LEARNER I.T. ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY Learner I.T. Acceptable Use Policy 2012-13 [Type text] Updated November 2011. Authorised by ILT Board/Executive.
Learner I.T. Acceptable Use Policy Table of Contents Pg. 1. This policy and your responsibilities.. 3 2. Your Agreement, Monitoring & Disciplinary Action. 3 3. How we protect you and why.. 3 4. What you must do to protect yourself. 5 5. The Rules What you mustn t do.. 7 6. Personal Use. 9 7. Review of this Policy.... 10 8. Related Documents 10 Updated November 2010. Authorised by ILT Board 2
1. This Policy and Your Responsibilities Introduction This policy applies to every learner who connects to and uses parts of or all of the College s I.T. services. It applies whether you are here on campus or working from home, a workplace or a distance. It applies to your use of our equipment and your own equipment on our services and it also applies to your conduct when using your mobile phone from our premises or to contact other College students and staff. You must read this policy and keep to the rules and guidelines set out within it. These exist to protect you and to ensure that you learn safely and get the most from our systems. When you sign your Student Learner Agreement, you also sign your agreement to keep to these rules. A printed copy of this policy is available for you to see when you Enrol and you can look at it online at any time on the Student Intranet. 2. Your agreement and disciplinary action of you break it Monitoring and disciplinary action What you do online and what you access and store on the College network is monitored and this is the case whether you are using our equipment or your own equipment. If we find that you have broken the rules within this policy, you will be interviewed about this, it will go on your record and depending how serious your actions are, it could result in disciplinary action and dismissal from the College. Your agreement to stick to the rules in this policy When you sign your Student Learner Agreement, you also sign your agreement to keep to the rules within this policy. Questions about this policy Any questions about this policy should be directed to IT Services at this email address: itservices@bradfordcollege.ac.uk Reporting of issues If you suspect that someone else is breaking the rules, you must share your concerns (in confidence if necessary) with your Tutor who will make sure that this is investigated. 3. What the College does to protect you and why We do lots to help you to stick to the rules and we do lots more in the background to protect you from threats that might arise from the unprotected internet. Here are just a few of the things that we do: Internet We block thousands of known bad sites and we update the list of these as soon as updates are released. BUT a College is a bigger world than school and we don t create our own version of the internet as many schools do because some of our courses need Updated November 2010. Authorised by ILT Board 3
to see a wide variety of material. So we do set out some rules for you to keep to and these are good guidelines for internet use for life. Personal Details We don t publish your personal details and we don t allow our staff to save these on DVDs etc. We keep your personal data safe. Secure Backed Up Storage We offer you a private storage area at Microsoft s Live@EDU and if you use specialist software you may also have storage on our servers. We back our servers up each night onto tapes that are stored in fire-safes around the campus and Microsoft back up their Live@Edu servers. You are however expected to back up your own Live@Edu essential data on a daily basis. If you save your important data files to your Live@Edu or College private storage (in the case of specialist files), you can have peace of mind that if your laptop crashes, your data is safe. You should never save data to your laptop or home PC or any College laptop. Netbook or PC, as we are responsible only for the backed up areas we offer you cannot help you if data saved elsewhere is lost. Be safe, sorry. College Email You have a College email account with Live@Edu as soon as you enrol. You can forward your private email to this account and can use it for as long as you are with us. The College will use this account to update you with essential information. Anti-virus software Software that detects and deals with viruses is on every College computer and server and this software is continuously updated. Secure Software Images College Learner PCs are supplied with a software set that is secured and that you cannot alter. That makes sure you keep to many of the rules about installing software onto our systems but read the Do s and Don ts to make sure you re within the rules where your data storage area and your USB stick is concerned. Courses that use network tools etc. The use of network tools and changes to networks is not allowed on the College network, which we need to keep stable for everyone. If your course needs you to use network tools, monitoring devices or work that supplies wiring systems and control systems. These networks will be provided separately so that you might safely stretch and challenge yourself without upsetting anyone else. Secure Wireless Network own equipment You can borrow a College Laptop or Netbook, or you can bring in your own mobile device to use on our wireless network. This network is very secure, gives you all the internet and learning system access you need, but doesn t allow data to pass onto our other internal networks. This protects our systems from any viruses that might be lurking in your personal equipment, that you may not even know about. For this reason you are not allowed to use your own equipment on the wired network no-one is allowed to do that. Only permitted, vetted equipment with the College s protection systems on board are allowed that far in. Updated November 2010. Authorised by ILT Board 4
Software Monitoring Monitoring software checks all PCs and reports on any software that shouldn t be there or has changed. So if anything slips through a virus hole that no-one has fixed yet, we still get to know about it in time to act. This also applies to downloaded films, music etc. Downloading Be careful at home, as well as at College. Everything that is out there isn t free, and some that is free for home use certainly isn t free for use in College because we re classed as a business and the rules are different. You, or your legal guardian can be prosecuted for software theft which is what an illegal download is called in law. Plagiarism Monitoring Plagiarism means copying the work of others and presenting it as your own. So if you copy a chunk of information from the Internet and cut and paste it into your assignment, that is plagiarism and so is re-typing text from a book. We have a tool that helps tutors to find parts of your work that are copied. The tool recognises and matches text against what s out there on the Internet so if you do this, expect your tutor to have a chat with you about how you should use material for research, how you should let it help your thinking to develop, how you should express that in your words and when you should quote and reference the work of others as backup. Induction and Training At the start of your course you will be shown how to access the College systems and how to use them safely. You will have opportunity to ask questions about this policy. People to help you If anything happens that you are unhappy about a mobile phone text and email anything at all there are lots of people that you can turn to for advice. Your Tutor will always help; staff in your Learning Resource Centre will point you in the right direction; our IT Service Desk on 01274 433062 will advise you. Our Security staff will advise you. The College also has specially trained staff to deal with issues that may arise and you can be sure of expert attention and of always being taken seriously. So don t worry on your own. 4. What you must do to protect yourself Protect your personal details Everyone out there is a stranger until you know them and have checked them out. Don t give your name, age, address, phone number, credit card details or bank account details or a photo of yourself (or anyone else) to any stranger on the Internet. Protect your money Remember that some emails can sound pretty convincing and can promise you fast money, fast returns. Others will send you threats that your bank account has been accessed. Some will offer you goods in exchange for details. If you receive Scam emails like this, delete them and don t reply. If you re in doubt ask someone else to take a look but don t give those details. Check how up to date you are by taking the online test at this link: http://www.onguardonline.gov/# Updated November 2010. Authorised by ILT Board 5
If you buy anything online, make sure that the company advertises contact details and a phone number and that it has good reviews. Any payment by credit cared should take you to a secure site for entry of details. If you don t know what one of these looks like, then ask someone to check for you before you enter anything. Protect your reputation - social networking sites The College accepts that you will use and enjoy social networking sites such as Facebook and will use these for social purposes in your own time. Although we are not responsible for these sites and cannot control them, we offer you the following advice. Be careful who you allow into your Facebook or similar sites. Make sure your privacy details are set. Think before you post up text and photos. You might remove them the next day but one of your friends might have already downloaded them and sent them on And what you would share with a friend could send a very different signal to people who don t know you. It s your reputation look after it. Be careful what you say about others social networking Don t use your Facebook etc to say things that you can t back up about people, places or organisations. Remember you re publishing those statements you make. You don t want them to come back and bite you and this is an area that could result in legal action in the future. Check the published policies of the site and enjoy the sites in your own time for social networking (not anti-social activities). Check out College Social Network Sites Your tutor may invite you to join a social network site to communicate with other students on your course. The College cannot be responsible for Social Network Sites outside its own network and does provide a secure VLE (Moodle) for you to use for your main course activity. We accept that social networking sites offer some added value and offer you the following advice if you use them. Make sure that you stick to the rules for acceptable behaviour and that you understand who will see what you publish on this site. You should not use these sites to vent negative feeling against other learners, staff or the College. Remember that what you say can be seen by others and you will be held accountable for it. Use the proper procedures if you want to complain about something. Protect your login When you enrol, you will be given a login ID (your student enrolment number) and a formula for your first password. You will make this password personal when you first login and you will be asked to change the password every term. It is really important that you protect your login. Remember that actions taken in your name are logged as your actions. So here are a few do s and don ts: Do: Use your login every time you use a College workstation never use anyone else s. For example if the person before you hasn t logged off, don t just start to work (because that s in their name). Take time to logoff and login as you. Always logout when you ve finished work. You don t want to be responsible for what the next person might do (in your name!) Change your password if you suspect that someone has learned it by watching you type it in. You can change your password in advance of the termly change. Just ask how at your Learning Resource Centre, or ring the Learner Service Desk on 01274 433062 (Option 1) Updated November 2010. Authorised by ILT Board 6
Don t Ever give your login and password to anyone else inside or outside College. Ever write your login and password down. Just remember it it s much safer. Email use it sensibly Keep your email messages to the point, get into the habit of using a greeting (It ll be a good habit in later life), use a subject heading and don t ramble. Don t use email to sound off about people or shout at people take time to cool down. Once it s sent, there s a record out there and you said it. Always put your name to your emails. Never send an email that tries to hide behind an anonymous email name and if you do, ask yourself whether you are breaking the rules of this policy and perhaps a few more rules, like the law and remember if the content isn t nice, it will be reported and you will be found out. Don t forward chain emails to thousands of people (they just fill up their storage) and keep an eye out for those scams that will ask you for personal details. Don t fall for those. Flag up any websites that you hit on by mistake Sometimes you may open a site that isn t on our blocked list, but that has fairly unacceptable content. This is likely to be because of a word you put in your search engine and the result won t always be what you expected. We know that mistakes are made. If this does happen to you, close down the site and just mention to your tutor or your Learning Resource Centre staff that you made a mistake and what came up wasn t what you expected. At least then, if this is picked up against your name, we ll have a report to say what actually happened. We ll also have the chance to check whether this site should be in our blocked lists. Check with your tutor if course work needs you to access sites that could be seen as unacceptable Some course work will require research into areas that fall within the unacceptable category E.g. a Social Work course might ask you to research the use of drugs. In such cases, your tutor will advance inform the IT Services Manager, so that your access to these areas are logged with us. If you are at all uncomfortable about the areas that you need to access and how these might be at odds with this policy, please seek assurance from your tutor. 5. The Rules What you mustn t do We ve split these into Content (things you look at, download, publish, communicate) and Activities (things you do). Unacceptable Content You must not seek, view, download, publish, transmit or communicate content that is threatening, Updated November 2010. Authorised by ILT Board 7
offensive; abusive; libellous; (says bad things about another person which will harm their reputation) harassing; pornographic; sexist; racist unlicensed for use on business premises (not provided by the College for your use) and/or which relates to: terrorism; cults; dating; controlled drugs; gambling; criminal skills (including software hacking); social chat, jokes or chain mail that is not related to your course social groups; personal business (such as any private work that you do) the encouragement of violence, or unlawful conduct. Unacceptable Activities You must not: attempt to hack the College or other systems simulate other users (pretend to be them, or use their login) use anonymous access (where you cannot be identified) write or introduce viruses/ programs designed to cause harm introduce unauthorised equipment (modems, active equipment, monitors) which will alter the way in which traffic flows, will cause damage to performance and will put data at risk waste resources or introduce insecurities tamper with workstation addresses, settings or software Updated November 2010. Authorised by ILT Board 8
use College IT facilities purely for private, social or personal business use within timetabled study time use College IT Facilities to advertise material that may provoke or offend others such as political extremism or religious materials; use the College s systems to attack other systems, sites, organisations or individuals, use the College s systems to transmit personal data (details about other people that you do not have permission to pass on) use the College s systems to access and re-publish material that is copyright (owned by others) as if it is your own work create and transmit bulk e-mail that could be construed as Spam (unwanted, junk email) send e-mails or phone messages which are abusive, harassing or include unacceptable content, swearing and threatening language download software without College permission or introduce software for which you hold a personal home license without first checking with the College whether the software may be legally used on business premises download or use games or access games over the network, other than software installed and approved for learning purposes; download copyright information for storage, re-transmission or re-use (this includes but is not limited to copyright images, text, data, music and video); advertise the e-mail or location of yourself or any other person, without permission of that person subscribe any other person to any online facilities without that person s consent publish example or fictitious material about courses or the College that may be confused with the real published College materials. 6. Personal Use Personal Use of IT Facilities The College is prepared to accept limited personal use of the IT Facilities, outside timetabled class time. This might include research, personal finance, family appointments/communication, social networking etc. Personal Mobile Telephones Personal calls should be made and received only in personal time.personal mobile telephone calls must not be taken or made during timetabled class time In exceptional circumstances, such as home emergencies, you should talk to your tutor who will then understand why you need to keep your mobile on during class. The College is not responsible for the mobile networks on which mobile phones operate and cannot intercept or block calls. We offer you advice as follows. Do not use your mobile phone to abuse others or to send anonymous texts or voice mail. If you receive messages or voice mail that upsets you, ask your tutor or any member of staff for support as there are trained staff within College who will offer you support and are responsible for your safe-guarding. Technically, however, the College is not responsible for activity that occurs on mobile networks but will report incidents on to the telecommunications providers. Updated November 2010. Authorised by ILT Board 9
Use of Skype (internet calls) is not open to learners within College as calls to non-skype users would be charged to the College as call costs. However, Skype is used to communicate with prospective international students and there may be situations where you are on placement or working at a distance when you will be asked to use a Skype service to maintain contact with the College. In this case, you will be given details and an authorisation form to sign. 7. Review of this policy This policy will be reviewed annually by the IT Services Manager and approved by the College Executive Directors. 8. Related documents Student Learning Agreement Virtual Environment Policy Anti-Bullying & Harassment Policy Child Protection Policy Updated November 2010. Authorised by ILT Board 10