As teachers eager to encourage the use of technology in our classrooms, it is easy to establish that an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is a necessity. We want to keep our students, while in our care, safe from the dangers that lurk on the internet. Gratefully, a considerable amour of districts have AUPs that are currently in place.
An AUP, though relatively easy to establish, is not as easy to enforce. Once you have included all the items an AUP should contain, it is difficult to enforce when you only have one or two students not adhering to the expectations. It is particularly difficult when an entire unit/lesson plan is based on using computers and technology for learning and there are a few that are unable to participate because of choices they have made.
When developing an AUP, the following should be included (Education World):
When I was in high school, there was not much access to technology in our school. However, as (many) years have passed, the technology has improved and there is now an Acceptable Use Policy in place at Federal Way High School for students and a separate policy for staff.
My school district has an Acceptable Use Policy (which is down right now so I can't get a link) that is required to be signed before a student is allowed on any computer in our school district. As a teacher, it was my responsibility to distribute and collect all of the AUPs for students in my classroom. I was surprised at how difficult is was for parents to sign the policy. Some because they didn't want their student on the computer, I'm not sure if they thought my intent was to let them play games all day, but that was surely not my plan, they didn't feel that there was enough monitoring of information, or they just don't pay attention to what gets sent home.
In my younger sister's school district, their signed agreement doesn't have their policies included. One has to follow a link (that is broken) to see what the policies are. I'm not convinced people actually take the time to read the policy before signing.
Now that I teach in an online setting, I have no control over what my students do with their internet access. However, they are not provided with internet service through the district, so we can't control what they are doing online when they are supposed to be working on their school assignments. I have to ask myself, does that absolve my responsibility for what they see online?
References
Education World: Getting Started on the Internet: Acceptable Use Policies. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr093.shtml
An AUP, though relatively easy to establish, is not as easy to enforce. Once you have included all the items an AUP should contain, it is difficult to enforce when you only have one or two students not adhering to the expectations. It is particularly difficult when an entire unit/lesson plan is based on using computers and technology for learning and there are a few that are unable to participate because of choices they have made.
When developing an AUP, the following should be included (Education World):
- A Preamble to establish the validity of an Acceptable Use Policy. It should also define the goals of the use of technology and why it is important to have the policy. The preamble should also outline the process that was used to develop the policy.
- Definitions of key words used throughout the AUP that anyone can understand.
- A Policy Statement should define which services and uses are available to those using the network and under what circumstances the network may be used. This would include the prerequisite training to using the system.
- Acceptable uses of the network must be outlined and describe appropriate use of the network.
- Unacceptable uses should also be outlined so there are no questions when referring to what is inappropriate.
- Lastly, but certainly not least, are the consequences for violating the AUP. Another important part of this section is to whom one would report infractions they witness.
When I was in high school, there was not much access to technology in our school. However, as (many) years have passed, the technology has improved and there is now an Acceptable Use Policy in place at Federal Way High School for students and a separate policy for staff.
My school district has an Acceptable Use Policy (which is down right now so I can't get a link) that is required to be signed before a student is allowed on any computer in our school district. As a teacher, it was my responsibility to distribute and collect all of the AUPs for students in my classroom. I was surprised at how difficult is was for parents to sign the policy. Some because they didn't want their student on the computer, I'm not sure if they thought my intent was to let them play games all day, but that was surely not my plan, they didn't feel that there was enough monitoring of information, or they just don't pay attention to what gets sent home.
In my younger sister's school district, their signed agreement doesn't have their policies included. One has to follow a link (that is broken) to see what the policies are. I'm not convinced people actually take the time to read the policy before signing.
Now that I teach in an online setting, I have no control over what my students do with their internet access. However, they are not provided with internet service through the district, so we can't control what they are doing online when they are supposed to be working on their school assignments. I have to ask myself, does that absolve my responsibility for what they see online?
References
Education World: Getting Started on the Internet: Acceptable Use Policies. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr093.shtml