Guidelines

Care and responsible use with regards to technology and laptops is expected for all students. The focus and use of technology and your laptop at ISHR are exclusively for teaching and learning. However, students will have access to technology outside of school. Care and responsible use are expected, modeled and taught at ISHR where appropriate. Students are expected to be caring and responsible members of the community and act in a manner consistent with the ISHR's Code of Conduct in both the face-to-face and digital domains.

Keeping Health and Balance in Mind

The BYOD Program is meant to be a positive, enriching program to enhance learning and creativity. However, computers, mobile devices and other technologies can sometimes have a disruptive effect on a person’s behavior and well-being. Proper usage of technology should never cause emotional or physical pain. Additionally, while technology can be an engaging way to spend time over use is possible. You know your cyber life is out of balance when it gets in the way of other aspects of your life. If it interferes with school work completion or real life personal interactions, you might need to consider rebalancing your usage.

Health and Laptops

Below are some tips to keep in mind when using a laptop for extended periods of time. In general, you should be comfortable and avoid being in the same position without moving for a long time.

• Sit up straight with your lower back supported. Do not hunch your back.

• Use your laptop on a stable surface where there is support for your arms, and not on your lap.

• Take regular breaks and roll your neck, wrists and ankles or walk around.

• Look away from the screen every 20 minutes and focus on an object at least 20 feet (6 meters)

away for at least 20 seconds.

• Keep arms and elbows relaxed and close to your body.

• Elbows should be bent at 90-100 degrees.

• Keep wrist straight.

The tips above were adapted from Apple, the National Health Service (UK) and Harvard University Health Services.

Responsible Use

Responsible use means practicing good ethical behavior and adhering to the ISHR's Code of Conduct whether online or offline. Students are encouraged to model good digital citizenship by making sure their actions and choices do not disrupt the learning environment for themselves or others. In order to participate in the ISHR online community, students agree to ISHR's common expectations and serves to guide student use and behavior.

Online Sharing Guidelines

When you share and comment on work online, you are expected to demonstrate compassion, honesty, fairness, responsibility, and respect in everything you do offline and online by following the guidelines below. Since what you post online is permanent, use the questions below to help you decide what is appropriate before you publish.

• Think before you post. Ask yourself: Is this something I want everyone to see? Would sharing this offend, surprise or shock anyone? Would I want this graded for proper grammar and spelling?

• Treat other people the way you want to be treated. Ask yourself: Would I say this to someone’s face? Would I want someone to say this to me?

• Do not share personal information such as last name, address, phone number or email address.

• Anytime you use media from another source, be sure you have permission and properly cite the creator of the original work. Ask yourself: Who is the original creator of this work? Do I have permission to use this work?

Email Guidelines

Student email use at ISHR should be appropriate and respectful.

Be Prepared to Learn

Students must bring their laptops to school each day:

• In a carrying case.

• With the battery fully charged.

• With headphones or earbuds.

To ensure smooth operation of their laptops, it is expected that students:

• Employ careful battery management techniques to ensure that they can get through the school day and participate fully.

• Care for and transport their laptop responsibly.

• Regularly perform software updates.

• Regularly restart their laptop. Once per week is recommended.

• Regularly backup their files.

• Organize and manage files on their local drives.

Passwords

Students should password protect their laptops. Students will create their own passwords.

A strong password is important because any individual password that is compromised can have adverse consequences. Students are responsible for remembering their own passwords.

We recommend choosing a password that:

• is easy to remember.

• is not a single word that can be easily guessed.

• doesn’t use personal information such as your birthday, ID, pet or friend’s name.

• has at least eight characters. The more the better, length supersedes complexity

• includes a mixture of characters (letters, numbers, capitals, & % # etc.)

Laptop Care

It is vital students exercise care at all times to keep their laptop functioning properly. There are several ways to care for a laptop.

• Use the laptop case at all times.

• Always carrying your laptop carefully and safely.

• Keep laptops away from liquids and food.

• Avoid jamming your laptop in your school bag.

• Avoid excessive heat and humidity.

• Do not put undue pressure on your laptop..

• Do not pound your laptop keys.

• Do not slam your laptop when you close it.

Tips for Battery Management

How long your laptop battery lasts depends on your laptop's configuration and how you use your laptop. Your screen brightness has the greatest impact on battery life and should be dimmed to a comfortable level. Applications that are graphics intensive can also drain your battery much faster than other applications. You can find more information on managing your laptop’s battery life on Apple’s support site, but here are some basic tips:

• Close the lid of your laptop when not in use.

• Dim your screen to the lowest setting that is still comfortable.

• Dim your keyboard backlighting.

• Close applications when not in use.

• Close browser tabs when not in use.

• Turn off features such as bluetooth when not in use.

• Eject peripherals such as thumb drives or cameras when not in use.

• Optimize your battery settings in Energy Saver Preferences.

Backing Up & Recovering Files

Losing ones files or other data is a terrible thing to experience. It is important for you to create a backup plan to safeguard your files and data. Make sure to backup your files and data on a regular basis to prevent data loss. Some locations to backup your files include Google Drive, Time Machine for OSX or another cloud-based storage like DropBox. Contact the IT Helpdesk if you need guidance or help to create and/or set up your backup plan.

Revised from Primary Source: Singapore American School