Acceptable Use Policy

SCIDES Online courses are available to any student. SCIDES Online supports independent learning, collaborative learning, or distributed learning in a virtual classroom environment. As part of an educational 'community of learners' all participants, including local administrators, instructors, markers and students, must agree to a set of guidelines and standards for online behavior. These guidelines are designed to protect SCIDES Online participants as well as to ensure that the online environment is used strictly for educational purposes. Your school, marker or instructor may provide additional guidelines.

Items within this Acceptable Use Policy fall into the following categories; netiquette, account integrity, privacy and rules of behavior.

A. Netiquette

Netiquette refers to behavior online, and it is very important in a public and educational system. The basic premise under which to operate, whether you are a student, an instructor, marker or an administrator is that every other participant using the delivery system must be treated with respect. The online discussions are open to all members of your class and the messages you post to those discussions reflect your personality and behavior.

Netiquette Guidelines

  • Humour and sarcasm do not read well in a print-based medium and can be offensive to others;

  • Text-based messages lack 'body language' and voice inflections. Messages can seem unintentionally blunt or terse. Using closing salutations or 'smileys' at the end of your notes can help make your messages more friendly;

  • SCIDES Online includes many different people of different genders, cultures, ages, ability, religions, and experiences. You must be sensitive to the feelings of others in this delivery environment.


B. Account Integrity

You, the user, are responsible for your own account. You are responsible for discussion notes, file transfers, or any other data transmitted with your account. For your own protection, it is important that you do not let anyone else know your ID and password.


Account Integrity Guidelines

  • Always change your password when you first login;

  • Change your password frequently;

  • Use punctuation, numbers, and characters within your password;

  • Pick a password that others will find difficult to decode (ie. Not your nickname, middle name, birth date, pet's name, etc.);

  • Use at least 6 characters in your password;

  • Do not tell anyone what your password is;

  • Do not ever leave a note with your password near your computer.

 

C. Privacy

Generally, class discussions will be moderated by markers and instructors. However, host site and school administrative staff reserve the right to view class discussions if there are indications of misbehavior, and to work with the class instructor and local administrator to deal with offensive language or any other breakage of the following Rules of Behavior:

 

D. Rules of Behavior

The following rules of behavior are serious and must be followed.

  • SCIDES Online is an educational delivery environment for instructors and students. It must be used for educational purposes;

  • SCIDES Online must not be used for commercial purposes in any way except for specific course related activities such as Career and Personal Planning 11/12 work experience discussions and Entrepreneurship 12 activities;

  • Offensive material such as pornography, harassment, hate literature, or that which discriminates against another person for reasons such as gender, culture, ethnicity, age, religion, disability will not be tolerated;

  • Swearing, offensive language, and harassment of another person will not be tolerated.

If these Rules of Behavior are violated, host site and school administrative staff will consult with the local district administrator and the class instructor. Offending participants can be removed from SCIDES courses.

 

E. Disclaimer

All rights reserved. Students, markers and instructors registered in SCIDES Online classes have permission to print course pages, online guides, or files in "portable document format" for their own educational use. Reproducing passages from any SCIDES Online publication by electronic, photographic, mechanical, or digital means without permission is an infringement of copyright law.

Web content for Mr. Swan's classroom is also copyright protected.  Students registered in Mr. Swan's classes have permission to reproduce by electronic, photographic, mechanical, or other digital means for educational use provided that reproduction is not used for financial gain.