Strangely enough, after searching my district and school website, I did not find a comprehensive AUP. Now that is not to say one does not exists, however; if it does, it is not readily available to students, parents, and staff for review. I did find one small paragraph in our student handbook (pg. 33, http://www.paplv.org/forparents/Documents/Student%20Handbook/10-11/PLSHS%20Student%Handbook%202010-2011.pdf) that referred to appropriate use, but it was not in detail. Following that paragraph, there was another small paragraph (blurb) referring to plagiarism. So for the purpose of this blog, I will include what typical AUP's might include as a guideline for schools to use and for my own school update.
According to Scholastic.com, "for every great educational site, there are several more that feature unacceptable content for children. One of the best ways to keep Internet safe is to teach responsible use, which is why developing and implementing your Appropriate Use Policy (AUP) is so imperative." Scholastic suggest that a good starting point is to create a contract that parents and students must sign agreeing to comply with rules. Some examples of rules that may be included in a typical AUP are:
---Appropriate conduct
---Plagiarism
---A disclaimer
---Consequences for violations
Obviously there are many more rules or guidelines that should be added that is specific to your school and district, and maybe more importantly, need and use. For more ideas regarding rules, guidelines, and implementation, please visit http://www.scholastic.com/lirarians/tech/techpolicy.htm, but the above guidelines is my recommendation for a starting point.
Having a AUP in schools is important to safely guard and monitor student use. Make sure to include specific examples, use specific and clear language understood by all, and include something that can be signed for intent of compliance. It is a good idea to keep copies of the AUP not only in school handbooks, but also in the library or computer labs easily visible and on-line for parent and student access. You may also want to review plagiarism and copyright laws so that students understand what they mean and entail. We must remember that AUP also applies to teachers. In our school, we are told we can not use our computers for personal use. That includes emails, facebook, paying bills, and shopping on line. We do have a form (not available on-line) that we are given at the beginning of the year to sign indicating our understanding and compliance. This is used to protect the teacher, the school and the district from any allegations of wrong-doing and inappropriate use. It is my opinion that a AUP policy is necessary in all schools to safeguard all from potential problems.
Everything you mention that a good AUP should have are linked on my blog. OPS takes no qualms in making sure everything is followed to the tee. Lawsuits and all, you know. I like that everything you say a good policy should have, mine does have. I'm surprised your school doesn't have that readily available or make teachers sign them either.
ReplyDeleteCeic, thanks for all the information. I found it difficult to find our AUP in Millard as well it took several clicks to find it our webpages and even than you had to know where to look under the district Intranet. When we were issued laptops in the district we had to sign an AUP for laptop use, that is all I have ever seen or signed for appropriate staff use.
ReplyDeleteI had to search for my AUP as well. By reading other blogs I see that I was not the only one that had to go search for it. If most of us had to search then I think that it is a good indication that more copies need to be housed in places like the library and computer labs, as you suggested in your blog.
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ReplyDeleteI hope all of us who could not locate the site for AUP, follow through by letting your district techs know and understanding how important it is to make AUP easily accessible and even an "in your face site."
ReplyDeleteThank you Ceic for sharing this essential information.