"An AUP is a written agreement, signed by students, their parents, and teachers, outlining the terms and conditions of Internet use. It specifically sets out acceptable uses, rules of on-line behavior, and access privileges. Also covered are penalties for violations of the policy, including security violations and vandalism of the system."My school's AUP (not in the public forum) has been written to cover the elements of inappropriate use of the system and sets out the repercussions of being found to break the rules. The policy aims to be positive in its tone and refers to classroom lessons when students will be educated on appropriate etiquette and netiquette. Certainly, the pastoral team at my school has embarked on a collaborative push with the librarians and other learning technologists to educate our students in digital literacy. The policy also outlines the school's stance on social media but only insofar as to state that the use by the students was allowable if given permission by a teacher. Another international school in the region, Bangkok Patana School, has created a full portal that educates its K-12 students in appropriate use of electronic resources from email to printing. Patana link their portals to the age-relevant Police websites in the UK, CEOP, and go one step further in creating Facebook profiles that would be considered inappropriate for their students to have discussions about.
Chris McCaffrey, a contributor on a Google Apps for Education G+ community answered my request for a social media AUP that would be appropriate for G+; he posted a link to the Wilson School District Social Media Guidelines: http://goo.gl/xFdFP3 (The fact that I used a "social learning network" to acquire this resource points to the power of the media.) "These guidelines are for the use of social media in the classroom and are for the staff and the students. I particularly like that the wording is positive but firm. It gives advice and guidance without being over the top and reminds the users of e-safety and digital literacy principles.
Steve Johnson wrote on his blog:
"inside the vast majority of our school walls, social media tools are blocked and filtered. Why? In #edchat, the general consensus for the answer to this question revolved around fear - fear of cyberbullying and inappropriate use by students. Many blamed the media for blowing the negative out of proportion. In light of these fears, @benpaddlejones summed up exactly where we need to shift in the coming years: We need to stop talking cyberbullying and start talking cybercitizenship. Flip to the positive."This is the positive tone I read in my school's AUP, Bangkok Patana's and Wilson District's AUP's. It is a realisation that as educators, we cannot put social media back in a box; it is already an integral part of our students' lives. It is our job to model appropriate use of social media and guide our communities in the difference between professional and personal social media usage and how to ensure we protect ourselves. Another good example of positive tone is the Harry Stone Montesorri school's Google Apps AUP. Their policy begins by outlining what Google Apps can be used for and why the students should be using them. The policy then leads into acceptable use and behaviour that isn't permitted, safety, consumer safety, digital citizenship and finally and section on the law; CIPA, COPPA and FERPA. I like that they include links to the law as it makes the user realise that the restrictions being imposed aren't just by the school, but by society. My school's AUP refers to Malaysian law but does not specify which laws the document is refering to.
Continuing along the road of positive tone and Google Apps, The Central Union Elementary School District's AUP is another example of how Google Apps is introduced to the community and focuses more on netiquette, and the appropriate use of the software. The document is a contract and is written in the first person with the student and parent signing at the bottom. Statements such as "I will respect the collaborative work of my teachers and peers. In other words, I will not delete the work of others unless I have their permission." are agreed to along with statements regarding copyright and fair use. The final paragraph of this AUP is particularly nice as it outlines that the family will discuss the rules and expectations; this is agreed to by the parents.
At a recent conference on 21st Century Learning in Hong Kong, I had the privilege of listening to George Couros in his session on Connected Learning. George is a learning technology director for several districts and is a huge advocate of using Twitter in the classroom and the community. He asked the attendees how many were in charge of recruitment; 80% raised their hands. He then asked how many of these recruiters Googled the applicants; all kept their hands up. This behaviour is becoming normal for recruiters and it is important that we as educators not only prepare our students for this but prepare ourselves.
How is AUP constructed?
Steven Anderson published "How to Create Social Media Guidelines For Your School" on Edutopia. He outlines the process by which a school should develop their policy:
- Examine your school culture,
- Organise a team,
- Research Phase,
- Draft your document and incorporate feedback,
- Make sure the Attorney and School Board see the draft,
- Introduction to the school,
- Review periodically.
Steven provides links to resources to assist in the production of an AUP for social media. However, Katie Lepi (2012) lead the production of "The School Social Media & Acceptable Use Policy" which was crowdsourced. The document provides guidelines and an acceptable use policy and both are written in the positive tone I prefer and would seem to be a very strong starting point for any school's policy. Lepi's policy covers the law, email, devices, netiquette, plagiarism, personal safety, cyberbullying, examples of acceptable use and unacceptable use.
A combination of Anderson's guidelines and Lepi's crowdsourced AUP should get my G+ and Twitter guidelines drawn up swiftly.
References:
Anderson, S. (n.d.) How To Create Social Media Guidelines For Your School. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/edutopia-anderson-social-media-guidelines.pdf
Bangkok Patana School (2009). Acceptable Use Policy. Retreived from: http://www.patana.ac.th/Go/laptops_For_Learning/Information.asp?ID=448
Central Union Elementary School District. (n.d.) Student Code of Conduct of Google Applications. Retrieved from: http://www.central.k12.ca.us/UserFiles/Servers/Server_4550549/File/technology/Central_Google_aup.pdf
Harry Stone Montessori (n.d.). Acceptable Use Policy. Retrieved from: http://www.dallasisd.org/Page/22945
iSafe (n.d.). Why Do Schools Need Aceeptable Use Policies? Retrieved from: http://www.isafe.org/imgs/pdf/education/AUPs.pdf
Johnson, S. (2010). Guest Blog: Making the Case for Social Media in Education. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/social-media-case-education-edchat-steve-johnson
K12Wiki (n.d.). Social Networking Acceptable Use. Retrieved from: http://k12wiki.wikispaces.com/Social+Networking+Acceptable+Use
Lepi, K. (2012). Crowdsourced School Social Media Policy Now Available. Retrieved from:
http://www.edudemic.com/school-social-media-policy/
The Alice Smith School (2012). Learning Technologies Handbook. Retrieved from: http://www.frogklass.edu.my
Wilson School District (n.d.). Wilson School District Social Media Guidelines. Retrieved from: http://goo.gl/xFdFP3.
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