Monitoring+Students

media type="youtube" key="Gqr3SjSUKF4" height="251" width="336" align="right" There is a very thin line for schools to walk when monitoring students off-campus. To the right is a news clip of a school accused of crossing the line by activating the webcam to spy on a student in the student’s home. (CNIN242, 2010) It is up to the school to determine a policy for monitoring students’ off campus behavior and make it explicitly clear in the contract (such a Sample Contract 3.) However, it is important to note that schools need to be mindful of the civil liberties and privacy of the students to not infringe on their rights.

Cyber bullying and copyright infringement taking place off-campus can be monitored through checking the device on-campus; there is no need to activate the device remotely like in the video shown above. Teachers can easily check the online activity and computer history on the device from inside the classroom. Parents should be responsible for making sure that students are not searching inappropriate topics on the school issued devices through controlling the internet settings in the home or periodically checking the search history on the device. Parents can also download the Mobicip app as described earlier in the contractual agreements section for added protection for the students.

 Monitoring on-campus behavior is much easier to do- teachers can simply walk around the classroom to insure that students are on-task. Schools can set up a firewall to prevent students from going to inappropriate websites and install programs that allow teachers to see the student screens during the school day.

Please continue to our next page, Stolen or Damaged Devices