Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

[Paul White]

Every school should have an AUP, but what should go into it?

I have read all the ESF AUPs I can find (I have put links to some of them below) I have also read many others for schools all over the world. One thing I have noticed - they are getting longer and less user friendly each year. Becta has recently produced a guide to writing AUPs: AUPs in context The report suggests that an AUP should be clear and concise and written in a tone and style that is appropriate to the end user.

I have combined the best of the AUPs I have found with the advice from Becta to make an ESF AUP draft template, which I have attached - congratulations to SIS for being the most plagiarised!

Feel free to comment

Renaissance College AUP
Discovery College AUP
WIS AUP
IS AUP
SIS AUP
Sha Tin Junior School Internet Access Policy

[[e-mail]]

I totally agree with you Paul. More than one side of A4 and no one's going to read it. It should be well organised and simple, bullet points are good, and should not be so prescriptive as to offer opportunities for people to find loopholes.

[Kieran Ryan]

I think your AUP does the job admirably. It's short, which means teachers or parents can take younger kids through it and have it actually mean something to them; it's simple, so they can understand it and there's less scope for misunderstanding; and it's suitably vague, making it adaptable. I think a possibly more important issue is the context in which the AUP is devised and used, however; as with any school policy, it needs to be agreed and adhered to by the whole school body if it's to be anything more than a back-covering document. There are still a lot of contentious issues here (I'm a bit dubious about computer games being classed as 'fooling around' and being relegated to their own designated space, personally), but the important thing is to get a document in place than everyone can at least work with so that the focus can then be on developing the educational value of these tools rather than constantly stressing about the supposed 'harm' they might be doing. A good AUP, properly used, should remove a lot of the worry for people involved in a laptop program.

[tmn]

It's always gratifying to be doing something right - even if only as measured by consensus thinking - so I'm pleased that the SIS AUP meets the BECTA test ...

What people will see if they access our original - and what you haven't done, I think, Paul - is make an attempt to encompass two distinct audiences to whom the AUP is necessarily addressed i.e. the students and their parents. The problem with adopting a student-friendly register when framing the AUP's requirements is that they can sound jejune or trivial in discussions with parents. It's for that reason that we included a more "grown up" version on the back of the sheet, to which we turn if we need to underline the gravity of serious transgressions. We've found that it's been helpful in creating a context in which these discussions can take place.

[Paul White]

Good point Toby - Becta does say that an AUP should be "written in a tone and style that is appropriate to the end user" and they suggest that schools may have different versions of the AUP for different end users.

[David Kirby]

I like the format of the template, it clear and concise. My first impression was that there are too many 'do nots', but on reflection I think all the bulleted points need to be stated.
We are in process of updating our AUP at WIS and I think I will use this as the starting point. I'll also include an overriding statement that the school network can only be used for educational purposes. I'm also toying with the idea of fleshing out the intimidation (cyber bullying) point and perhaps use this as an opportunity to make it clear to students that malicious posts about other students are not acceptable whether these are made inside or outside of school.

[Paul White]

A FRAMEWORK FOR CYBER-SAFETY

I have incorporated the AUP above into a wider cyber safety policy (see attached) please feel free to add your comments and suggestions.