Most of us access the Internet on a daily basis to send e-mails, to read the news, to chat with friends, to complete homework assignments, and of course, to perform duties associated with our jobs. Most of us also encounter a great many distractions from the Internet. We might take a minute to post a Facebook status in the middle of writing an e-mail to the boss. We may click on an ad for a sale happening on Amazon while reading the day’s news. The number of possible distractions is infinite. As adults distractions may lead to the unnoticed loss of a few minutes of productivity. For college students, however, the same distractions could and often do lead to inefficient learning and the loss of valuable class time. In order to mitigate this situation most, if not all, schools have adopted their own Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs).
The purpose of an AUP is to ensure that an institution’s technological resources are used for academic and administrative functions, and to prevent illicit or unethical use of these resources. Every institution develops its own AUP; however, in general, according to Robyler (2016) an Acceptable Use Policy is an agreement that is created by an educational institution and which explains both the risks associated with Internet use and appropriate student use of the Internet. It also asks students to agree to the terms of Internet use of a particular institution. In addition to these features, some AUPs describe the consequences of failing to adhere to these policies.
According to 1-to-1 Essentials, Acceptable Use Policies should include information about the following:
- Use of the organization’s network
- Safe use of the Internet
- Filtering and Monitoring of use
- Network Security
- Data privacy
- Disciplinary action associated with misuse
- Digital Citizenship
- Appropriate social media use
In higher education, many institutions seem to have more than one AUP. In some cases individual colleges or schools on a university campus develop their own AUPs. For example, the college of science may have an AUP that is slightly different from the college of humanities. Individual departments within colleges, individual computer labs, and campus housing may also all have slightly different AUPs.
The following are links to the AUPs of several institutions of higher education in Southern California:
Santa Monica College - Santa Monica College Student Computer Use Policy - This is the AUP of the institution at which I work. There is a focus mainly on use and disciplinary action that is taken in the event of misuse. It does not seem as comprehensive as the AUPs of other institutions.
Cal Poly Pomona - (1) Cal Poly Pomona Appropriate Use Policy (2) Cal Poly Pomona Student Housing Technology Acceptable Use Policy - This California State University campus has a separate AUP for the University and University student houseing.
University of California, Los Angeles - University of California Los Angeles IT Services Acceptable Use Policy
References
Acceptable Use Policies. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/1to1/aups
Robyler, M. D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson.
