Conflict of Policies?

[Andie]

Is anyone else getting concerned that Learning Platforms and all the information they hold/display, together with the way they work, may begin to cause headaches with e-Safety Policies and possibly Data Protection policies??

[jcollings]

Is anyone else getting concerned that Learning Platforms and all the information they hold/display, together with the way they work, may begin to cause headaches with e-Safety Policies and possibly Data Protection policies??

 

No because I expect the VLE provider we use to provide a fully secured and backed up system in the same way I do in school.

[klawd]

OP, huge concerns.

 

 

What about the people that have access to it, do they all understand the DPA, and will they abide by it?

 

Staff

Parents

Pupils

Governors

 

What about if their home computer is compromised? Are they all made to sign a document that makes them legally liable for information

that is accessed via their login?

 

I cant see how that is enforcable.

Edited October 16, 2008 by klawd

[Andie]

I started this thread because we had some big concerns as a school that didn't seem to have been thought about by the LEA or the platform provider, until raised by some schools. Unfortunately, I now think these issues are too sensitive for me to raise on a public forum at this stage.

 

However, I have recently come across this issue:

 

Teacher has problem with VLE. I sit with teacher and agree there is a problem. I raise support call with software provider. I am a site admin on platform, but not a teacher, so can't replicate problem for support as I don't have access to the VLE part. I have been told during a previous support call that support personnel are not allowed to access sensitive information on the platform, but this support staff person asks if I can send the teacher's login details so they can try the fault for themselves. I don't know the teacher's password, and the platform AUP that we have all signed means that we aren't allowed to share passwords. The LEA e-Safety policy prohibits the sharing of passwords. So we have to try and arrange a remote support session, co-ordinating the teacher's timetable with my timetable and with the support provider.

 

Bit of a headache! And that's putting it mildly.

[penfold]

Or provide a dummy account for you to test out these problems with accounts with different privalleges?

[NewOrder]

At the moment there is a lot of discussion about data security, data and child protection. Becta have given out advice, guidance and I assume a lot of Local Authorities have done the same. As usual there is a lot of misinformation and data protection is often mentioned without understanding whether it applies or not.

 

A question for you all does the data protection act ban parents from taking pictures of their children at school events?

 

You will find the answer at

 

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/practical_application/taking_photos_v3.0_final.pdf

[Andie]

Or provide a dummy account for you to test out these problems with accounts with different privalleges?

 

Now, wouldn't that be lovely??? But how do we do that without skewing our management data, given that we would need a few dummy pupils to go with our dummy teachers? If it is possible, why hasn't the provider suggested that as a solution, given that it has been raised in various guises by different schools in training sessions?

[russdev]

I know with the RM LP you can add in dummy users (if for example using the sims links) as there is spreadsheet you can edit.

 

Not sure about other LPs and county wide install of the RM LP

[Andie]

I know with the RM LP you can add in dummy users (if for example using the sims links) as there is spreadsheet you can edit.

 

Not sure about other LPs and county wide install of the RM LP

 

Thanks. I've started a new thread to find out about dummy account creation.

 

Then we can leave this thread to deal with issues around conflicts of policies, if they exist.

Edited December 17, 2008 by Andie

[russdev]

Yes sorry took you off topic there

 

Russ