VLN Acceptable Use Policy

Any person working online at VLN must comply with the following regulations:

  • I will be responsible for the activity, which transpires through use of my user-permit to this course.
  • I will be responsible for the security of my password. I will not give out my password to anyone who asks for it, even to some one who says they are calling on behalf of my school or the Vancouver School Board. The assigned user-permit must NOT be used by anyone else.
  • I understand and will use correct log-out procedures to ensure course security.
  • If I suspect that someone is using my identity fraudulently, I will alert VLN technical staff and school administration as soon as possible.
  • I will never give out personal information such as my address and telephone number.
  • I will notify the school administration and technical staff right away if I come across any information that makes me feel uncomfortable.
  • I will never agree to meet anyone I have chatted to online.
  • I will not respond to any messages that make me feel uncomfortable. If I receive such messages, I will tell the school administration and technical staff right away.

As an online student at VLN, you'll be expected to follow appropriate codes of conduct in these three areas:

 

Attendance

You may already be asking yourself, what do we mean by "attendance"? As an online student you don't have to come to school every day, but we do expect that you will check in regularly, both to your homeroom and the courses in which you are registered.

Please maintain regular contact with your online teacher and complete all assignments. you should aim to complete one send-in per course each week. You'll need to inform your online teacher or counsellor of any illness or reason for absence from the course.

Your teachers may have different expectations depending on whether a course is self-paced or works to a set schedule for the whole group. Please pay attention to these expectations as your final grade will depend on them.

Netiquette

Netiquette (appropriate conduct on the internet) can mean many different things to different people. At VLN, we expect that all students will behave in a courteous and respectful manner to other students and to VLN staff and teachers.

Observing proper netiquette at school means that you will follow these six core principles:

  1. You may be online but you are dealing with real people at the other end: whether they are down the street, across town or on another continent, they expect to learn in an environment that is comfortable. Every student and staff member in Desire2Learn deserves their own space. Let's help everyone get settled and be productive!
  2. Remember that when you have logged in to gvdes.ucourses.com, you are at school! As in any school, you'll need to use the tone of voice appropriate to your environment. Desire2Learn is a workplace for all of us so take care to spell-check and use correct grammar when you are required to do so.
  3. If you would not say something to a person's face, do not type it in an online classroom discussion, email or pager message.
  4. Avoid conflict: if you disagree with someone, make sure that your disagreement is with the opinion and not the person. Do not make personal judgments in class and if you feel at all uncomfortable in an online discussion, let your teacher or counsellor know immediately.
  5. Not everyone has the same computer, internet connection or technical skills: if you can help someone else, please do! Share your knowledge and be patient if necessary. A page that loads for you in seconds may take someone else several minutes, so take care not to overload public areas with enormous files.
  6. Make yourself look good! We may never meet you in person, so take care of your online appearance and we'll be impressed!

In addition to the regulations listed above, we also require that students:

 

Plagiarism

Plagiarism whether intentional or unintentional is intellectual dishonesty and a serious offence. It happens when we don't give credit to someone else's ideas.

It can take many forms such as:

Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Students who plagiarize may receive a zero for the assignment or may be asked to withdraw from the course. Your course teacher has tools to detect copying from the Internet.

To avoid plagiarism, you need to properly document work that is not your own or when you paraphrase the work of others. This includes work from a book, article, newspaper, Internet, email, discussions, bulletin boards and so on. Diagrams, pictures, and charts also need to be documented.