ICT Usage and Social Media (Students)

Inappropriate Material

1. The moral and ethical issues involving the use of worldwide information systems deal with the appropriate access to information, the type of information, and the behaviour of the user. Rehoboth Christian College wants to provide you with a stimulating educational environment, but at the same time we want to protect you from information that is not appropriate for students to use. We want you to use this valuable educational tool, but at the same time we cannot condone the use of inappropriate information on the Internet.
2. We cannot weed out all of the materials that are unacceptable for students, but it should be clearly understood by all students that access to such material in any form is strictly forbidden. The network is designed to achieve and support instructional goals, and any information that does not support classroom learning is to be avoided.
3. Although the actual percentage of unacceptable materials is small, it can cause concern for students and parents if a student stumbles onto the information while doing legitimate research. If you have a question or concern regarding any information you find, contact your teacher or the ICT Manager.

Plagiarism

1. Plagiarism can be defined as “taking ideas or writings from another person and offering them as your own”. A student who leads readers to believe that what they are reading is the student’s original work when it is not is guilty of plagiarism. Credit must always be given to the person who created the original article or the idea.
2. Be careful when you are using the Internet. Cutting and pasting ideas into your own document is very easy to do, so be sure that you give credit to the author by referencing your work accordingly. That way your teacher will know which ideas are yours, and you won’t be guilty of plagiarism. Bibliographies, reference lists, and citations are all examples of references – if you are unsure how to prepare a reference, your teacher will be able to help.
3. Teachers are able to use a variety of tools to automatically scan your work and check it against a variety of sources such as Wikipedia, blogs, websites and other online sources. It is very easy to uncover plagiarised work.
4. The penalty for plagiarism is laid down in the College’s Fairness in Student Work Policy, which is available from the College office and is issued to all students annually. You will lose credit for any assessment containing plagiarised material.

    

Copyright

1. Copyright is another issue altogether. According to the Copyright Act of 1968, as amended, “Fair Use” means that you may freely use any information that you legally find on the Internet as long as you do so only for scholarly purposes; you may not plagiarise or sell what you find. Suppose, for example, that you find a copy of Photoshop on the Internet. Could you legally copy it? The answer is NO. This is copyrighted software. You have to purchase commercial software packages before you use them legally. Suppose you find an article about the use of Photoshop on the Internet. Can you legally copy it? The answer is yes, as long as you give credit to the author and do not sell the article for profit, but only use it to learn about the use of the program.
2. The same rules apply to music and video files. These may be legally downloaded (from iTunes, for example) but sharing them with others, whether over the Internet, via AirDrop, or other local sharing mechanisms, is not permitted. This rule remains in force even where copyright does not directly apply, such as the case of a creative commons license on a media file.
   
   

Etiquette and Privacy

1. You are expected to abide by the generally accepted rules of network etiquette in all of your online activity. These rules include (but are not limited to) the following:
   1. Be polite: never send, or encourage others to send, abusive messages.
   2. Use appropriate language: remember that you are a representative of our Christian College and community. You may be alone with your computer, but what you say and do can be viewed globally. Never swear, use vulgarities, or any other inappropriate language. Illegal activities of any kind are strictly forbidden.
   3. Maintain privacy: do not reveal your home address or personal phone number, or the addresses and phone numbers of students or colleagues.
   4. Email is not guaranteed to be private. Messages relating to or in support of illegal activities must be reported to the authorities.
   5. Disruptions: do not use the network in any way that would disrupt use of the network by others.
2. Other considerations:
   1. Be brief. People will be less likely to bother reading a long message.
   2. Minimise spelling errors and make sure your message is easy to understand and read.
   3. Use accurate and descriptive titles for your articles. Tell people what it is about before they read it.
   4. Remember that humour, satire, and sarcasm is very often misinterpreted. Without face-to-face communications your joke may be viewed as criticism or worse.
   5. Cite references for any facts or direct quotes you present.
   6. Remember that all network users are human beings. Don’t attack correspondents personally; courteously persuade them with fact.
   7. Only capitalise a whole word to highlight an important point or to distinguish a title or heading. *Asterisks* surrounding a word also can be used to make a stronger point.
   8. It is considered extremely rude, and may sometimes be illegal, to forward personal e-mail to mailing lists or Usenet without the original author’s permission.