Teachers’ ability to connect individually with students went from tricky to downright challenging during the pandemic. But a new digital reflection tool, Along, can help teachers create personal relationships with students while allowing each student to feel seen and understood.

After a pilot program with hundreds of teachers last school year, this summer’s launch of the free service invites teachers to send multimedia conversation-starting questions to middle- and high-schoolers via school email and have the students respond directly back, with video, audio, or text.

“It is so great that you connect with your students weekly,” says Dr. Stacy Perez, principal of Classical Academies in Escondido, California, who participated in the pilot. “Building that trust is so important in that world right now.”

Samia Zaidi, director of educator success at Gradient Learning, which created Along in partnership with Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, says the tool is straightforward to use. Educators log in and select from a series of reflection questions, or create their own with the assistance of the program. The question can be about anything, such as asking what students value and why, or having them share a positive moment they recently experienced. The educator records a short video asking the question and answering it, to help open the dialogue. The video is then emailed to whomever the educator chooses, inviting a response and opening the door for further interaction.

“It has been fascinating to see the different ways people have used this,” Zaidi says. The most common practice during the pilot was for educators to ask a small group of students one question a week and to request a response back within a couple of days.

Read the full article about digital SEL tools by Tim Newcomb at The 74.