ASFG provides students and employees with access to technology in order to broaden and enrich the learning environment. We integrate technology to provide transformative experiences for all learners to achieve the ASFG learning goals. The responsible use agreement defines how the school's technology resources, including equipment and internet access, should be used for educational purposes and the consequences of violating the policy. It also aligns our use of technology with our dedication to providing an optimal learning environment in a caring community.
These guidelines apply to student and employee use of school-provided laptops, desktops, mobile devices and the ASFG network. Students and all community members using personal devices on campus are expected to follow these policies as well. Off-campus, parents should monitor student use of communication technologies. Bullying is unacceptable whether a person is using a personal or school device, on or off campus. This policy also helps ensure the safety and privacy of current and former students, employees, and families.
System: ASFG computer systems and networks are any configuration of hardware and software that constitute the system. The system includes but is not limited to the following:
- Telephones, cellular telephones, and voicemail technologies;
- Email accounts;
- Servers;
- Printers;
- Computer hardware and peripherals;
- Software including operating system software and application software;
- Digitized information including stored text, data files, email, digital images, and video and audio files;
- Internally or externally accessed databases, applications, tools, electronic textbooks, and eBooks (Internet- or ASFG-server based);
- Laptops, tablets and other portable devices;
- Cameras, tripods, and other audio/visual equipment;
- ASFG-provided Internet access;
- ASFG-filtered public Wi-Fi; and
- New technologies as they become available.
Educational purposes include doing homework/class projects, checking teachers’ websites, using Powerschool, communicating about school work with peers and teachers, researching, reading, personal learning projects, and chat groups for communicating among ASFG community members.
Employees of the ASFG Tech Center staff who have permission to alter the system and its components. Teachers, staff and students are not administrators and do not have permission to alter the system or its components.
To use and help others use technology in a safe, legal, and responsible way, the ASFG community will:
- use the ASFG system for educational purposes only
- manage and protect their online identity and privacy by choosing usernames that protect their identity and using good judgment before posting images and work to public spaces
- create strong passwords and maintain their passwords in secrecy
- be respectful, responsible and kind when communicating online using social media, chat groups, Google Apps, email, etc.
- report threats or disturbing materials to a teacher, counselor, or administrator immediately
- respect and protect the intellectual property of others by providing proper credit and citations in work and by following the ASFG’s Honor Code
- follow the section rules (EC, ES, MS, HS) on bringing personal devices to school and be responsible for personal devices
- understand that although communication technology allows 24 hour communication seven days a week, ASFG community members should allow for realistic expectations in response time for communication
- understand how technology can support learning, innovation and collaboration
To demonstrate responsibility for school owned hardware and/or software the ASFG community will:
- treat the system hardware and software with respect and care by conserving, protecting and sharing the system
- contact the Tech Center immediately when any part of the system is not working correctly or when hardware has gone missing or is broken
- pay for damaged or lost technology equipment under your care
- pay for technology equipment assigned to anyone else which you cause to be lost or broken
To demonstrate responsible digital citizenship, the ASFG community will not:
- abuse or exploit the ASFG system to engage in illegal activities for personal benefit or profit. For example, downloading music illegally
- plagiarize, violate copyright laws, or fail to provide appropriate credit for the use of others’ intellectual or creative property
- share compromising information or images
- share personal passwords with others
- bully when communicating online by publishing inappropriate photos, video, or any other material that may be defamatory, obscene, inaccurate, abusive, threatening, offensive or otherwise objectionable
- send mass emails or spam via school email
- circumvent or disable security policies, content filters or other protection measures put in place by administration
- willfully damage or neglect the system causing breakage
- attempt to fix the system or hardware
- install unapproved software, hack the system, change administrator settings, or violate security in place to protect the system
- allow technology to distract from teaching and learning
School and network administrators and their authorized employees monitor the use of information technology resources to help ensure that uses are secure and conform with this policy. Administrators reserve the right to examine, use, and disclose any data found on the school's information networks and equipment in order to further the health, safety, discipline, security of any student and community member, or to protect property. They may also use this information in disciplinary actions. Students and community members are reminded that digital communication is never private and that they should send messages as if they will be read by anyone. There are to be no derogatory, slanderous, misleading, or otherwise inappropriate exchanges. All ASFG devices are subject to random checks and inspections.
Consequences for violations of the responsible use agreement vary by section and the severity of the infraction. Disciplinary action may include, but is not limited to, the loss of privileges to use the school’s information technology resources, administrative meetings with the parties involved, detention, suspension or expulsion.
Additional agreements for staff regarding instant communication:
No staff member may connect with a current ASFG student or parent through any social networking site.
No staff member may communicate with a student using an “instant” mode of communication (chat, instant messenger [IM], Skype, etc.) past 6:00 pm.
Students should not receive notice of homework, tests, quizzes, etc. after 2:30 pm (via email, Google apps, class website, etc.) and be expected to do the assessment or hand in the homework the next day.
- Social Networking - Below are some of the consequences of having students and parents follow you (or you follow them) as social network friends.
- Social networks are used extensively by many of our students for connecting with others on a purely social basis. In fact, it has replaced email as the primary means of online communication, but without any of the same security or privacy.
- When you “follow” students and they “follow” you, practices of accepting followers and friends is often based on the most tenuous social connection. Third party connections to what you post and viewing what they post is impossible to control.
- If you post something that you think is private, like a photo or a message to a friend, your students will usually be able to see that content, and sometimes their friends can see it too (even if you don’t know them).
- If a friend of yours writes you a message or posts a photo of you online, your students will usually be able to see that content. This means that any friend of yours could post something inappropriate, or upload an inappropriate photo of you at a party, and your students will be able to see it before you have a chance to try to remove it. (And, again, this might be seen by any of your students’ friends as well.)
- Finally, following students means you now have access to a kind of email inbox. You may see inappropriate or hateful comments, photos of students or their friends in dangerous or inappropriate situations, comments about suicide from them or others… This could easily put you into situations of extreme moral and/or legal responsibility; this becomes even more complicated since it is hard to know what to take seriously when you are eavesdropping on someone else’s private life. Students sometimes confide in teachers, which can be very positive, but this should be with more control.
Many of these problems may be solved by figuring out privacy settings. However, there is never any guarantee that the settings will function as they are supposed to, and enterprising young people are constantly finding new ways to get around these settings and access content they shouldn’t. Privacy settings change regularly, which means that someday you might find that your private photographs are available for all to see just because you didn’t click a new check box on the settings page.
Even if a teacher felt that he or she wanted to assume these risks, they would be putting all of their followers and friends into exactly the same situations as described above.
Some teachers have found some social networks to be an excellent way to get in touch with students, organize study sessions, etc. However, there are many tools available to us which can do all of this and more, and that could be implemented on your webpage, depending on what tool you are using to create it:
- Instant Communication - There are a number of reasons for this second policy:
- Having an instant conversation with a student beyond a certain time of night could be seen as extremely inappropriate by parents. There is also no official record of your communication when you use chat, IM, Skype, etc. When you send or receive emails using your ASFG email address, a copy is kept on the school’s servers.
- Please note that having an ongoing, one-on-one, personal email conversation could count as a form of instant communication.
- This kind of communication can also create unrealistic expectations for students, parents and teachers that ASFG staff is available for assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- It is potentially unhealthy for staff to be working so many hours outside of regular school time, and this measure helps teachers to accept that you do not have to be available for help all the time.
With all of the new technologies available for us to communicate with students, there is a danger that we may expect too much of students. Even if your class has become used to checking your website often, it is not healthy for them to constantly check online for new instructions, or to start homework assignments only a few hours before they should be going to sleep. Students must be allowed one complete school day to observe any changes in a teacher’s website before that work is expected to be collected or acted upon.