3 a+b)

Description

Whilst legislation, policies and standards may not present the ‘sexy’ side of eLearning, and consequently receive less attention than they merit, they form a crucial aspect of my role. In the final analysis, this area is about keeping people safe; safe from harm and safe from litigation. In addition to keeping yourself and others safe, it’s also about learning to be a good digital citizen; someone who has respect for themselves and others which is manifest through an appreciation of good etiquette, an understanding of rights and responsibilities regarding intellectual property and behaving socially responsibly with digital technologies.

3a - Legal

One of the statutory obligations which falls under my umbrella is Display Screen regulation. It is my responsibility to ensure we fulfill our obligations to our employees through an annual Display Screen Equipment (DSE)/Visual Display Unit (VDU) health check. Each year I manage the process of establishing who in our organisation is classified as a ‘User’ through an annual survey (delivered electronically). From there I undertake and record a detailed DSE assessment with each User to establish that they are working as safely as possible, that they understand their obligations to their own health and that of others and to provide them with training in safe working practices with DSE. If any remedial action is required (like obtaining equipment to ameliorate any symptoms), then I undertake that and follow up at an agreed later date to ascertain progress.

3b - Policy

In addition to being called on to advise and contribute where technology has an impact within school policies like the Anti-bullying policy, Code of Conduct for use of mobile phones, Data Protection Policy, ICT Acceptable Use Agreement, Photographs policy and School Accessibility Plan, I am also required to provide occasional sessions (for staff, students and parents) which serve as refreshers for current policies or when a particular issue arises which merits a special intervention.These are areas which need continual reinforcement with students and staff and in addition to providing them with specific and explicit guidance, it’s also wise to continually drip-feed information so that these areas become an accepted part of the discourse in eLearning. So whilst I might be leading a session for students on privacy or with staff on finding and using images legitimately, I also take the opportunity whilst leading the session to use teachable moments to refer to creative commons attribution for example or appropriate behaviours when sharing images.

Reflection

These areas are often not easy to understand fully, especially for busy practitioners. This is perhaps then an area to be devolved to someone with more time and greater experience and who might have a better understanding of the issues involved. That’s not to say that colleagues (or students) are free to absolve themselves of any responsibility, but to be aware that certain actions and behaviours require a little bit more thought and to what support resources they can refer if they become unsure. The situation is exacerbated to some extent by the cross-border nature of the Internet and that undertaking behaviour which may be deemed acceptable under the legislation of your own country, may not be permissible in others. This is just one of the reasons why becoming a networked learner is so important and membership of groups such as e-Safety Law in Education can be so helpful.

These areas require members of our community to be aware of and adhere to the rules, policies, practices and the law by which we are bound. This requires constant attention, regular reinforcement and the provision of timely reminders. Working closely with our ICT teachers and PSHE Co-ordinator enable me to have an input into curricular areas where it is wise to be mindful of the implications that technology use brings.

3a - Legal

The DSE or VDU documentation we use as our touchstone can be found here http://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/guidance.htm. Each year I conduct a ‘Who is a User’ survey for all staff, which is distributed using a Google form, submitted from within our organisational GAfE account. This can be viewed here, although as a branching survey, (if staff don’t use a computer for work, they are directed along a different path) to see all questions, you would need to complete it. Alternately, there is a PDF version below. A spreadsheet is then used to establish which colleagues are classified as Users and to record the actions which follow. A sample from the sheet can be seen here.

3b - Policy

Here are some examples of the resources used when providing occasional student and staff sessions on a range of areas which our policies aim to cover.

The following is an online presentation I provided as a follow-up for colleagues and parents, to outline the activity I provided all our Year 8 students during the course of our ‘Values’ day this year (2014). https://www.movenote.com/v/Fn7bE-Y1nAWhI

Although presentations have less meaning when disconnected from the exposition they support, here is the slide set created jointly with a group of students in a sister school which we both delivered simultaneously to assemblies in our schools on Safer Internet Day earlier this year. There were a number of themes which were covered, but the underlying message was of striving to be a digital citizen who creates a positive impression.

This presentation on creating a positive Digital Footprint was given in the first instance to groups of Year 10 and Year 12 students, but was then embedded within our Learning Platform, so students could subsequently follow-up the links and themes they might feel were important to them.

This presentation on protecting your digital identity was delivered to staff to help them become aware of some of the issues when using online services … or not.