With schools closed until at least the end of the month, children and teenagers around the country are returning to remote learning from today.
There are a plethora of educational tools and resources available, with many schools likely using platforms such as Seesaw or Google Classroom.
Parents may not, however, have a spare laptop to give their children for the day if they're working from home themselves.
On today's Newstalk Breakfast, tech correspondent Jess Kelly had a few simple and practical tech tips to ensure a smooth return to virtual classrooms.
She said: “A lot of the schools are using different platforms - like SeeSaw, Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams and even Moodle. The best thing about all those platforms is they can run off pretty much any smart device - once you have a WiFi connection, you’re good to go.
“I’ve heard from parents who are just going to have to give their child their smartphone as they need their laptop themselves. Obviously, it would be ideal if there was a slightly bigger screen - such as an iPad or Chromebook."
However, there is one bigger screen most households have already.
Jess said: “If you’re someone who doesn’t have a spare device but you do have a smartphone, what I’d recommend you do is get a Chromecast.
"They’re €40 - you can plug that into the TV, and then you can stream the content from your phone onto the TV, meaning the child doesn’t have to have your phone the entire time."
It's also important to make sure a child is comfortable if they're sitting at a table for long stretches every day, so Jess recommends picking up an external mouse as it feels 'more natural' than using a laptop mousepad.
She also said a webcam or microphone is something that might be needed if a school or teacher is facilitating class participation during their virtual lessons.
Meanwhile, parents may also be keen to ensure their children are actually working all day rather than getting distracted by YouTube or video games.
Jess said: "RescueTime is a completely free add-on you can put onto your browser, and at the end of the day it gives you a breakdown of what you spent your time online doing.
“For example, it will say entertainment - which you don’t want to see - [or] productivity, learning… you won’t see it app by app, but you’ll get an overview."
