I was unable to locate
the Acceptable Use Policy for the district in which I substitute, so I reviewed
the policy for a neighboring district in order to stay in line with the
community standards/expectations as discussed in the EDIM 516 Network Filtering
interview with Bud
Hunt, Joe Wood, and Mike Gras. The main guidelines put forward by this policy
are usage/access, security, and consequences.
Students are granted
access to the network and equipment during normal school hours, as well as
during after school hours if
supervised by a staff member. All students have their own individual account
with a unique user ID and password assigned by the district and are forbidden
to access another individual’s account. Equipment is limited to educational use
only and software is licensed for that purpose only. Users are prohibited from
installing games, programs, files, etc or taking advantage of any weakness in
the security of the system. Any weakness
identified must be reported to the technology department immediately.
The district uses an
unidentified commercial software filter to block “access for minors and adults
on the Internet to websites with visual depictions and text that are obscene,
contain child pornography, are harmful to minors with respect to use by minors,
or that are determined inappropriate for use by minors by the Board.” The same
filters apply to both elementary and high school students, as Mike Gras
mentions in the interview. The policy
warns students, parents, and staff that this filter, or any filter, is not 100%
effective in blocking all inappropriate material. User activity is monitored and logged to identify
attempted or successful access to inappropriate material. Requests can be made for sites to be
unblocked. These sites are reviewed for appropriateness
in the school environment and value as a teaching tool. If a similar site is
already accessible recommendation will be made and the requested site will
remain blocked. This procedure is similar
to what Bud Hunt explained in the interview.
Finally, personal use of school equipment, network, and email is
prohibited.
The consequences for
students violating the policy include disciplinary action by the Board and
possible loss of internet and/or network privileges. Because internet access is required for
students to meet graduation requirements, this can put students in jeopardy of failing
to meet these requirements. It must be proven that violations were deliberate
and/or caused by negligence. Faculty and staff who violate the policy are subject
to disciplinary action by the Board. Furthermore,
students and teachers in violation of the policy may be subject to criminal prosecution,
depending on the severity of the violation.
This includes fines up to $15,000 and up to 7 years imprisonment. Consequences
are also set forth for disclosing network passwords to unauthorized users.
While I absolutely feel
that having a strong, effective filter in school is important, I agree with Joe
Wood that students need to learn the importance of appropriate online behavior and
how to handle access to inappropriate material.
As a parent and a teacher, I of course do not want my child viewing inappropriate
material in school, at home, or anywhere, I can’t imagine that anyone
would. However, there are instances when
it may happen (more likely than not). As much as we would like to, we cannot protect them from everything. Children need to know what to do when this happens. They should feel comfortable enough to
approach an adult, whether it is their teacher or parent/guardian, and explain
what happened and how they got to this particular site. Online safety is so important right now and
as a parent of an 11 year old it is something that I constantly think about and
discuss with my child.
This is a great summary of the policy for this district. I feel it is more comprehensive than some of the others I am seeing this week. I am surprised that students have to be supervised to use their account after school hours. What a burden on the teachers! Don't you think that having a log-in, a filter system, and tracking activity is enough? Good post!
ReplyDeleteI agree this is quite a daunting task for the teachers. However, I interpreted the teacher observation for after school hours to mean that the students are only allowed to access the network with a teacher present, meaning at an after school program or activity. They are discouraging access to those who may be in network range after school hours.
DeleteThe policy you reviewed pretty much covered everything except emphasis on internet safety and educating children on use of technology. You are right about teaching children safety is important. The internet is sought of like my old childhood neighborhood. Most people were good people but you learned to stay away from certain people who acted strange or suspicious. Websites can be looked at the same way.
ReplyDeleteI like your analogy of comparing certain websites to creepy neighbors. It is unfortunate these days that we cannot even guarantee our children's safety when they are in their own homes!
DeleteKelly,
ReplyDeleteDespite not having access to your district's AUP (I, too, had trouble finding mine online), you have done a good job of discussing that of a neighboring district. You made some great connections with the AUP you reviewed and the video -- nice job!
Your last paragraph is very fitting. Filtering can only do so much. It is our responsibility as educators (and yes, the onus definitely falls on parents, as well) is to teach students responsible use and how to side-track any unfortunate images or sites that might occur during normal Internet browsing. If students know how to responsibly use the Internet, it bolsters the effectiveness of any filtering system.
I know there were times when I did an image search of a completely innocent topic and received some not so innocent results, so I am certain that this has happened to my students and my own kids. All the parental controls and filtering in the world cannot protect them from everything they may come across.
DeleteMy AUP was very long and trying to be specific about what it really means meant trying to carve through policy and legalize. I think that you hit it when you were talking about how to teach the kids what to look for and how to get it. I much too often find kids use Google for their research and that is all. It is difficult for them to understand that some data and information is bad. Maybe why they believe all of the rumors going around school so easily.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of the term "agreement" it seems to me that all parties are agreeing to something. Should the aspect of educating children about how to be safe and productive online, be an explicit part of an AUP or is this something we should just assume? If so, then I wonder about including the role of the teacher in the agreement as a part of their contribution to this agreement.
ReplyDelete