September 20, 2016

Dear Principal Smalley,

After reviewing the CUSD acceptable use policy (AUP), I have noticed some striking
issues in regards to distance education (DE). DE is multi-faceted; it involves the geographic
separation of teacher and student, is based in an educational institution, and involves the use of
synchronous communication and collaboration, including the sharing of all types of data,
including multimedia and text (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015).
I appreciated that according to the district AUP, students are able to access message
boards for school related functions both at home and at school, which is essential for their
success; as students involved in distance education need to be connected often to attain the
greatest benefit from the experience (Lamb & Annetta, 2012). I also noted that district policy is
up to date regarding student use of data on smartphones. It is important to maintain a safe
environment for students online, and fortunately the AUP details how students are required to
log into the filtered guest network on their phones to access the internet when performing
searches for academic purposes. Lastly, I valued the inclusion of the the section relating to
protection of personal confidential information; students need to know how to protect themselves
when maintaining an online presence in the DE environment. Although these are only a few of
the many positives, there are some areas that I think our district could improve upon as well.
The first area of improvement involves plagiarism and copyright infringement. Out AUP
strictly prohibits both of these, but does not adequately define what they are. For example, it
does not discuss the retrieval of images from online sources; the AUP specifically references text
and ideas only. In addition, the cyberbullying section needs refinement and expansion. Again,
there is mainly a problem with the lack of a definition of cyberbullying. Students need explicit

September 20, 2016

guidelines for expected conduct in the online world in distance education. Lastly, there is no
mention of distance education overall; the focus is face to face technology use. With these issues
in mind, I propose that the following language be added to our acceptable use policy.
4.0 DISTANCE EDUCATION
A. Definition: Distance education is collaborative, online education that is based in an
educational institution and involves the use of synchronous and asynchronous
communication and collaboration, including the sharing of multiple types of data online.
B. Plagiarism and copyright infringement in the distance education environment is strictly
prohibited. This includes the use both text and all media, including images, audio, and
video, without the express permission from the content creator and/or owner. When
permission is granted, all works must be properly cited.
C. Students must not provide personally identifiable information on sites that are not
specifically designated for such purposes. The instructor will provide access to password
protected forums for student online interaction and collaboration. All student work and
collaboration must take place on these teacher designated forums.
D. Students may not engage in cyberbullying. Students may not use derogatory language in
reference to any participant; this includes posting pictures or videos of participants
without express prior consent on any forum, discussion board, or other image or video
hosting site. Any pictures or videos depicting participants must be for academic use only.
Thank you for your time and prompt attention to these matters.
Sincerely,
Christina Hellwig