AUP, RUP, EUP, OPP?

Today I came across the post below. Since I have been thinking about the RUP, I was reading a blogpost with the AUP and student safety in mind. 

Concern about student safety while online and use of digital tools is undoubtedly valid. Every educator knows the best and the worst that the human mind has produced can be found somewhere on the Internet. We believe it is our moral obligation as educators to keep students safe, while simultaneously enabling them to create responsible digital footprints. Unfortunately, many school districts’ filtering policies were developed before the rise of interactive web tools, social media, and mobile technologies.

Thomas C. McMurray

A few years ago, I was taking the COETAIL course and the second module had us create an AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) for our school. It was great because at the time I was at a small school that did not have one. I was fortunate to be taking the course at the same time as a coworker in HS. So I ended up making one for the elementary students and he made one for the secondary students. 

Photo by Mometrix Test Prep on Unsplash

Now seven years later I am being asked to do make one for my current school.

The first thing I did was to reach out to my PLN to see some more examples of what has already been made for international schools. (Why reinvent the wheel?) Then I took a look at what I made in the past (Good content, poor design). Then I gathered all the ones I had saved copies of as well as the old ones from my school (Overwhelming). Finally, I went back to the last one my school used.

This is not a post on the process of what I did nor is it a how-to about making one. I wanted to reflect on a few things I came across while doing this.

• The different names for these policies - AUP, RUP, EUP 
• My thoughts on what one should look like.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

When I started looking into this, I didn't think much about the name a school uses for this policy. But putting this together, I have come across several different ways to call this document. A few of the most notable are:

AUP - Acceptable Use Policy - This is more a set of rules that focuses on what students should not do with technology. 

AUA - Acceptable Use Agreement - Similar to the AUP, but more inclusive since an agreement is less top-down than a policy. 

RUP - Responsible Use Policy - According to Thomas McMurray, "... Responsible Use Policies (RUPs) typically outline how students (and employees) should act."

EUP - Expected Use Policy - outlines the guidelines and behaviors that students are expected to follow when using technology both at school and at home. Seems the same as RUP.

WHAT DO YOU THINK, TOM?*

I do think some thought should go into what you call the document. The name should reflect the school's vision. The xUP should be a natural extension from the vision. Hopefully, the school has a mission and a vision that the community lives so when there is a policy, they don't have to think too much because it would be such a natural fit. 

If a policy has to be long to explain all the nuance, maybe it doesn't fit with the overall mission and vision of the school.

I don't know, it's something to think about.

* The Tom I was referring to was myself. I just realized the Tom from above could be a reference to the blog post I linked to. That Tom can answer too.

And just in case you are wondering what OPP is, a little Naughty By Nature ...