Frequently Asked Questions

Video technology has proven to be a powerful tool for delivering high-quality, evidence-based development opportunities for teachers and schools. After all, how can we, as teachers, truly reflect on our practice without being able to see what our learners see? IRIS Connect has been developed for educators, by educators. We have combined the latest technology with secure cloud-based storage to provide cost effective, impactful professional learning that puts you, the teacher, in control of your own development.

Recent reports have detailed the specific mechanisms of truly impactful professional development, such as instructional coaching, ongoing feedback, and reflection (EEF, 2021; Darling-Hammond, 2017). Many of these mechanisms underpin the very basis of IRIS Connect.

IRIS Connect allows you to record your lessons, quickly and easily, using our mobile camera systems or your own device with the IRIS Connect Record App installed. After a recording has taken place, the video is uploaded directly to your personal password-protected account on our online platform. From there you can watch it back for your own personal reflection, share it with a colleague, coach, or mentor for feedback, build libraries of great practice and engage in meaningful professional development opportunities.

Find out more here >

We pride ourselves on providing cost effective professional development that has real impact. Our packages have helped many of our schools cut their CPD budgets drastically, with some able to achieve just under 50% savings from their previous CPD packages.

We have bespoke packages available for all of our customers, from primary and secondary schools to ITT and training providers. Please complete this form to get a personalised quote for your school or organisation.

To make sure you and your colleagues get the most out of our technology, we have put together a consultative support programme to support its use in your school. Through the programme we’ll help teachers feel comfortable with the technology, provide you with check-lists, survey tools, help sheets, strategy maps and feedback tools linked to educational strategies, help you to identify pathfinders and whole school objectives, and much more.

This depends.

Firstly you will need to check with your organisation’s policies on the use of personal devices. If they are not approved, you can either use one of the IRIS Connect kits if they have purchased them (Discovery Kit or Starter Kit) or use a shared school device.

Secondly, you must always make sure you have installed and use the IRIS Connect Record app. Our app is designed to securely capture, encrypt and upload recordings directly to your account, then automatically remove the file once uploaded. This means data is never stored or viewed locally which can be a security risk. The app is also designed to manage the uploading of large files over the internet and offers a range of features such as pairing for capturing 2 views and anonymisation mode if you need to avoid capturing personal data when recording.

Once uploaded, you’ll be able to use all of IRIS Connect’s features for effective video-enabled professional development.

IRIS Connect is built around an advanced permissioning system where you – the teacher – are in control of all your videos. Each IRIS Connect user has their own unique and secure username and password. Each video you record will be stored in your account in your personal library. No one can access any videos located in another user’s personal library.

You have the option to share videos from your personal library with others, but you can revoke access at any time, and the person who you share your videos with is not able to share the videos with anyone else.

Live in-ear coaching helps you to embed effective teaching strategies in the moment, ensuring that they really stick.

During a live, in-ear coaching session, a teacher is viewed remotely, using IRIS Connect’s Go Live feature by a coach who communicates privately with the teacher via a discrete earpiece. The coach and the teacher decide the best way to talk to each other and consider things such as what will be said, when and for how long.

Its power lies in how immediate it is. A teacher can receive quality feedback and developmental suggestions while they are teaching. This means that they can try out new ideas or adjust a particular strategy in front of their coach and get more help and feedback in the moment. What’s more, the whole session can be recorded and annotated with written comments for a face to face debrief later on.

Check out how one school has used in-ear coaching to build a sustainable coaching culture.

Yes, we have created a collection of resources on our website to demonstrate compliance and answer a range of GDPR related questions you may have. Visit our Support Hub to find all the documentation you need.

IRIS Connect takes the responsibility of acting as a processor of personal data extremely seriously. We constantly review our procedural, organisational and physical security to ensure that we are offering a service that our customers can trust. We have completed multiple external audits, gap analysis and penetration testing of our services to ensure that we meet industry best practices and the principles of GDPR.

Please find an overview of our security & safeguarding measures here >

If you’re already an IRIS Connect customer and require technical support or have any questions around implementation, you’ll find guidance and answers to the most common questions in our Support Hub.

You may also contact our customer support team 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday (UK time) via Live Chat, e-mail ([email protected]) and phone support (UK: +44 333 136 2483, US: +1 206 201 1998).