Online teachers need to ensure that their students understand acceptable uses of digital material. To do so, teachers should take a little time to go over acceptable use policy at the beginning of the course.
I teach for Floyd County Schools, at Pepperell High School and online throughout the county. Some of the concerns about acceptable use are addressed by school policy. I couldn't find a useful link to just the policy concerning technology use. I started to copy and paste it below from an online student handbook. However, very little of it applies to a truly digital community. This is about all that does.
sending SPAM, and/or harassing others by sending unwanted messages or using inappropriate language is not allowed.
No emphasis is placed here on the positive (what a student should do). It is all on the negative (what a student should not do).
As a teacher, I want to encourage my students to use technology as much as possible. I will have to instruct them in things that all teachers do - don't cheat, this includes not plagiarizing, do your own work, etc. However, with the digital world, plagiarism can extend into copying images and video as well as text. Just as a regular classroom teacher has to teach about citation, an online teacher has to teach about citation and fair use. I found the following link about Creative Commons very helpful in understanding fair use.
Creative Commons link
I plan to introduce my students to the world of open source, but I also expect them to use copyrighted material in acceptable ways allowed by not for profit use. A little instruction, and when necessary a little correction, will go a long way.
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