Hardware/Software Policy & Acceptable Use PolicyBrooke Ayers

Hardware/Software Policy

Reflection

Davidson County Schools does not have a Board Policy called a “Hardware/Software Policy.” On page 9 of the District Technology Plan, the school has a “Use of Technology to Support Achievement” section.

http://www2.davidson.k12.nc.us/mediatech/dcstechnologyplan.pdf

Davidson County Schools needs to create an official Board Policy.

Create a Policy

• To create a policy I would pull out the “Use of Technology to Support Achievement” section in the Technology Plan and form it into a Hardware/Software Policy. When breaking the section apart, here are some suggestions to add to the section to create a policy:”

Split up the policy into sections

Break up the policy into sections, making Hardware a section and Software a section. Include specific hardware and software being used at the schools and goals and priority’s to address for the hardware and software for the future.

Gerald Malitz offers four tips to address before looking at buying software:

• What do you want to do with the technology?

• What is the best approach to meeting your requirements (i.e., filling the identified gap)?

• How much is this solution going to cost?

• What will my organization gain from this solution? Is it worthwhile?

Include a Buying Software Section

Include an Upgrade SectionMalitz offers the following on whether or not to upgrade:How to decide whether or not to upgrade:• Impact on user productivity. • Ongoing costs/savings. • Addition of useful functions. • Addition of recent content. Risks and costs should be based on:• Costs for potential temporary loss of productivity. • Costs for retraining. • New hardware, operating systems, or networks

required by the upgrades.• Impact on user productivity.

Acceptable Use Policy(AUP)

Below is the link to the Davidson County Schools Acceptable Use Policy

http://www.davidson.k12.nc.us/education/components/docmgr/default.php?sectiondetailid=14758&fileitem=581&catfilter=15

Reflection

Our policy seems to me to be very vague. By looking at other policy’s, I found some that were very specific regarding what student’s could and could not do.

Suggestion 1

• One policy I found I really liked. They broke up the policy between lower and upper grades and the lower schools. This is great because there is a huge difference between what an upper classman student can do on a computer and an elementary age student can do. The restrictions need to be different regarding the age of the students.

http://www.landon.net/page.cfm?p=94

Suggestion 2

• Another website I found had a couple of sections that I found helpful:• Content and Materials Created and Saved• Student Email• School Harassment• Student Email and Voicemailhttp://www.gds.org/technology/acceptableuse.cfm

Through my research and viewing other policies, I feel our policy needs to be more specific and also break down further details about staff and student use.

Malitz Suggest

• Malitz text suggests the Acceptable Use policy should address the following:

• Individual rights regarding access to the system and to resources obtained through use of the system.

• Individual responsibilities with regard to the system, its contents, and connections obtained through the system.

• Organizational rights relating to system oversight and monitoring.

• Organizational responsibilities with regard to the system, its contents, and connections obtained through the system.