Spying on students!

[kennysarmy]

I task one of my technicians with occasionally keeping an eye on things around the school using ABTutor, he catches low level behaviour issues like kids going "off task" in lessons, for which the teachers are generally very grateful.

The head of 6th form likes to be informed of any students abusing their YouTube rights by watching non school related material!

 

Where do we stand with effectively "spying" on the students?

 

I'm thinking I should update the message they have to click through to enable them to logon, currently it states:

 

By clicking OK below I agree that the username I am logging on with is MY OWN, username and that I will abide by the School's Acceptable, Use Policy., Every website visited is logged and these ARE checked., Every time you log on or log off a computer a log IS created., **** COMPUTER GAMES ARE BANNED FROM THE SCHOOL NETWORK ****, If you are found to be playing a computer game your account will be suspended without warning. This means that you will have no access to the school system., To have your account re-instated you must see me to explain your actions. The Network Manager

 

 

Would love to see what others have as the click through message.

[synaesthesia]

As long as it's in policy, don't worry; we do the same although not actively. If we're eyeing through Impero to look for a problem, check on system statuses etc and see a student well off-task or doing something inappropriate, we take the opportunity to act (usually blocking whatever site they're on). If there's multiple students then we'll email it through to the behavioral team who can act and have a word with the staff involved. Frankly the policy itself could just say "I am a fish" 400 times; it's enforced by Impero and accepted every year to carry on, but there's no chance anyone reads it!

[mthomas08]

I task one of my technicians with occasionally keeping an eye on things around the school using ABTutor, he catches low level behaviour issues like kids going "off task" in lessons, for which the teachers are generally very grateful.

The head of 6th form likes to be informed of any students abusing their YouTube rights by watching non school related material!

 

Where do we stand with effectively "spying" on the students?

 

I'm thinking I should update the message they have to click through to enable them to logon, currently it states:

 

By clicking OK below I agree that the username I am logging on with is MY OWN, username and that I will abide by the School's Acceptable, Use Policy., Every website visited is logged and these ARE checked., Every time you log on or log off a computer a log IS created., **** COMPUTER GAMES ARE BANNED FROM THE SCHOOL NETWORK ****, If you are found to be playing a computer game your account will be suspended without warning. This means that you will have no access to the school system., To have your account re-instated you must see me to explain your actions. The Network Manager

 

Would love to see what others have as the click through message.

 

All our students know that their activity is monitored and logged (it's in our school policies - especially the AUP).

 

Not everyone has access to the software, each person knows what it's for etc. We've even got the AB Tutor compliance.

Edited May 25, 2018 by mthomas08

[bossman]

@kennysarmy

 

Its a classroom management issue not a technical one....

 

We allow one game website so that the staff can allow the students time before the end of the lesson to play on it....

 

If the staff don't want to allow the students access they can block it themselves using the tools provided before the lesson begins....it is in their court....they also have the rights to view the workstations in their group so that they can make judgements based on what they actually see....

 

I re-iterate it is not our duty to monitor students just to support staff in aiding them to manage their classroom with the tools we provide...

[Mako]

@kennysarmy

 

Its a classroom management issue not a technical one....

 

This. When I started as a technician we were far more strict on our "no games" (as part of the AUP) policy, and I used to revel in catching them, blocking games and banning students. My NM at the time would actually delegate this to me as a task, he was quite draconian and hated kids playing games.

 

As I've become older, become the NM and rewritten the policy a few times, it's down to the teachers in the classroom. I keep a loose eye on what's happening on the internet and I will actively block, but not necessarily punish (case-by-case), websites with games of a questionable content. Recently there's been a spate of free-to-play online games such as Tribal Wars, Mars Attack, Emporea etc which allows them to create a free account and actively chat with other players. These ones I will actively block, but if they're just flash games then I'm not fussed... if the teacher is allowing it then that's their prerogative.

 

We are within our right to monitor network activity, especially if it's within the AUP. It's not "spying" unless you make it so.

[synaesthesia]

It should go without saying it isn't our job, however it's worth pointing out that as part of the bigger picture we are glad to help if we can. Finding a dodgy site they're using today to block for tomorrow saves everyone's time and maybe even someone's education in the long run

[bossman]

@synaesthesia

 

If a staff member has access to the right tools then he/she shouldn't need for us to be looking at a big picture...we should be focused on the network issues we have and the hardware and software too....

 

Let the Staff who teach the students do their jobs as I have found in the past Teachers are very touchy about other staff pointing out that they are not doing their jobs by spying on their lessons via what the students are up to.....

 

How do we know what the teacher has agreed with the students in his/her class whilst accessing computers and the internet.....it is up to them to tell us which sites they feel are appropriate and which ones are not don't you think?....

 

I feel too many of us Tech people poke our noses in where they are sometimes not required by the teaching staff.....

 

My motto is "wait until I am asked by the staff member on website access issues..." if they ask for it to be blocked or unblocked it is totally their call not mine....If i have any reservations then I take it to the head of ICT and they deal with it leaving me free to carry on with my work....

[synaesthesia]

Depends on the school & staff I suppose. We're not actively looking for people off task/causing trouble, it's just if we see it - no different to walking down the corridor and asking a kid to behave. Still, the rules are the rules, policy states no games, so no games shall be played!

[TechMonkey]

I'd go with classroom management issue. I have been known to remote on to a machine where I have seen a group of pupils gathered around, if I was suspicious of a pupil as I walked past or if I see a machine chewing up bandwidth. Beyond that I trust the tools we have implemented to keep the main nasties out and time wasting is a people issue, not technical.

[enjay]

I think we're wondering off topic here. @kennysarmy says the teacher appreciate the input and it is done on the specific request of SLT. Therefore discussions about whether we feel it part of our jobs aren't altogether relevant. Also, I'm sure we've all had instances where we've been asked to check up on the activity of a particular student (or to see who might have printed 50 copies of an inappropriate poster).

 

As long as the policy says you can do it, go for it.

 

What about staff? Does AB Tutor only monitor students or would you also pick up staff members? If the latter, have your staff been told you are doing this? I'm not suggesting you would discipline a teacher who is using Facebook, but you need to make them aware you can monitor (even if you don't actively do it).

 

On related topic, it would be worth ensuing your policy includes printing activity. You could easily be checking the print logs for something and notice jobs with sensitive names, e.g. "fred's ed psych report", "Mr A's disciplinary", "job application.doc" or whatever. Make sure your policy informs people you can see this.

 

Our AUP has a fairly broad-reaching statement that any and all activity using school equipment may be logged and/or reported on. Information will be shared at SLT's discretion.

[Love_Sausage]

If you changed the term to "monitoring students?" then it becomes much more acceptable. Any form of monitoring becomes sinister when you call it spying.