Responses to IT AUP

Thank you for your considered responses to the draft IT Policy.

Here are some highlights from your comments:

Refa'at said:
"Every student needs the ability to navigate through the 24/7 information flow that today connects the global community. For students to thrive in a world enabled by information technology, we must give them the skills to make sense of and use the information that engulfs them. We need to give them full resposibility in choosing what is right and what is wrong. If they want to misuse technology and not avail the advantages than its there problem not the teachers or the schools. There are students who are using technology rightfully so it won't be fair to them if privelleges are taken away from all the students. They need to know how to learn new skills as quickly as technology creates new challenges. Many students already use computers and surf the Web on their own, but there's more to educational technology than desktop computers.
Teachers and students need access to laptops and pocket PCs to collaborate across miles. The technology environment of today's schools should match the approaches of the work and life that students will encounter when they leave school. ISD is a sort of school that is taking alot of initiatives in carrying out such a program and they should continue giving privelleges to the students in order to run the program effectivily.
If a student is using inappropriate websites during school time then they should be warned and if it happens second time than the parents of that student should be called and if it continues happening than that particular student should be blocked from accessing websites and his privileges should be taken away."

Saif said:
"On the other hand, yes I agree that the school bandwidth should be preserved only for academic purposes, and that students should refrain from using it for other uses such as downloading software, chatting, playing games, and viewing inappropriate websites. Overall I think that the implementation of the IT AUP will be a positive step for the school and will contribute in making the school network more secure for students to use."

Debanjan said:
"However since the laptops are student’s personal laptops they shouldn't be barred from doing everything. Students should be given a limit on what they can download from the net. For example downloading music won't cause much harm but there should be a limit as to how much music a student can download. If they exceed this limit they should be warned."

Nader said:
"Then again, a student's performance in class is always dependant on how relaxed and ready he/she is to accept the information about to be taught, thus the internet being a tool for leisure too would assist in their ability to learn. However, the definition of leisure should be outlined clearly, due some student's interest and visiting inappropriate sites.
As said by Mrs. Lindsay "We can block any website we want", the school does have the ability to filter our system."

Shaveena said:
"considering that the IT policy is for school, the idea of primarily using the laptops for educational puposes over recreational is more sensible. however as the laptops are personal property of the students, they should be allowed to do whatever they please as long as it is not interfering with school work."

Reem said:
"The school has already blocked p2p softwares, IM-ing software and other things that would take up a students time in class. However I think that firewalling websites is not an ethical approach. For example for ITGS, last year, we debated if porngraphy should be banned. In order to argue one needs sufficient research, if the word "porn" is banned, then it wouldn't be possible for senior to research."

Wasi said:
"However the questions remain as to the implementation of this policy. How and who will implement the policy? What are penalties for breaching the policy? As far as I am concerned, I think the policy should specify these things so that students and staff could be aware of the consequences. It is also important that the policy is revised and overlooked every year to ensure that it is up to date with the rapidly changing in the technological world."

Arpit said:
"The point of keeping the websites just for an educational purpose may have a lot of disadvantages to the students as they won't be able to get information about extra curricular activites or when they have one free period after seven long periods in the school, as from a student point of view i would say that a student is allowed to do some of his personal work in school as well to ease his or her mind. A solution to this can be done by unblocking all those websites in the library computers or some specific computers."

Our new DELL desktop PCs have arrived this week and we look forward to having them deployed throughout the school. ITGS students will benefit from the higher-end multimedia lab installed as it will complement the work they are doing with their laptops.