A Guide to Acceptable Use

Policies in Education

By Melissa Wolfrey for EDTC 630

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What Are Acceptable Use

Policies?

Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) are policies that:

• Allow student and teacher internet access for educational

purposes

• Communicate to students and teachers the appropriate

uses, inappropriate uses and consequences of violations

when using internet/equipment

• Promote responsible and acceptable use of technology for

students and teachers

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Why Should Schools Have

AUPs?

All schools should have AUPs to:

• Protect students from potential online

dangers/threats

• Release school from liability

• Ensure that students follow copyright and privacy

laws

Above information retrieved from

http://www.scholastic.com/librarians/tech/techpolicy.htm

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Effective AUPs should:

• Include the following six elements: “a preamble, a

definition section, a policy statement, an acceptable uses

section, an unacceptable uses section and a

violations/sanctions section”

(http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr093.shtml, 1996-2014)

• Be written in brief, clear language that students

understand

• Be presented as a contract to be signed between

students/parents/teachers and the school

What Features Should AUPs

Include?

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Saint Andrew’s Day School

Background

Saint Andrew’s Day School is a private school in

Edgewater, MD that:

• Provides education for students in PreK-8th grade

• Offers computer/technology classes for students in K-

8th grade

• Allows students internet use while in the computer lab

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School/238244899644219?ref=br_tf

Saint Andrew’s Acceptable Use

Policy For Students

Key Points of Saint Andrew’s Acceptable Use

Policy:

• Is only given to 4th-8th grade students

• Includes a preamble

• Lists acceptable and unacceptable behaviors

including use of appropriate language; use of

internet for school-related activities only; respect

of copyright laws, equipment and student

privacy; and prohibition of controversial sites

and chat rooms

• Utilizes brief and clear language

• States that technology privileges will be taken

away due to violations

• Contains consent form for student and parent

signatures

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http://mrscvereenblog.blogspot.com/

Saint Andrew’s Acceptable Use

Policy For Teachers

• No separate AUP for teachers

• Teachers mentioned in preamble of student AUP

• Teachers are not required to sign AUP

• Technology use is briefly mentioned in teacher

handbook but only states that teachers are

required to use technology to communicate with

parents

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Classroom-Experience

Suggestions For Communication of

AUP

AUPs should be communicated through:

• Verbal explanation to students from teacher

• Written copy sent home for students and

parents to read and sign

• Electronic copy posted on school website for

easy access by students, parents and

teachers

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Student Policy Implementation

Teachers should ensure that students are

following the Acceptable Use Policy by:

• Teaching the importance of appropriate

computer use and digital citizenship

• Reminding students of rules and AUP

• Monitoring student use at all times

• Explaining copyright and basic source

citation even to young students

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citizenship-responsibility

Teacher Policy Implementation

Teachers should:

• Always model appropriate computer use

• Report any suspected misuse of

internet/equipment immediately

• Never use internet for social media or

other personal purpose while at work

• Never share employee usernames and

passwords

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For more tips on teacher policies and expectations see AACPS handbook at

http://www.aacps.org/humanresources/handbook.pdf

Sources and Suggested Readings

Anne Arundel County Public Schools. 2014. Employee Handbook. Retrieved

from http://www.aacps.org/humanresources/handbook.pdf

Flowers, B.F. & Rakes, G.C. (2000). Analyses of acceptable use policies

regarding the internet in selected K-12 schools. Journal of Research on

Computing in Education, 32(3), 351-365

Getting started on the internet: Developing an acceptable use policy. 1996-2014.

Education World. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr093.shtml

Peterson, J. & Uhls, M. (n.d). Acceptable Use Policies. Retrieved from

http://education.illinois.edu/wp/www.sjfschool.net.

Using Technology. 2014. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/librarians/tech/techpolicy.htm