Open School BC online courses are available to teachers and students. They support independent learning, collaborative learning, and distributed learning. As part of an educational “community of learners” all participants, including local administrators, teachers, and students, must agree to a set of guidelines and standards for online behaviour. These guidelines are designed to protect participants as well as to ensure that the online environment is used strictly for educational purposes.

Items within the Acceptable Use Policy fall into the following categories:

• Netiquette
• Account Integrity
• Privacy
• Rules of Behaviour

Netiquette

Netiquette refers to behaviour online, and is very important in public and educational systems. The basic premise under which to operate, whether you are a student, a teacher, 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 behaviour.

Netiquette Guidelines

• Humour and sarcasm do not read well in this 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 friendlier.
• Participants include many people of different genders, cultures, ages, ability, religions, and experiences. You must be sensitive to the feelings of others in this diverse delivery environment.

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

• 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 (i.e. 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.
• Never leave a note with your password near your computer.

Privacy

Generally, only teachers moderate class discussions. Open School BC administrative staff, however, reserve the right to view class discussions. If there are indications of misbehaviour, they will work with the class teacher and local administrator to deal with offensive language or any other breakage of the following Rules of Behaviour.

Rules of Behaviour

The following rules of behaviour are taken seriously and must be followed.

• Open School BC online is an educational delivery environment for teachers and students. It must be used for educational purposes, not for commercial purposes in any way — except for specific course related 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, or disability will not be tolerated.
• Swearing, offensive language, and harassment of another person will not be tolerated.

If these Rules of Behaviour are violated, Open School BC administrative staff will consult with the local district administrator and the class teacher. Offending participants can be removed from their courses.

Copyright Open School BC

All content is under copyright. Students and teachers registered in Open School BC online courses have permission to print course pages, online guides, or PDF files for their own educational use. Reproducing content from any online publication by digital, electronic, photographic, or mechanical means without permission from Open School BC is an infringement of copyright law.