For our final project, my group chose to rework ISB's Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for information technology. We began with the school's current AUP, a well thought-out document written by our HS Technology Coordinator.
We began by reading many AUPs from different schools with different emphases. We tried to get a sense of what issues most AUPs address, what tone they take, and what the purposes the document serves for the different groups who may read and use it, including students, teachers, parents, and administrators.
Some of the issues we thought through and our efforts to improve the document are explored below:
The purpose of the AUP
We determined that the AUP serves at least three major purposes:
- A statement of philosophy regarding how information technology should be used at our school
- An educational document for members of the school community explaining in some detail how they can meet the standards of acceptable use
- A reference for determining disciplinary action when students use IT in unacceptable ways
A Central Theme
Respect was the central theme of the original AUP and one that we could not improve on. Every aspect of the AUP can be related back to this one idea. This was broken down into two subtopics "Respect Yourself" (think before sharing personal information, value your own work, etc.) and "Respect Others" (keep the equipment in good order so that others have access and to respect the hard work of the network managers, don't post information about others without permission, support intellectual property rights, etc.)
In addition to providing a cohesive element to the document, "respect" also leads to explanations of why we have standards of acceptable use. Students are more likely to follow the standards if they think there is a good reason and buy into the philosophy behind it. Discussing respect allows us to make those reasons explicit.
Striking a Positive Tone
We wanted to emphasize that students are encouraged to use the school's IT resources, and that they can be used in creative ways to further learning. The original AUP did this by stating that our school provides many IT resources in support of learning. In order to explain a bit further, we added a paragraph that tied our ideas directly to ISB's (newly revised) Vision and Mission Statement as well as ISTE's National Education Technology Standards.
An Educational Document
Mr. Harter had already done an excellent job of telling students how to meet the standards of acceptable use, including giving instructions on how to change passwords, prevent the spread of viruses, etc. Although we had originally hoped to create a shorter document, it soon became clear that we could not do so without sacrificing the educational aspect of the AUP.
Discipline in the AUP
This was a topic that I gave a lot of thought to at first, after reading in class about Avery Doninger (a high school student whose family sued after she was prohibited from running for student office as punishment for posting a blog that called administrators insulting names and encouraged members of the community to swamp the office with calls in order to "piss them off").
As a private school, ISB has broad authority over the types of punishments it can impose for behaviors inside or outside of school. It is not bound by US public school's requirement to provide equal educational opportunities. A quick look through ISB's handbook makes it clear that we don't need to be concerned when writing the AUP with whether students are in or out of school; the school already asserts the right to act on out-of-school behaviors.
At first I was unsure about how specific to be in describing discipline for various infractions, and how to moderate the necessarily negative tone with the overall positive and educational goals of the AUP. However, given how unique each circumstance is and how quickly technologies change, we decided to just have a single disciplinary catch-all phrase that would allow administrators the greatest leeway in determining how to respond.
Intellectual Property Rights
The AUP already contained a statement about the legal use of software and other files. We added a statement about plagiarism, which, though addressed in detail elsewhere in the students handbook, seemed highly relevant.
Emerging Issues
Recently the HS Librarian, Mr. Rubis, suggested a list of technologies to be (further) covered explicitly in the AUP, such as cloud computing, downloads and streaming media. We struggled with that naming of specific technologies as opposed to the possibilities they allow. It is difficult to strike a balance between the length of the document, its educational value, its specificity (in terms of overly proscriptive restrictions what one can do versus providing clear guidelines) and it's relevance (since specific references may be quickly outdated).
Perhaps the comments from Mr. Rubis can refocus our attention on possibilities we may have overlooked.
Update
We met again to discuss the input we received and made some further changes including:
- adding some technologies by name that are of concern to those working in the library
- adding more detail about how to protect others (not forwarding, publishing, or otherwise sharing information send in private without permission)
- adding a statement in the "consequences" section about keeping to the spirit of the agreement and making it explicit that students will be held accountable for their actions whether specifically discussed in the AUP or not
- replacing some weak language with clearer and more precise wording
Our next step will be to see if this AUP works for the administration of the school. I would also like to discuss the policy with some students to get their feedback before a final document in adopted.
As we continue to rework the AUP, we will consider all forms of input and further research and hopefully come up with a final document that will serve the needs of all members of the community.
Thanks for the image found on flickr.
