FERPA
The Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects students. As instructors it
is our responsibility to respect students and enforce these guidelines. To
begin with, staff and students should be informed and educated about FERPA. It
is important to get permission and consent before sharing any information.
There are
some basics that need to be considered by instructor when sharing information. A
teacher should not share grades in emails. They should request a conference or
hold a phone conference. Instructors should not discuss another student with a
parent. Instructors should provide records as requested.
When
students complete projects, there are also some items that need to be considered.
We want students to be able to create and post to the internet, but we need to
make sure that the students are not required to give personal information. In
addition, we need to make sure the students are informed that when or if their
work is published. If a student is under 18, we need to get parent permission
to publish. Furthermore, no public comments or grades from instructor should be
publicly served.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright
protects original works whether they are written, record, or visual. They can
published or unpublished. There are methods that can help instructors and
students make sure that they are violating these laws. To begin with, education
of these laws is essential. There must be a clear understanding of what is
copyrighted and what fair use means.
There are
some good charts out there that are helpful to keep if you need a quick
reference. Adding a document to the AUP would be helpful for an online
institute. In addition, the LMS could review material to make sure it was not
violating and copyright laws. Instructors can use software to check student
work to make sure it was original content.
Copyright
does not mean that all work has to be original. Work may be used but it must
follow guidelines. Portions of material with different limitations can be used
for educational purposes without permission. Some limitations could be the amount
of words in a written document or the time period in a multimedia project. You
are free to embed videos from websites such as Youtube as long as the video
gives you the embed option. It also important to give credit to a source when
it is used.
After review
the information in this quest, I am going to be sure to check the fair use
policies and educate my students on how to follow the laws.
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