RMS EdTech Team

The AUP continues to be an enigma for some of our kids, and a line written in the previous blog on AUP Violations struck me. KB said, “If a student intentionally violates the policy to the point that it effects another child’s instruction or work, then clearly a severe consequence should be the result.” So the question I have to ask is, what (if any) should the consequence be if they just violate the AUP without actually impacting anyone? For example, what about the student who plays a game on the computer instead of writing an essay? What about the kid who signs up for a website that has not been approved by the school using his/her school e-mail? What about the student who initiates (or responds to) e-mail contact with another student from another school without teacher permission? None of these violations has impacted the learning of other students, some have inconvenienced teachers/administrators (having to read all of the spam associated with signing up for a new website), but all have illustrated a student’s desire to do more with the electronic tools provided than the class will allow. What is an appropriate consequence? And perhaps even more important, what should the students learn from this consequence?

In the past, our most comment consequence was for students have had their computer privileges suspended. When it occurs, it has been a private affair between the student, teacher, parents & network administrator. But I wonder how effective that really is… I guess in YS’s class, where students are on computers daily, suspending privileges may be a more obvious consequence, but in my class, it isn’t necessarily as inconvenient as one might think. And I fear that the resulting lessons are not effective enough to keep the perpetrator or other students from repeating the offense.

What can we do? First & foremost, I believe that the communication between team members in terms of using technology should be better. I still can’t believe that we’ve never sat down as teams to set up procedural guidelines… but to be honest, those types of guidelines need to be consistent across the building (if not the district). Who is responsible for making this happen?

I am especially concerned if we plan to give e-mail to all of the middle school. What is set up at the high school to handle this sort of thing? And who is responsible for monitoring? Do students have access to their e-mail outside of school? (Does it defeat the purpose if they don’t?) And what about tracking? It would be cool if we could set up something in infinite campus that would keep track of individual violations & consequences. Currently, I have a spreadsheet/database set up, but it doesn’t reflect most of the incidents in other classes.

I know my logic seems tangential, but it’s all related to the central issue of AUP Violations & effective consequences. Unfortunately, I have more questions than answers.

Call it Spring fever or the students simply are more comfortable with the technology here lately—we’ve had an increase frequency in AUP violations over the past few weeks.  This brings up the issue of consequences for violations.  If a student intentionally violates the policy to the point that it effects another child’s instruction or work, then clearly a severe consequence should be the result.

It is our current practice to take the student off computer use/network use for a full two weeks.  If you are implementing a project, this could mean more work on the behalf of the teacher.  It is my opinion that each situation should be discussed just as two parents would sit down and discuss the appropriate consequence for such a violation.  More importantly, instruction should prevail.  Students, especially at the middle school level, need a “wack on the wrist” at times so they understand certain behavior is simply not acceptable.  Call it “tough love”.  Is it easy on the parent, or in this case, the teacher? No.  However, many times “tough love” only takes one time and the lesson is learned.  Not only for that individual, but for the entire family–in this case all of the peers learn that the behavior is NOT acceptable.

Discipline for the AUP violations, or violations while using technology should not be any different than any other disciplinary action.  Teachers need to communicate the violation to their colleagues and the message should be clear to the students.  It should be clear and consistent.  The more teachers use technology with students, we can expect increase violations.  We’ve learned through our grant that a guide needs to be established at the beginning of the year.  AND we should move forward with the expectation that the guide may—scratch that, WILL change, because technology is always changing and students will always test the system.

Well, centers should help with a variety of issues/concerns. The primary issue is everyone logging in at once to cause total slowness. It should also help with differentiation. You could have the students reflect upon their learning by reflecting on which center they enjoy the most and explain why.

It will be important to point out daily to students while they are engaged in their centers that eventhough they may not like the center–they need to master all. I also want to encourage the teacher who encourages the center work MUST remain calm and steadfast. Switching to centers smoothly will most likely not happen overnight. Students must relearn how to conduct themselves in a center. I think switching centers two and three times within each class period should help keep the students focused. They will get use to it.