IT Charter 2022-23 en

IT CHARTER 2022-23

IT CHART 2022-23

 

 

  1. PREAMBLE

 

The European Schools endeavour to offer pupils the best possible working conditions in terms of IT and multimedia services.  This Charter sets out the rules for proper use of and good behaviour vis-à-vis the IT resources with a pedagogical purpose made available to them.

 

This Charter forms an annex to the House Rules of the European School, […] (hereinafter referred to as ‘the School’) and falls within the framework of the laws and regulations in force relating in particular to copyright, to intellectual property rights, to privacy protection (including in particular image rights) and to the processing of personal data, as well as computer crime.

 

 

  1. IT RESOURCES AND DEVICES

 

2.1 Definition

 

‘IT resources and devices’ means the package composed of the School’s network, servers and workstations, interactive whiteboards, peripheral devices (printers, external hard drives), software, laptop computers and tablets, use of the Internet in the School and digital learning resources[1] provided by the latter.

 

2.2 Golden rule

 

The European School’s IT resources are intended to be used solely for pedagogical activities.

 

2.3 Access to IT resources and devices

 

Access to the resources and devices provided by the School is a privilege and not a right.

 

Each and every pupil is required to comply scrupulously with the operating conditions and the rules for proper use and good behaviour contained in this Charter.

 

The School can carry out regular or occasional checks to verify that IT resources and devices are being used in compliance with the provisions of this Charter and reserves the right to revoke this privilege if need be.

In the School, access to IT resources and devices is provided under the responsibility of the School’s Management and under the control of a member of the educational team.

 

The School offers access to different IT resources:

 

  • To the School’s computers via a personal account,
  • To the School’s network, comprising:
    • storage spaces on the School’s servers: shared spaces or restricted to one’s personal account,
    • network printers,
  • To Office 365 online services (including in particular an email/messaging service) managed by the European School,
  • To proprietary software, licensed or open source,
  • To the Internet.

 

All access accounts with which the pupil is provided are personal and may be used only by the pupil concerned.  Thus, access codes must be absolutely confidential and may not be divulged to third parties (with the exception of the pupil’s legal representatives). Before leaving his/her workstation, the pupil must always ensure that he/she has logged out properly.

 

The pupil will inform his/her educational adviser in the event of a problem with his/her account and of loss, theft or compromising of his/her access codes.

 

  1. GENERAL RULES OF GOOD BEHAVIOUR

 

3.1 General comments

 

Pupils are required to follow the rules of good behaviour when using the resources and devices made available to the School for pedagogical purposes. Thus, access to resources by a pupil who is using his/her own personal mobile device in the School (i.e. access to the network) or outside the School also means complying with this Charter.

 

For personal use outside school, each pupil will be given 5 Office 365 installation licences for computers and/or smart phones and tablets. These licences may be used and installed on IT devices regularly used by the pupil and password-protected in compliance with the general rules of good behaviour set out in this Charter.

 

3.2 Respect for confidentiality

 

Pupils are forbidden from:

  • seeking to appropriate other people’s passwords,
  • logging in with other people’s user names and passwords,
  • using another user’s open session without his/her explicit permission,
  • opening, editing or deleting other people’s files and, more generally, trying to access information belonging to them without their permission,
  • saving a password in Internet software such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc., when using non-personal devices.

 

3.3 Respect for the network and for workstations

 

Scrupulous respect for the premises and the hardware must be shown.  Computer keyboards and mice must be handled with care. Thus, pupils are not allowed to eat and drink when using workstations in the School, so as not to damage them.

 

Pupils are forbidden from:

  • seeking to change the workstation’s configuration,
  • seeking to change or to destroy network or workstation data,
  • installing software or copying software present on the network,
  • accessing or attempting to access resources other than those allowed by the School,
  • opening messages, files, documents, links, images sent by unknown senders,
  • inserting, into any device whatsoever, a removable drive, without the permission of a responsible adult,
  • connecting a storage device or medium (USB, mobile phone, other) without the permission of a responsible adult,
  • deliberately interfering with the network’s operation, and in particular by using programs designed to input malicious programs or to circumvent security (viruses, spyware or other),
  • subverting or attempting to subvert the protection systems installed (firewall, antivirus programs, etc.),
  • using VPN[2]

 

3.4 Respect for intellectual property rights

 

Pupils are forbidden from:

  • downloading or making illegal copies of material (streaming, audio, films, software, games, etc.) protected by intellectual property rights,
  • plagiarising, i.e. reproducing, (re)disseminating, communicating to the public, in any form whatsoever, any information, irrespective of the medium (table, graph, equation, article of a legal act, image, text, hypothesis, theory, opinion, etc), which might be protected by intellectual property rights (copyright, etc.).

 

The use of information found on the Internet for classwork implies that the sources must be included and correctly quoted by the pupil. He/she may seek the assistance of one of the members of the educational team in that connection.

 

3.5 Respect for the members of the school community and of the School

 

Pupils are forbidden from:

  • displaying on screen, publishing documents or taking part in exchanges of a defamatory, abusive, extremist or, pornographic, or discriminatory nature, whether based upon racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or philosophical beliefs, state of health, or sexual orientation;
  • bullying other people (cyberbullying), in their own name or using a false identity or a pseudonym;
  • using other people’s lists of email addresses or personal data for purposes other than those intended by pedagogical or educational objectives;
  • using improper languages in emails, posts, chats or any other means of communication whatsoever (the message’s author has sole responsibility for the content sent);
  • damaging the reputation of a member of the school community or of the School, in particular by disseminating texts, images and/or videos;
  • entering into contracts, selling or advertising in any way whatsoever on the School’s behalf, unless the project has been approved beforehand by the School’s Management.

 

 

  1. SPECIAL RULES FOR USE OF THE INTERNET

 

4.1 The School’s network

 

Access to the Internet within the European School is a privilege and not a right. 

 

Use of the pedagogical Internet-based network is for the sole purpose of teaching and learning activities corresponding to the European Schools’ missions.

 

Pupils are strictly prohibited from:

  • connecting to live chat services or to discussion forums unless otherwise authorised by a member of the educational team, on account of their pedagogical purpose, or to social media,
  • sharing personal information allowing the pupil’s identification (first name, surname(s), email, address, etc.),
  • accessing pornographic, xenophobic, anti-Semitic or racist sites,
  • downloading or installing any program whatsoever.

 

Under no circumstances should pupils mention their name, display a photo, mention their address, telephone number or any other information facilitating their identification on the Internet.

 

Pupils are prohibited from using the email address linked to their O365 account (…@student.eursc.eu) to create accounts on applications, websites or software not authorised by a member of the educational team or by the School’s Management.

 

4.2 Supervision and assistance with the session for pupils in the School

 

The School will use a supervision and assistance system to ensure that pupils are engaged in a continuous learning process and to allow the people responsible for the course in question and the library staff to help pupils directly from their workstation.

 

Only persons authorised by the Management may use the supervision and assistance software and they are required to comply with the IT Charter applicable to their role in the School.

 

This system allows:

 

  • pupils’ screens to be accessed remotely to help them and to keep them focused on their tasks,
  • teaching to be more effective, by displaying the screen of the person in charge of the lesson to the class,
  • pupils’ screens to be selected to present their work,
  • all pupils’ screens to be deactivated to capture their attention.

 

No recording of their session or of their activity is made.

 

4.3 Social media

 

Pupils are prohibited from connecting to social media with the email address linked to their O365 account (…@student.eursc.eu).

 

Use of a private digital device (telephone, tablet, laptop) does not exempt pupils from following the rules for their proper use and good behaviour as laid down in this Charter, as regards respect for members of the school community and of the School. Pupils remain responsible for the content displayed.

 

 

  1. SPECIAL RULES CONCERNING ONLINE LEARNING / TEACHING

 

Online learning or teaching implies following the rules for proper use and good behaviour laid down by this Charter, whether within the framework of:

  • Online learning or teaching at school (‘blended learning’), implying use of digital learning resources approved by the School’s Management or engaging in asynchronous online activities (homework),
  • Remote online learning or teaching (‘distance learning’), when lessons in the School are suspended,
  • Distance and in situ online learning or teaching (‘hybrid learning’), when lessons are attended by some pupils in situ and by others remotely.

 

In addition, the following are prohibited:

  • photographing and/or filming, by means of personal devices, the teacher(s) and the pupils participating in online learning and, a fortiori, from publishing such images/videos,
  • participating in online learning or teaching sessions which the pupil might not have been expressly invited to attend,
  • inviting participants to online learning or teaching sessions without the agreement of the person organising the session,
  • using digital learning resources to intimidate, bully, defame or threaten other people.

 

Image rights are recognised rights for each of the members of the school community, which is why the School will not tolerate the use of images/videos taken without the knowledge of the persons concerned.

 

 

  1. REPORTING TO THE EDUCATIONAL/ICT TEAM

 

The student undertakes to report to a member of the educational and/or IT team (an educational adviser, an IT coordinator, a teacher, etc.), as quickly as possible:

  • any suspicious software or device,
  • any loss, theft or compromising of his/her authentication information,
  • any message, file, document, link, image sent by an unknown sender.

 

 

  1. RESPONSIBILITY

 

Intentional damage to the School’s devices and IT resources may result in repair costs for the legal representatives of the pupils concerned, in accordance with Article 32 of the General Rules of the European Schools.

 

Any pupil who chooses to bring a mobile phone or other electronic device to the School does so at his/her own risk and is personally responsible for the safety of his/her mobile phone or device.

 

Without prejudice to the exceptions provided for where pupils are required to bring a device to School for the purposes of the BYOD programme, the School will not accept any liability whatsoever for the loss or, theft of, or damage to or vandalism of a telephone or any other device, or for unauthorised use of such a device.

 

 

  1. SANCTIONS PROVIDED FOR

 

Any pupil who contravenes the rules set out above will be liable to suffer the disciplinary measures provided for by the General Rules of the European Schools and the House Rules of the School and the sanctions and criminal proceedings provided for by law.

 

All members of the educational team must undertake to ensure that those provisions are respected by pupils who are under their responsibility and are required to exercise rigorous control in that respect.

 

The IT administrator must constantly ensure to his/her satisfaction that IT resources are operating properly and being properly used.  To that end, monitoring IT resources and devices allows anomalies (abnormal use of the network, excessive amount of storage space, attempted cyberattack, etc.) to be detected. Should anomalies be detected, the IT administrator will approach the School’s Management to agree on the measures to be taken. However, in cases of absolute emergency and to protect the School’s IT system, the IT administrator may take an immediate decision to block IT access to one or more pupils, then will immediately refer the matter to the Management.

 

This type of intervention can be made only subject to compliance with clearly defined purposes, namely:

  • prevention of illegal or defamatory actions, actions contrary to accepted standards of good behaviour or likely to affront other people’s dignity;
  • protection of the Schools’ economic or financial interests, to which confidentiality is attached,
  • security and/or smooth technical operation of IT systems, including control of the related costs, and physical protection of the School’s facilities;
  • compliance in good faith with the principles and rules for use of the technologies available, and with this Charter.

 

 

  1. REVIEW

 

This Charter will be reviewed in the light of the experiences gained in the 2020/21 school year.

[1] In accordance with the definition mentioned in the Procedure for approval of use of a Digital Learning Resource within the European Schools (Annex to MEMO 2019-12-M-3/GM).

[2] In computing, a Virtual Private Network, VPN for short, is a system allowing a direct link to be created between remote computers, by isolating this traffic in a sort of tunnel.

 

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