Excellence Gateway
This case study was produced by JISC RSC (Regional Support Centres) Eastern on behalf of the Excellence Gateway
Sector relevance: FE colleges, Sixth Form colleges
Keywords: Acceptable Use Policy, information security, information, communication and learning technologies (ICLT) management
An Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is a set of rules applied by network or website owners that restrict the ways in which the website or network can be used. Typically, in education institutions, prospective learners are required to sign in agreement to the AUP and adhere to it thereon. However, in some cases, learners can often find loopholes within the Policy. Thurrock and Basildon College has devised a new innovative way of ensuring that the AUP of its learner network is acknowledged and upheld by all learners.
Thurrock and Basildon College is a vocational college serving the age ranges of 14-16, 16-18 and 19+. The college provides courses leading to qualifications from Pre-Entry to Foundation Degrees, creating pathways to learning for all abilities. Thurrock and Basildon College has many partnerships to ensure the maximum opportunities to the learner. Significant partnerships have included:
At Thurrock and Basildon College the AUP is signposted on enrolment. However, there was concern as to whether learners were fully aware of all the conditions set within the AUP.
Therefore, the college decided that it would deploy on the learner network an application that ran on first successful logon. This application displays the AUP in a scrollable box for 60 seconds, meanwhile, nothing else will function except the ability to scroll the window. If a learner attempts to exit the application via ‘Ctrl+Alt+Del' function, the system automatically restarts and then reloads the AUP. After the 60 second time period two tick boxes become visible and, until the learner has indicated that they have read and accepted the AUP, they cannot proceed to use any workstation within the college network.
On acceptance of the AUP, a receipt of the acceptance is recorded on the student's record in the management information system (MIS), with the date and the time of acceptance. Furthermore, should the college need to update the AUP, this can be simply added to the application. Each time a learner enrols for a new academic year in September, they are prompted to agree to the AUP.
Some learners questioned the approach taken by the college, but after being given an explanation of the purpose of the AUP, they have accepted the need and, therefore, complied.
The AUP application has been up and running for over two years at the college. Since its implementation, no learner has found a way of circumnavigating the AUP pop-up. This has been commented on favourably at JISC security seminars.
After discussion with staff unions, an enhanced AUP was written and agreed on by all unions. The AUP pop-up was then added to the staff network with similar features. On acceptance this also updates the staff record with the time and date of acceptance.
This provides the college with the security of knowing that all users of the college systems are aware of the AUP and its implications.
When the ICLT Team from Thurrock and Basildon College attended a JISC seminar on information security, the college received significant praise from the host for their innovative approach to ensuring the secure use of their internal network, thus ticking all the boxes.
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Source: Quality Improvement Agency
You can find this page and download any referenced resources from the Excellence Gateway at http://excellence.org.uk/134659.
