TQ# 7 - Rewriting an AUP

A situation has arisen in this school district that I have been asked to respond to and, in such light, to rewrite parts of this district’s Acceptable Use Policy, such policy that is signed by all parents and students every year. The question has arisen whether to permit students to use their personal “portable electronic devices” during any part of the school day and especially during class time. Several students have voiced an opinion that use of such devices can be done responsibly and may also at times be vehicles toward extending their classroom learning experience. Others—-both students and teachers—-have indicated that such devices should never be used during class unless it is in the context of a teacher-led activity, but can be permitted on campus and used in the halls or cafeteria. There is thus a need to clarify the use of and even presence of such portable devices on school grounds.

First, there is a need to define the term “personal portable electronic devices.” (NOTE 1 I like the way the “medium-size” AUP lays out actual examples of the kinds of things permitted or prohibited in schools. These lists might never be comprehensive, but at least they give the idea of what is aimed at.) By this is meant any of the following: cell phones, mp3 players, ipods, portable a/v players, Blackberry’s and other smartphones, Palm Pilots, Pocket PC devices, and lastly laptop computers. In the final analysis, the emergence of this issue in our school district does not in any appreciable way change the digital acceptable use policies that have been in place for sometime. It has always been the view of the administrators and school board members of this school district that students have a right to the possession and use of their personal electronic devices on school grounds, when they use them in responsible and acceptable ways. (NOTE 2 This is another abiding them of the medium-size AUP example.) The view is that students (and teachers, for that matter) should be given an opportunity to demonstrate responsible behavior, which is the goal of any good educational program. Devices like cell phones or smartphones and ipods can have a number of legitimate uses, such as contacting one’s home or parent in a case of an emergency and gaining info about news events during the day. At the same time, such devices have no place in the context of a classroom or teaching activity when such activity is not directly centered on teacher-led instructing by way of such devices. Thus it is the educational technology coordinator’s position that such personal electronic devices should continue to be allowed on campus and used during non-classroom times, but used within the confines of the rest of the Acceptable Use statement.

Examples of what this means for the use of such devices now follow. Students should never use such devices in the context of a classroom unless the teacher is purposely making use of said device in the lesson plan or class activity (e.g., the Pocket PC as a data gathering tool or a laptop being used to search the Internet in the context of research). Students may use devices like ipods and smartphones when not in a classroom setting, and may even access their own email or Internet sites by way of the school’s wireless or wired connections (thus employing a proxy address in their personal software) as long as such access does not significantly drain school network bandwidth. The latter situation might develop if students are, for instance, downloading large videos via a website on their portable device or playing audio files by way of websites when connected to the school’s wireless network (NOTE 3 See fine but reasonable distinctions made in the medium-size AUP example statement, pp. 2-3). Students might choose to employ their own data plans when connecting to such aforementioned resources and this is also acceptable practice. Obviously, all stipulations regarding acceptable and unacceptable website visits through the school’s network resources as well as the giving out of personal information about another student, the use of cyberbullying, the use of peer-to-peer file sharing applications, the use of devices to do or facilitate illegal acts, and any attempt to gain unauthorized access to other computer systems are in place and thus prohibited. Moreover, anything done with a personal portable electronic device that in any way disrupts the ability of other students to learn or go about their ordinary and expected school day activities will also be considered a prohibited use. The school district, by way of any teacher or administrator, shall reserve the right to confiscate such portable electronic devices at any time during the school day and on school property if their use is found to be violating any of the aforementioned acceptable use policies. The device will be returned to the user at the close of that school day, and the student will be prohibited from using that device on school property from that time forward except for directly constituted classroom activities. There will be no second chances.