commenting on Each Other's Work

       'Students can see each other's work' is very important!   If this is turned on, students will be able to click on each other's journals to see the work that their peers have done.  They will be able to click on any activity and see who has completed the work and who hasn't.  Keep that in mind!  If you have this turned off, then the students won't be able to see each other's work unless they are tagged on the same activity.  Also, you won't have to worry about 'Home Learning Codes,' because the students wouldn't be able to see each other's work at school or at home.

        What they can do to each other's work depends on the following settings.  (Please note, you can have 'Students can see each other's work' turned off, while still allowing the students to like and/or comment on their own work or work that you post.  If you don't want kids seeing each other's work, but be able to provide feedback, you have two options:

1. Tag Other Students - You can always tag one student's work with everyone else so that they can give feedback.  I had students who would ask me to share their work, so I would 'tag' everyone else in the class so they could see the student's work.  
2. Turn on the Blog - I recommend turning on the 'Blog.'  This will create a Blog for your classroom that you can password protect and only allow students, families, and/or other classes that you invite in.  On any activity, the students can choose to post something to the blog for other students to provide feedback on.  (All posts require your approval before they actually go to the blog).  If you link with other classrooms in the district or outside of district, it will provide more opportunities for feedback!

What Can Students Do to Each Other's Work

        How students respond (either in the Classroom or on the Blog) depends on the settings you set.  You can allow students to only 'Like,' only 'Comment', or both!  You may choose that all comments require your approval or not!  

Editing Work After It's Posted Options

         You do have the option to block students from editing their work once they submit it; however, I recommend leaving this option on so you don't have to deal with kids trying to reach out to you to edit an activity so they can go back and fix whatever they did.  Another option you can allow students to do is for them to choose who is tagged to their work (or remove others who are tagged to their work).  

        Many of these settings provide wonderful opportunities for discussing digital citizenship!  There are some interesting videos about this topic that you can find on Seesaw's YouTube Page or in the Community Hub!