EDTECH 541 - Acceptable Use Policies

Acceptable Use Policies for schools are similar to "Terms of Use" policies in place for websites, personal services, and similar situations. An Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) calls out the specific behaviors and expectations of the technology users involved. For technology, it is the community members of the school, and in particular, the students. It defines what is considered acceptable behavior by the user community. Common Sense Media, a well known non-profit involved in guiding and supporting teachers, students, and parents through the complex technology landscape in place, notes that schools include both acceptable and unacceptable online behavior and these rules not only prohibit particular behavior (e.g., plagiarism, pirating, non-school related internet use), but also define positive goals for incorporating technology as well.

Along those lines, I was reading another student's blog post, and she made reference to an article by McLeod encouraging appropriate use positive reinforcement, and to not just simply focus on the negatives and the 'can't do's' of an AUP. I think this is a powerful message for our students, and one that puts the students and the staff on the same side of the equation - that the technology is a powerful, positive tool for learning and should be treated that way.

I had the opportunity (pleasure?) of authoring an Acceptable Use Policy for my prior school. It was a complex task. In the document (which is referenced below for your reading pleasure), I included some of the most pressing issues I thought students would face. Several details were identified on topics including ensuring personal privacy, the security of data, an understanding of "intellectual property" (property owned by others), and that students were expected to practice respect the "community" (classmates, teachers and beyond). If those policies were adhered to, the students could use the school-provided computers to, essentially, use technology for any educational purpose. At least an attempt, I felt, to include some positive spin to this document.

This was followed by a short series of examples of appropriate behavior (Students will...treat others as they want to be treated...be polite...keep emails to the point... and the like) as well as inappropriate behavior (Students will not...be rude...send offensive files...). The document concluded with consequences for not following the AUP, and some information about the school's right and ability to monitor what was happening on our network/system. Finally, a short troubleshooting guide was included. Not that this is technically part of an AUP, but since minor issues tended to crop up (particularly for new students) this was a way to re-document some tips that both parents and students would see.

The expectation was the student and parent would sign the AUP document. It was given to them as a clearly connected part of the Parent-Student Handbook. If this did not occur, the student would (eventually) not be allowed to use the technology. This happened almost never. Students realized that it was a privilege to use the technology, and the vast majority were bought in. Further, when issues downstream did arise (infrequently) we tried our best to use the issue as a teachable moment so student use of the technology (and behavior, as need be) would continue to move in the right direction.

After I wrote the initial draft, the document was reviewed by a variety of staff at the school, including the principal, the 8th grade homeroom teacher, and other members of a small tech committee. We did not formally acquire approval by our school board (it is a small private school), who fortunately trusted our judgement and seemed to not require that level of oversight.

Upon reading Common Sense Media's 1 to 1 Essentials document, I'm both happy and a bit sad about the way the AUP turned out. I am glad that many important considerations, like student privacy, data security, intellectual property and so on were included. But, on the other hand, we missed some important considerations. In hindsight, getting school board approval would have been very appropriate. Considering other, related documents such as a Technology Values document or Social Media Guidelines, time allowing, would also have been appropriate, I think.

Other AUP's Reviewed

KATYISD.ORG  - this is an amazingly comprehensive, and unfortunately, difficult to absorb document. Some effort to make it more concise is probably in order. Splitting it up into multiple documents may also be a good idea. For instance, information about expectations regarding students coming to school with charged up devices seems like it may belong in a separate document.

Nederland School District - this, to me, is an excellent AUP. It is concise, and yet appears to cover all major aspects of privacy, security, and setting appropriate expectations for students. 

Socorro Consolidated Schools - this AUP starts strong, but again seems to be too lengthy for its designed purpose. The first 2 pages, where a good Summary and Guidelines of use are defined, are very good. After that, it changes to a mostly "you can't do _____" document that seems a bit repetitive and too negative in nature. As in the KatyISD AUP above, I suspect the legal department had quite a bit to say about what needed to be included in this document.

References

Common Sense Media, Inc. (2013) Acceptable Use Policies. 1-to-1 Essentials

Program. Retrieved January 30, 2015 from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/1to1

Consortium for School Networking (2013) Rethinking Acceptable Use Policies to Enable 

       Digital Learning: A Guide for School Districts. Retrieved January 30, 2015       from  http://www.cosn.org/sites/default/files/pdf/Revised%20AUP%20March%202013 

McLeod, S. (2014). Instead of an AUP, how about an EUP (Empowered Use Policy)? 

Retrieved February 1, 2015 from http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2014/03/instead-of-an-aup-how-about-an-eup-empowered-use-policy.html