Acceptable Uses Policy

After reviewing the student AUP for Poudre School District, I noticed a few things in regards to the recommended key elements.  First, it is not called an AUP, but rather Students Use of District Computers, E-mail, and Internet Access. 

• The preamble section is somewhat there, but not clearly labeled or very detailed.  The terminology is not very kid friendly and uses legal terminology.  It does, however, state that the student code of conduct applies to student online activity as well, so this is good.
• There is not a definition section at all and technology related words are simply inserted into the document, making the assumption that students understand and know what they mean.  This is not a fair assumption, and is this is the district policy that all students see and receive, it definitely should have a definition section so that it is assured students will understand the policies and what is expected of them.
• Again, there is a policy statement, but it is not clearly labeled and written in very technical terms.  The AUP does clearly define which computer services are covered by the AUP, but could benefit from being in more user-friendly words. 
• The district’s AUP certainly does have an acceptable uses section that clearly states that students may only use district computers, email, and internet for educational purposes only, but “educational purposes” is not clearly defined.  It is discussed a bit later and one can infer what this means, but the AUP could benefit from a clear definition again at this point.
• Lastly, there is also a clearly labeled section for unacceptable uses.  In this section, it is bulleted and easier to read (more kid-friendly) so it is clear they want students to be aware of the unacceptable uses.  There are 15 bullet points with detailed explanation about what is not acceptable.  In this section, the district provided a thorough, concise list. 
• The violations section of the AUP states, “Students found to be in violation of this policy shall be subject to consequences that may include the suspension or revocation of use privileges, detention, and suspension or expulsion from school.”  This is rather vague, but makes it clear that there will be consequences and they can be extreme.  According to the key elements, this is all a good AUP needs to contain about violations.

Overall, the district has a well-written AUP that touches on all of the key elements except clearly defining terms.  There are some lay-out issues and language issues that I would personally change to direct the document toward students.  After all, that is who it is written for…

Elizabeth