Tag Archives: acceptable use policy

Fishermoss PS: Acceptable Use Policy and teacher confidence

Developing a culture of responsible use of devices

Aberdeenshire Council has a long history of commitment to and use of digital technologies to help deliver better outcomes for learners. This past year has seen them continue this as they have begun to explore the use of a range of devices in its schools with pilots trialling iPads, Android tablets and iPod Touches.

One of these pilots saw every pupil and teacher at Fishermoss PS in Portlethen being given an iPod Touch by the Local Authority ICT team. We were obviously very interested in finding out more about this ambitious pilot and visited the school late in 2012 to see how things were progressing.

We met with Charlie Barrow who teaches P7  and he shared with us his experience to date of using the iPods in his practice. Mr Barrow took some time to explain to us how the school had planned to ensure that a culture of responsible use of the devices was developed at the school, how parents were on board in terms of partnering the school and how the Acceptable Use Policy enables this agreement to be presented in a documented way.

Fishermoss PS: Acceptable Use Policy

Forrester HS: Overview of their Android pilot

Forrester HS: Overview of pilot
Android devices at Forrester HS

Forrester High School in Edinburgh is one of the schools who have been working with the Android devices as part of the city’s wider exploration of devices in schools programme. We met with Mark Cunningham (class teacher), who is one of the members of staff who has been integral to the setting-up and progression of the pilot to date.

Forrester HS: Pilot overview Mr Cunningham (Class Teacher) gives an overview of the Android pilot at Forrester HS

Mark explained to us that the school had looked at different platforms for their pilot and that they eventually decided to go with Android due to the flexibility they felt it offered. Having decided on the platform, it was then agreed that the upcoming S1 cohort from associate schools P7s  would be the ones involved in the pilot. Staff from Forrester HS met with the P7s and their parents/carers towards the end of the summer term in 2012 to explain the pilot and deal with issues such as the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) etc.

A key factor in this pilot was that the learners were permitted to take their device home. The school saw this as fundamental to the pilot and felt that there would be limited impact were the devices not allowed to leave the school. They also decided not to exert an overly controlling influence over the devices and that they would let the pupils install apps on their device provided it was within the scope of the AUP. At the time of our meeting with Forrester HS there had been no instances of inappropriate use of the devices by any of the pupils.

Bellshill Academy: Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

Bellshill Academy
AUP integral to the pilot

Willie Davidson (The Learning Centre) discussed with us the formation of the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and how a ‘deficit view’ of the learners at the school in terms of not trusting them to look after the devices was not allowed to set the agenda for the pilot. Rather than worrying about the unfortunate things that might happen to the device, the school decided to trust their learners and allow the devices to go home. It was a requirement, however, that the pupils’ parents/carers had to attend one of the information evenings for the pilot or make an appointment with the school if they could not attend any of the planned evenings, so that they were made fully aware of the expectations of the pilot and agreed to and signed the AUP. There was 100 percent attendance by all parents/carers. At the time of our visit to Bellshill Academy there had only been one instance of an iPad going missing and that was due to a burglary. There had been minimal instances of any type of misuse of the device or transgression of the AUP.

Bellshill Academy: Acceptable Use Policy Mr Davidson (The Learning Centre) discusses Bellshill Academy’s Acceptable Use Policy

Mr Davidson stressed that an AUP does not necessarily stop those who wish to misuse their iPad from doing so, but it does give the school the formal structure to ensure that learners and their parents/carers are made fully aware of what is not acceptable.

The AUP devised by Bellshill Academy is available as a pdf.