Educare does not have a policy for student use because of the age of the children. It does however have one for the staff. Educare is affiliated with Omaha Public Schools and is apart of their network. Since we operate on their network and they do have students using the computers we do have online programs that are blocked. This can be challenging because some sites that I find blocked are educational sites that would add to the student's learning.Educare does encourage the use of the Internet and e-mail to share and retrieve information to improve communication, and to exchange ideas.
Within the policy it does remind users the importance of confidentiality and to be aware of the potential for viruses that could be downloaded into Educare computers via Internet or e-mail access. Though it is not written in the policy there is a message that does surface when setting up email accounts that informs users that emails may be monitored. Personnel emails are not prohibited, but they are restricted for personal time such as before and after work and breaks. They may not be prohibited by Educare, but the email sign in sites are blocked by OPS. This can be challenging because I have had times when I have had information related to work on my personal e-mail and I am unable to access it at school.
I feel the policy does cover the expectations for all users. The policy states the purpose and lays out the expectations of using the Internet and/or email. I do not know of any changes that would need to be made or updated. Although, I did find a wiki site that specifically talks about how to write an AUP for schools. Within this wiki it had some other valuable information on technology in education. Sorry, I got a little side tracked, but had to share the information with you. It was all because I choose their image above on google images.
My Employee Handbook- information is not online to link it and I could not get it to link off of google docs so here it is for your reading pleasure if you so choose!
I agree with what you said about some sites being blocked. It's very frustrating when I'm at home and find a great site to use with my students and then I get to school and realize I can't access it. There are so many resources on the internet and I wish there were a way to make the good ones accessible all of the time. Maybe we'll see that in our future as technology is every changing and getting better. Maybe they will create some kind of educational filter that can filter in the good and keep the bad out.
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