THE HERITAGE SCHOOL, GURGAON

The IT Acceptable Usage Policy Document

Information Technology

SHALINI SINHA

5/17/2012

The Heritage School strongly believes that the usage of Information Technology is beneficial in the education domain. It recognizes the need to be proactively educating the young learners and other users at school about the potential risks and safety hazards associated with technology and internet. This document articulates the guidance, expectations and obligations of users of Information Technology delivered by The Heritage School, Gurgaon.

Revision History

There will be a planned annual revision of the Policy. In addition, the Policy may be updated to keep

it current and realistic.

Version Created/ Modified By Created/ Modified On Comment

First Draft 1.0 Shalini Sinha 17th May, 2012

Version 1.1 Shalini Sinha 1st April, 2013 Email guidelines for Senior Program Students.

Version 1.2 Shalini Sinha 3rd March, 2014 Change in Bandwidth detail

Contents Glossary ............................................................................................................................................... 4

The Intended Audience ....................................................................................................................... 4

Why is the Policy on Acceptable Usage Required? ............................................................................. 4

How does the Acceptable Usage Policy benefit the users? ................................................................ 4

Disclaimer and Contractual Obligation ............................................................................................... 5

IT Interventions in THS Education ....................................................................................................... 5

Current Deployment of Systems at THS.............................................................................................. 7

Guide to Acceptable Usage ................................................................................................................. 7

Primary Usage ................................................................................................................................. 7

Credentials Management ............................................................................................................... 7

Internet Usage ................................................................................................................................ 7

Internet/Intranet Communications ................................................................................................ 8

Internet Commerce ......................................................................................................................... 9

Email ................................................................................................................................................ 9

Plagiarism ........................................................................................................................................ 9

Copyrighting .................................................................................................................................. 10

Personal Usage .............................................................................................................................. 10

Unacceptable Usage ......................................................................................................................... 10

System Monitoring and Audit ........................................................................................................... 11

How THS will educate on the AUP .................................................................................................... 11

Reporting of Violation ....................................................................................................................... 11

Compliance with AUP........................................................................................................................ 12

References ........................................................................................................................................ 12

Consent Form for Acceptable IT Usage Policy .................................................................................. 13

Glossary S.No. Word/ Abbreviation Meaning

1 THS The Heritage School

2 ICT Information and Communication Technology

3 IT Information Technology

4 ERP Enterprise Resource Planning

5 SAAS Software As A Service

6 CAO Chief Administration Officer

7 CIO Chief Information Officer

8 AUP Acceptable Usage Policy

The Intended Audience This policy is targeted at

The Heritage School Staff

Students There is also guidance for parents and guests of The Heritage School who make occasional use of the Information Technology Services provided by the Heritage School.

Why is the Policy on Acceptable Usage Required? Information Technology (IT) in the Education domain is being used as a backbone for

communication, collaboration and teaching-learning process. It has now become an integral and

important part of imparting knowledge to students. Besides, the students are rapidly using the social

networking sites, mobile tools, instant texting to exchange ideas and connect with one another.

While this provides a great collaboration opportunity, the students need to be constantly advised on

the dangers lurking in the internet.

At THS, there are various IT stakeholders like Management, Educators, Administration Support,

Students, and Parents who are using IT for various reasons. Hence, it is very important to lay out the

ground rules for the School Community to ensure a safe, disciplined and effective work

environment. At School, a balance is required between setting rules and allowing the liberty to

explore, connect and experiment while advocating responsible use. This Policy is required to educate

the users of their rights and duties and enable the users to leverage IT with confidence and develop

ownership for their online experience.

How does the Acceptable Usage Policy benefit the users? The purpose of this Policy is to ensure an information technology infrastructure that promotes the basic missions of the institution for effective teaching-learning to take place. In particular, this Policy aims to promote the following goals:

To ensure that IT Systems are used for their intended purposes

To guide about risks and acceptable/ non-acceptable usage of internet, misuse, school hardware, Intranet, email.

To make users aware of their responsibilities

To explain about the current deployment of systems

Disclaimer and Contractual Obligation The Heritage School Information Technology department maintains policies about the use and

security of its systems in the interests of protecting its users and ensuring the reliability of

information systems. All users of our facilities are expected to be familiar with these policies.

Violations of HERITAGE IT policies can lead to the suspension of IT system usage privileges pending

investigation of circumstances. Serious violations of the THS IT policy will be referred directly to the

appropriate authorities. The penalties may be as severe as suspension or dismissal of enrolment,

termination of employment from the school, and/or criminal prosecution by appropriate law

enforcement agencies. The use of HERITAGE IT's network and facilities constitutes acceptance of

this policy.

This policy shall be deemed to have been made in Gurgaon, Haryana, and shall be construed in

accordance with the laws of the State. All actions or proceedings relating, directly or indirectly, to

this policy shall be litigated only in courts located within the Haryana state jurisdiction.

All users are expected to sign the Consent form to be eligible to use the Information Technology as

provided by THS after going through the policy carefully.

IT Interventions in THS Education The school recognizes the enormous potential of Information Technology in education. This section

articulates the common and legitimate uses and rights of users for educational needs at school.

Educator

1. Development of Syllabus, Learning objectives, Year Plan, Unit Plan, Rubrics, Assessment,

class-work, home-work

2. Taking reference from different global sites to make well-researched Lesson Plans, Video/

Audio material, Activities, Assignments, Worksheets and ensuring due credit to original

authors

3. Preparing tests for students and using the analytic reports generated by auto-checking

4. Using apps on I-pads and Android Tablets for better concept explanations in class

5. Podcasting and Broadcasting lessons

6. Using Interactive boards to provide an interesting and deeper understanding of topics

7. Using AV tools to improve Performing Art sessions

8. Using inspiring sports AV content to motivate students

9. Leveraging Virtual experiments in Virtual laboratories

10. Communication with colleagues using Email, E-groups, Google docs

11. Communication with parents and students using Email

12. Collaborating with colleagues for Integration Work Projects, Planning and monitoring

Lessons

13. Researching for material to be used in Assembly/ Functions/ Special Functions

14. Assessment Report Preparation

15. Leveraging the ERP for Student Attendance Management, Administrative processes

16. Generating the School Time Tables

17. Researching for Work Experience eg designing a school magazine, newsletter, posters etc

18. Leveraging Blog Services for publishing student contribution

19. Using Networking sites like Facebook for sharing views, information, creativity

20. Teaching computer related topics

21. Professional development of educator

Administration

1. Student Admission and Withdrawal Process

2. Fee Collection

3. Inventory Management

4. Accounting

5. Payroll Generation and Management

6. Transport Management

7. Resource Management

8. Complaint Management

9. HR Process Management

10. Library Management

11. School Website

12. Alumni Management

13. Health Information Management

Student

1. Studying computer science and software packages

2. Researching for project reports, assembly/ school functions

3. Taking tests on computers

4. Playing educational games/ puzzles to challenge thinking and relate with content studied in

other subjects

5. Using content on computer media, internet sources to enhance understanding and expand

knowledge

6. Using the computer aids to enhance reading skills

7. Using computers to encourage students with special needs

Parent

1. Leveraging the ERP for student’s

a. Profile and Medical Record

b. Attendance Record

c. Assessment Record

d. Assignment Record

e. Online Admission and Withdrawal process

2. Receiving Updates from school

3. Participating in e-groups

Others

1. Technology Vendor personnel for installation, troubleshooting and Training purposes

2. Partners for Training, Sharing and Collaboration with the school

Current Deployment of Systems at THS The Heritage School, Gurgaon is connected by a wireless local area network using Mesh network

topology. The Wide Area Network is enabled on a primary bandwidth of 20 mbps and a secondary

bandwidth of 6 mbps with vendor redundancy for the last mile. There is a firewall used to provide

network gateway and internet security. The firewall is also used to reduce the risk of exposure to

inappropriate material on the internet. Virus protection software is updated on regular basis to

maintain hygiene in the computing landscape.

Connect4M is used as the ERP in SAAS mode to provide a Management Information system with

administrative and academic process detail.

There are 2 IT Laboratories in the Senior School that enable 1:1 computing and there are separate IT

Laboratories provided to the Junior and Middles School students. The Faculty is provided with a

range of desktops, laptops, Ipads and Android tablets as shared resources.

Guide to Acceptable Usage

Primary Usage

Access to the Internet is to be used primarily for THS related educational purposes, eg

communications related to THS, authorised professional development and activities related to a

person’s duties as shared in the “ IT interventions in Education” section.

Credentials Management

HERITAGE IT facilities and computer systems are for the use of authorized users only. Every user is provided with private access credentials to access computer resources provided by the school. The credentials provided are to be used solely for the performance of assigned functions. Each user is responsible for all matters pertaining to the proper use of their access privileges.

The conflicting duties must be segregated to reduce the risk of accidental or deliberate system misuse, damage or fraud [The maker cannot be the checker]

Users may not share passwords and login accounts.

Individual HERITAGE IT login names and/or passwords cannot be transferred to or used by

another individual. It is the responsibility of HR/ PLs to advise HERITAGE IT when employees

leave unexpectedly and/or with short notice so that the data in their accounts can be

protected/deactivated/deleted.

Any user who finds a possible security lapse on any THS system is obligated to report it to the IT Helpdesk. Unauthorized attempts to gain access to another person's or system’s credentials or to gain access to any account, applications, and/or data not belonging to you is not permitted.

Use of THS IT facilities by outside individuals or organizations requires special permission from THS Chief Administration Officer.

Internet Usage

The Internet is a wonderful resource for students and teachers but is an open and non-secure data

carrier. There remain hazards of cyber harassment, bullying and on-line predators. There are also

sites which may be objectionable due to political, racist, sexual or other reasons. The sensitivity of

information communicated or published on the Internet must be considered and appropriate

measures taken to protect such information. Any release of information over the Internet must be in

accordance with Privacy and Child safety considerations.

The internet is a fairly unmanaged medium with little controls for publishing ideas, blogs or any

content. The student and staff must learn to discern between facts, perceptions and opinions as

they seek information from the internet. The ability to reach and effectively use research site[s] will

be developed in the student in the course of the education at THS. The habit of giving credit to

authors responsible for research will also be instilled and the student and staff will be discouraged to

do a copy/paste job. There has been a rise in the incidents of Social Networking Site registrations by

under-age children. There have also been incidents of cyber bullying and writing of unkind remarks

on the walls of unsuspecting friends, sharing of pornographic material. The School Management

strongly discourages the violation of the Usage Policy of these Social networking sites and email

abuse by the children through constant dialogue and circulars to parents. The hacking and attempts

at hacking the school personnel email accounts, network and any other school assets have been and

will continue to be dealt with the necessary seriousness.

The following guidance and precautions may be taken to avoid the risks associated with the internet.

The staff should not use social networking sites if the students are in vicinity. Often,

products advertised on these sites have no connection with education and can distract the

student.

If an innocent search on the internet leads to an inappropriate site, the window should be

closed or minimized immediately. The staff may want to offer a simple explanation to

student as per the age group

As all computers are connected to the internet, it is important that students are supervised

when working on the computers.

The students and staff should refrain from internet requests seeking personal information,

receiving inappropriate content, viewing incitement sites and on-site gambling sites

It is advised that no face-face meeting is arranged with a person that a student knows only

through emails/ internet.

The students are advised to read the AUP of social networking sites and comply with them

especially with regards to eligibility. The students are not allowed to surf the social

networking sites at school.

Chat-rooms, Discussion forums, messaging may be used only for educational purpose.

The users are advised not to by-pass the filtering/blocking software.

Internet/Intranet Communications

Posting of THS information to Internet web pages, news groups, web-based forums, etc must be consistent with THS presentation standards, and approved by the Principal or Director. All information posted on the website including logo, pictures are considered property of The Heritage School and are protected by copyright, trademark and other intellectual property laws.

The School website will be regularly checked to ensure that there is no content that risks the

safety of a student/staff member.

The publication of a student’s work would always be coordinated by an educator.

The school will try to publish only long shots of group activities and avoid focussing on

individuals to protect the privacy of the individual.

The school will ensure that the image files are appropriately named and not use pupil names

as file names.

Internet Commerce

THS staff is expected to refrain from commercial activities while using the School resources. Use of THS IT systems for commercial uses, except for approved organizations, is strictly prohibited. Such prohibited uses include, but are not limited to, development of programs, data processing or computations for commercial use and preparation and presentation of advertising material.

Email

Intent: The school has provided emails to the staff and Senior Program students to facilitate

communication between students and educators. Each student in the Senior Program will be

allocated an individual account. Some of the uses anticipated are that educators may distribute

notes, home-work, curriculum related documents, notices to students by email. The students may

submit assignments by email or use this medium to clarify doubts with the educator/ fellow

students. The staff is provided with email access for communication needs associated with the

school.

The School Administration staff will ensure that the email ids are dis-abled in case of student and staff withdrawals. They will also allocate ids to new student admissions in the Senior Program. A student who gets an email id in grade 8 will continue to use the same id till grade 12. Formal names of the students will be used as per the School email account convention. The email communication should be polite and the THS values should be kept in perspective while writing emails. It is expected that an email to an external agency is reviewed and authorized before it is sent. The email signatures should be formal. In case of students, the personal contact numbers should be avoided in the signature. The school provided emails should not be used for

Sending content that is illegal, intimidating, harassing or for political lobbying/ campaigning, offensive to a gender, religion

Sending unsolicited chain messages

Conducting personal business or for social interaction

Distributing protected digital material

Posing as anyone other than oneself when sending email

Attaching heavy documents, pictures for distribution

Spreading computer viruses

The students and staff should refrain from sharing personal information known about

colleagues with a third party without permission from person[s] concerned.

It may be noted that all information communicated by email is subject to logging and monitoring. It

may be reviewed as and when required. All school provided email users are advised that do not give

the impression that they are representing THS while giving personal views in public domain. They are

advised to include a disclaimer to indicate that opinions expressed are their own and not of THS.

The students are expected to report violation of the School’s AUP to the class teacher as soon as

possible. Hacking and spoofing of email accounts will be considered as serious offences.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using not only words but also ideas of someone else and projecting them as your own.

While it is encouraged to use the internet resources for reference, the students and staff are

expected to do authentic research, thinking and writing for the projects/ initiatives. There are many

tools available which can help determine the actual source of words though it is difficult to catch if

an idea has been coped. It is expected that if someone else’s work is quoted in a project, there

should be a section of Bibliography where the information source is acknowledged.

It is expected that students/staff give due credit whenever there is use of the following:

another person’s idea, opinion, or theory any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings—any pieces of information—that are not common

knowledge quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written words

Copyrighting

Copyright is a right given by the law to creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and

producers of cinematograph films and sound recordings. In fact, it is a bundle of rights including,

inter alia, rights of reproduction, communication to the public, adaptation and translation of the

work. There could be slight variations in the composition of the rights depending on the work. The

Indian Copyright Act, 1957 governs the system of copyrights in India.

The users must respect the copyright and licensing laws with respect to software, information and

other materials retrieved from the Internet. The number of user licences for approved software

must not be exceeded by illegal copying or other means. Uploading and Downloading of un-

approved software is not permitted. The use of personal disks, memory sticks and any other IT

accessories requires prior approval from the IT department.

Personal Usage

Limited non-educational related use of the Internet is permitted as long as that use does not

compromise or impact the security of those facilities, THS information systems. Staff must be

conscientious in the use of THS information systems and facilities. All use must comply with policies

relating to the internet, email and acceptable use. Personal usage, if subjected to public scrutiny,

must not cause embarrassment or concern to THS. If participating in a public forum with THS

provided resources, the staff needs to ensure that there is a disclaimer to portray that the views

projected are personal views and not of the organization he/ she belongs to.

Unacceptable Usage Unacceptable usage includes, but is not limited to:

Postings/downloading/sharing for non-educational related reasons

Accessing of malicious, offensive or harassing material

Usage for personal financial gain, religious or political lobbying, non-work related streaming

audio or video

Distribution of unsolicited advertising or commercial electronic messages, electronic “chain

letters”, nuisance text messages

Usage of non-approved file sharing technologies

Usage of Unauthorised equipment and unauthorised/ unlicensed software on any THS ICT

facilities. Any equipment or software identified as unapproved and/or unlicensed must be

removed immediately.

Damaging or Vandalizing the IT equipment and software

Causing Interference or disruption to other networked or shared-system users, services or

equipment and propagation of any form of malicious software (viruses, worms, etc). Usage

of the network to make unauthorised entry into other information systems, communications

devices or resources.

Leaving a mobile device turned on in class or taking unauthorized pictures with mobile

phone camera

System Monitoring and Audit While the school works on the principle of trust and respect to all, precautions are taken to safeguard the IT landscape of the school. All access and usage footprint is recorded in various system logs. System administrators review the logs in the course of their work schedule. Formal security audits occur twice an year, and the frequency may be increased when abnormal and/or suspicious data is discovered during the course of regular system maintenance and/or monitoring. The activities of authorized users may also be monitored in the course of system maintenance, monitoring and audit. The filtering and monitoring strategy is reviewed by Senior Management to ensure that it is effective and reasonable. Anyone using HERITAGE IT computer systems implicitly consents to such monitoring and is advised

that if such monitoring reveals evidence of unlawful activity, system personnel may provide the

evidence of such monitoring to law enforcement officials. HERITAGE IT's network may only be used

for lawful purposes and in accordance with this policy. THS reserves the right to record and monitor

Internet usage, for the purposes of managing system performance, monitoring compliance with

policies, or as part of disciplinary or other investigations. ICT equipment which is to be re-used must

be cleared of sensitive information prior to being used for another purpose.

How THS will educate on the AUP

The HERITAGE School is committed to the implementation of the AUP

to parents through Seminars and circulars, etc that are passed on to them regularly; to students through continual education in IT classes and various seminars about Correct

Computer Use and Cyber safety There will be re-enforcement with sections of the policy published in the Employee

Handbook, School Almanac, newsletters etc.

Reporting of Violation THS has mechanism in place to properly react and deal with ICT security incidents and violations. Users must not attempt to prove or exploit a suspected ICT security weakness. HERITAGE IT reserves the right to prevent other Internet users/existing THS users from accessing its network, either in part or in whole, for any reason deemed detrimental to the HERITAGE IT network or computer facilities. Any real/suspected violation may be reported to the School CAO/ CIO in person/ email and the confidentiality of the report will be respected. The School ensures a proper handling of the issue and will engage with the School counsellor, parents, staff and students depending upon the incident. The ICT security incidents include (but are not limited to):

software malfunction, for example virus attacks

theft or suspected theft of any THS resources, equipment or information;

a breach of security resulting in non-compliance regarding privacy of information

Compliance with AUP Every staff member is required to go through the policy and sign a Consent Form to the effect that

the policy is understood.

References 1. http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/policy/pages/OSPP/policy_index/?reFlag=1; A-Z of Policies,

Procedures and Guidelines

2. Wikepedia on Copyright law of India: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_India

3. Kent County Council Schools E-Safety Policy 2007

4. Anniston City Schools IT Policy 2010-2011

5. St. Patrick’s GNS Acceptable Usage Policy

6. iSafe Acceptable Use Policies

7. DECD Standard – Acceptable Use Policies for School, Pre-Schools and Children’s Service Sites

of Government of South Australia

8. Internet Use Policy of Virginia Minnesota Public Schools

Consent Form for Acceptable IT Usage Policy

I ________________________________ have read the Acceptable IT Usage Policy of The Heritage

School, Gurgaon and agree to follow it.

I am aware of the expectations and obligations of the IT privileges and will use the internet/email

and other IT resources in a responsible way.

Signature:

Date: