I have long struggled with the existence of lengthy, prohibitive Acceptable Use Policies which serve only to provide the illusion of CYA for schools/teachers while having a chilling effect on teaching and learning with the tools we are putting into teacher and student hands.
In my own work with a 1:1 laptop program I have been able to create a highly simplified set of rule: Three Rules for Laptops. These three simple rules (inspired by Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics) have allowed us to shift the responsibility for how laptops are used from the teacher and a laundry list of forbidden activities to the student and an internalized set of general parameters.
Scott McLead has created a similar set of parameters for general access to and use of school technology resources. Instead of an AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) he posits an EUP (Empowered Use Policy) which is fully described in his blog post below:
Instead of an AUP, how about an EUP (Empowered Use Policy)?
In short:
- Be empowered. Do awesome things. Share with us your ideas and what you can do. Amaze us.
- Be nice. Help foster a school community that is respectful and kind.
- Be smart and be safe. If you are uncertain, talk with us.
- Be careful and gentle. Our resources are limited. Help us take care of our devices and networks.
I love this list and will be posting it in my classroom Monday. I would also love to start a discussion at our school about an EUP rather than an AUP. I think the change would do us good!
Incidentally, Scott McLeod’s ideas are released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International copyright license as are mine. Please reshare!
Aaron Tyo-Dickerson 