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External Educational Technologies for Learning and Teaching Guidelines

This is not a current document. It has been repealed and is no longer in force.

September 2023 – This document is expired, educational technologies are addressed in the Course and Subject Delivery and Management Procedure.

Section 1 - Purpose

(1) This document describes Charles Sturt University's guidelines for the use of External Educational Technologies (EETs) for learning and teaching in the context of existing policies and principles of Charles Sturt University (the University). They are informed by the Course and Subject Delivery and Management Procedure and include advice and helpful hints for staff on the effective use of EETs in learning and teaching to minimise risks and ensure that students will have a positive learning experience.

(2) The Guidelines expand on the common-sense Social Media Guidelines or generic online activities.

(3) The University promotes blended learning environments for both on-campus and distance learning and teaching. It provides a number of systems to support learning and teaching, for which there are minimum requirements. However, important trends in EETs have emerged in recent years, leading to a "new and disruptive form of education that transcends boundaries between formal and informal settings, institutional and self-directed learning, and traditional education providers and commercial organisations" (Sharples, McAndrew, Weller, Ferguson, Fitzgerald, Hirst, Mor, Gaved & Whitelock, 2012).

(4) Faculties, schools and teaching support divisions are encouraged to use these Guidelines which will be updated at least on an annual basis by the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching).

(5) The University's Educational Technology Reference Group will be called on to recommend amendments to these Guidelines.

(6) These Guidelines have been developed using various sources and materials which are listed in the Reference list, under the Associated Information tab.

Scope

(7) These Guidelines apply to the use of External Educational Technologies (EETs) in the University learning and teaching activities, such as the EETs described by the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies.

(8) These Guidelines apply to the use of EETs endorsed by teaching staff for their own, or for their students' use as it relates to learning and teaching activities (which include assessment practices).

(9) These Guidelines do not refer to EETs independently used by students for their learning although modelling good practice in University endorsed environments should have positive influence in independent learning environments.

(10) Administrative use of EETs for instance for marketing and communication purposes, as well as guidelines for personal use of EETs for students and staff, are covered by other policies like the Information Technology Procedure - Acceptable Use and Access and the Student Misconduct Rule 2020.

Background and Context

(11) External Educational Technologies (EETs) are being used to highlight new pedagogies, to extend students' digital literacies and professional networks, to take advantage of informal learning opportunities and to promote the development of one's professional identity. They offer new ways to actively engage students in their learning and participate in networks beyond the formal classroom. As a responsive and agile university, the University must take advantage of these opportunities while ensuring we do not compromise the student experience or our sustainability.

(12) The University encourages the responsible and skilful use of EETs to supplement institutionally-provided learning systems and technologies where these contribute to achieving learning and teaching objectives. In particular, use of EETs is encouraged when EETs:

  1. bridge accessibility issues;
  2. are regularly used by a large percentage of the student cohort for generating, collecting and sharing information;
  3. complement or add features to a student-focused learning environment, which supports the achievement of learning outcomes;
  4. maximise engagement, including peer-to-peer learning;
  5. contribute towards the University's workplace learning agenda;
  6. are used with a student cohort which has high levels of digital literacy;
  7. are used with a student cohort that is preparing to transition from institutional to real world networks; and/or
  8. provide scope for innovation in learning and teaching approaches.

(13) The University recognises that staff and students have broader interests and lives than learning and teaching at the University. We respect their right to control access to their personal and social lives. While there are opportunities in better integrating study with people's broader lives, each individual must be free to control the level of access to their social networks. The University does not demand that students 'friend' the University or staff of the University to complete their studies.

(14) This Policy was developed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Australia Licence. Under this Licence you are free to copy, distribute, display and perform the work and to make derivative works, in accordance with the following:

  1. Attribution - you must attribute the work to the original authors and include the following statement "Support for the original work was provided by Charles Sturt University".
  2. Non-commercial - you may not use this work for commercial purposes.
  3. Share Alike - if you alter, transform, or build on this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work.

(15) Conditions as specifed under clause 14 may be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.

(16) Requests and inquiries concerning these rights should be through the University's website.

Outcomes

(17) These Guidelines are designed to provide a suitable framework for staff using External Educational Technologies (EETs) in their learning and teaching activities. This first section defines behaviours the University expects from staff engaged in using EETs in learning and teaching in a range of areas.

Appropriate standards of behaviour

(18) Codes of conduct for staff and students apply in an online environment just as they do in the real world.

(19) The University expects staff and students using External Educational Technologies (EETs) to conduct themselves within the same parameters of behaviour as they do in the real world. As such, students should for instance not collude on assignments in EETs.

(20) Those unsure of the expectations of appropriate conduct should consult the staff Code of Conduct, the Student Misconduct Rule 2020 or the Student Charter as appropriate. Also see clauses 82 to 88: "When things go wrong".

(21) Whilst the EETs used in learning and teaching may not be provided and supported by the University, the policy principles within the Computing and Communication Facilities Use Policy still apply and need to be observed by all users. In particular, the use of EETs must not involve:

  1. breaching any NSW, State, Commonwealth or other relevant law;
  2. breaching the University's behavioural expectations, including not complying with the codes of conduct for staff and students;
  3. breaching the University's Learning Analytics Code of Practice and/or Learning Analytics Consent Statement;
  4. receiving, accessing, storing, displaying and/or transmitting unacceptable material via any media, including personal storage devices, or cloud services, connected to a network of the University; or
  5. sending bulk unsolicited email.

(22) All other relevant provisions in these Guidelines also apply.

Accessibility

(23) All Australian educational institutions must comply with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cwlth). All University learning and teaching platforms and services must comply with the mandatory accessibility requirements in the Web Accessibility Standards.

Privacy

(24) Privacy is a key issue when considering the use of External Educational Technologies (EETs), as privacy settings often provide only limited protection and depend on the practices of the EETs platform provider.

(25) Key principles include not to post private or confidential information concerning staff and students (past or present), and not to expect students to identify themselves as students of the University unless it is necessary to delineate public use from official learning and teaching use.

(26) The line between professional life and personal life needs to be respected and protected. Further information is available in the Privacy Management Plan and the University's Learning Analytics Code of Practice.

(27) It is also a requirement to conduct an assessment of any EET vendor's privacy policy and ensure that such policies support the data privacy and security obligations of the University. Further information is available in the External Educational Technologies Learning and Teaching Policy Risk Assessment Checklist.

Terms of Service

(28) Staff and students using External Educational Technologies (EETs) for learning and teaching purposes should familiarise themselves with the provider's terms of service.

(29) The terms usually provide detailed statements covering privacy, sharing of content, safety and account sharing. This will assist in the establishment of the site; for example, if using Facebook in a subject, it is advisable to create 'pages' of which users can become 'fans', not personal profiles users can 'friend'. As an example, a Facebook page is designed to cater for institutions rather than individuals, whereas a personal profile is designed for private use.

(30) When establishing and using external services on behalf of the University, users should be good network citizens, behaving ethically and reflecting well on the reputation of the University. In particular staff and students should not try to manipulate search engine results or other services in breach of terms of service or accepted community standards.

Copyright

(31) Conducting learning and teaching activities in the public domain opens up the risk of loss of intellectual property (IP) as well as that of incurring copyright infringements. It is important to be mindful of the copyright and intellectual property rights of oneself, others and of the University.

(32) Staff and students should be clear whether copyright permission is required from a copyright owner before posting material (for example, images, recorded music, movies or text) created by someone else to a public EETs website. Unless material is available under a licence such as Creative Commons or similar that explicitly grants permission, then such permission may need to be sought directly.

(33) Copyright material from the University's Learning Management System (LMS) must not be posted to a public EET site without the owner's permission, as the educational copyright licence requires that such material only be used within the University. If in doubt, staff and students are advised to consult the University's Copyright Guidelines.

(34) Staff and students should be aware that while copyright may be asserted over information published on external sites, the information may effectively become public. All users should consider whether the University, their colleagues or themselves wish publication before disclosing information. Use of online resources can be guided by using Creative Commons licenses.

(35) The use of images and photographs requires special consideration, both in terms of protecting staff and students' intellectual property, and in respecting the copyright of others. Always be mindful of privacy issues and the requirement, before publication, to obtain written consent from staff and students who are identifiable in an image or a movie.

(36) For staff or students' own images, consider that once posted to the public domain they can be appropriated by others. Copyright provisions apply for images that are not owned by staff or students and it is essential that all staff and students are made aware of those provisions. Images created by other people must not be posted onto a public EETs site without the copyright owner's permission. Images released under a Creative Commons licence are often a good choice, providing the conditions of the licence are observed. A useful search facility for such images may be found at search.creativecommons.org/.

Intellectual Property

(37) Particular consideration must be given to the intellectual property of students and staff using External Educational Technologies (EETs).

(38) The University has clear guidelines regarding the ownership of copyright and intellectual property generated by staff, the intellectual property in teaching materials, and the ownership of intellectual property generated by students. Staff deciding to use EETs in their teaching must familiarise themselves with the Intellectual Property Policy.

(39) As a general principle, the University is the owner of intellectual property created by staff members in the course of their employment. This includes teaching materials, and extends to materials posted on EET sites in the course of teaching activities.

(40) Students, on the other hand, generally personally own the intellectual property that they generate. Staff must therefore gain a clear understanding and inform their students of the licensing terms relating to intellectual property of the EETs used in teaching (including ancillary services such as image and video sharing technologies). This is particularly important when it comes to students posting artefacts that are their original creations as some services take an aggressive approach to claiming licensing rights to the files posted to their sites.

(41) Staff should ensure that University branded services are always managed by someone at the University. Services should be archived when no longer required. Staff leaving the University should reassign active services to another staff member.

Branding

(42) The University has strict guidelines about its corporate identity - its name, logo and brand (refer to the Communications and Marketing Procedure - Brand Governance).

(43) Beyond branding requirements, all public posts on a site associated with the University should be professional so as to protect the University's public image. An individual subject site should not be construed as representing the University as a whole, and this should be clearly communicated through the selection of account names, images and content. The profile information should include the title, semester and year of the subject, the name and role of the site owner, contact information and a link to the University website.

Assessment (including providing feedback)

(44) Use of External Educational Technologies (EETs) for assessment needs to be carefully considered, particularly around such issues as reliability, accessibility, privacy, equity and other obligations to students (refer to the Assessment Policy) in addition to reminders to students about academic integrity.

(45) When designing an assessment activity involving EETs, staff must ensure directions and links are based within the University's Learning Management System (LMS), and alternative approaches should be offered to allow students to opt out of using EETs. If this is not possible (that is, where the use of EETs is an integral part of the subject's assessment) it must be clearly articulated in the subject outline, and if possible in the Handbook so that students are informed prior to subject enrolment of the need to create an EETs account in order to participate in the subject. Note - An EASTS coversheet can be submitted by students so that turnaround of assignments can be adhered to.

(46) It is also important to consider an archiving strategy for public domain student content (refer to clauses 76 to 81, Sustaining and Managing the Use of EETs).

Communicating with Students

(47) The University has an Academic Communication with Students Policy. Academic staff planning to incorporate EETs into their learning design should be aware of this policy and its principles, and conform to guidelines regarding approach and purpose.

Conformance to the University's Educational Technology Framework

(48) The Educational Technology Framework guides the governance, policy and practice needs for educational technology at the University and defines the provision, use and application of educational technology at the University. The Framework provides a structure through which planning and goal-setting will occur to guide future development; that is, it aims to provide a strategic and operational pathway for development to follow.

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Section 2 - Glossary

(49) For the purpose of these Guidelines:

  1. University - means Charles Sturt University.
  2. External Education Technologies (EETs) - means all online and mobile technologies including software, hardware and networks which allow user participation and interaction that are not integrated with internal Charles Sturt University systems, and are not centrally supported by the Division of Information Technology or the Division of Learning and Teaching, and have not been centrally assessed by the Division of Information Technology and the Division of Learning and Teaching.
  3. A classification model of learning technologies (as described in the New Learning Technologies Approval Policy) - deals with the Enterprise, Targeted, Recommended and Experimental technology classifications.
  4. EETs include, but are not restricted to - information and communication technologies (computers and networks, mobile devices, video conferencing and multi-media, including audio/visual and online production) and teaching and learning spaces.
    1. Common examples of EETs include:

      (50) social networking technologies - for establishing and building online relationships with others e.g. Facebook;

      (51) micro-sharing or synchronous chat systems - for sending, receiving and replying to short messages with others, in real-time e.g. Twitter;

      (52) social bookmarking - for storing and sharing web links e.g. Delicious, Diigo;

      (53) file sharing - for saving and/or sharing files in a wide range of formats e.g. Flickr for photos, YouTube for videos, Slideshare for presentations, Dropbox for documents etc;

      (54) communication tools - for communicating in various synchronous and asynchronous ways e.g. Skype;

      (55) instant messaging (IM);

      (56) collaboration writing tools - wikis, blogs, websites, etc;

      (57) participative technologies in the classroom - using free, community-supported network;

      (58) collaboration tools - for working collaboratively with others to co-create documents, presentations, mind-maps e.g. Googledocs, Wikispaces, Mindmeister;

      (59) blogging - for reading, commenting on, or writing blog posts e.g. Blogger, Wordpress;

      (60) pod/vodcasting - for creating or listening to audio (MP3) and video (MP4) files e.g. Audacity; and

      (61) curation tools - for collecting, selecting and sharing content e.g. Scoopit, Flipboard (adapted from Hart, 2011).

  5. Social media (which is a sub-set of EETs) - means an "interactive platforms via which individuals and communities create and share user-generated content" (Kietzmann, J.H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I.P., & Silvestre, B.S., 2011).
  6. Learning Management System (LMS) - means a computer-based platform for online learning and teaching.
  7. Mobile device - means a pocket-sized or handheld computing or communication device typically having a display screen with touch input, keypad or keyboard, such as mobile phones, smart phones, tablets.
  8. Learning Analytics - means the collection and analysis of data about student learning, teaching and the learning environment to allow us to optimise learning for each student.
  9. Adaptive learning technologies - are any learning and teaching tools that utilise learning analytics to adapt the learning content and experiences.
  10. Analytics-enabled learning technologies - refers to a broad category of learning technologies that generate, collect, use and/or provide visualisations of learning analytics.
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Section 3 - Policy

(62) This guideline should be read in conjunction with the Course and Subject Policy. 

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Section 4 - Procedures

(63) This guideline should be read in conjunction with the Course and Subject Delivery and Management Procedure. 

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Section 5 - Guidelines

(64) Incorporating External Educational Technologies (EETs) into learning and teaching practice should be a decision made when planning the most effective way of ensuring the desired learning outcomes are achieved, both at course and subject levels. As a general principle, always consider using University supported technologies first, to see if they meet the learning and teaching objectives.

(65) Current practice indicates that EETs are utilised most effectively when:

  1. a particular requirement is not easily met within University supported technologies; or
  2. a form of EETs is used as an additional strategy to enhance communication or engagement beyond the essential activities offered in the University supported environment.

(66) This detailed guide to good practice incorporates three phases:

  1. considering the use of external educational technologies;
  2. utilising external educational technologies; and
  3. sustaining and managing external educational technologies.

Considering the use of external educational technologies (EETs)

(67) Deciding to use EETs involves:

  1. Constructive alignment:
    1. Staff planning to use EETs in their teaching should first focus on the desired learning and teaching outcomes - both at a course and at a subject level - then decide on the assessment and supporting strategies they and their students will employ to reach these outcomes, and only then consider the appropriate technology or platform. This approach to subject design is based upon constructive alignment (Biggs, 2003).
  2. Your teaching approach:
    1. Before using EETs, it's useful to check back on your own philosophy of teaching. Do you believe that your role is that of the expert passing on knowledge and at the centre of your subject, or as a learning guide, helping students to become skilled, independent learners and knowledge managers? While both of these extremes can align with the use of EETs, your particular philosophy will probably lead you towards specific types of EETs.
  3. Affordances:
    1. It is advisable to seek information from peers and Educational Designers on the affordances of University supported technologies (such as the University's Learning Management System (LMS) and ePortfolio system) and if they are found to be unsuitable for the teaching purpose, consider the added value of using EETs. There is an increasing body of research around the reservations students have in using EETs in formal education settings and also the advantages and disadvantages of this use, which should be considered as well.

(68) Preparing to use EETs involves:

  1. Opt-in/Opt-out:
    1. Whatever your philosophy and general teaching approach, some students or staff may be uncomfortable in certain EET environments.
    2. It is recommended to articulate an opt-in/opt-out strategy for users and clearly explain the expectations of EETs use within the subject. If EETs are used to enhance communication and collaboration, a clearly defined opt-out strategy and alternative way of achieving the desired outcome should be provided.
    3. Where EETs are an integral part of the assessment and the creation of an EET account is a requirement of the subject, this must be clearly articulated in the subject outline, and if possible in the Handbook so that students can make an informed decision when enrolling in the subject.
  2. Official communications involves:
    1. Official learning activities and communications is best conducted within the University's supported Learning Management System (LMS). EETs may enable greater engagement, enhance communication and add significant value, but they should preferably not displace official components of the subject that's based in a LMS subject site.
  3. Linkages to the University's LMS involves:
    1. EETs that are used must clearly indicate their purpose and location within the University's LMS subject site.
    2. It is recommended not only that they link (springboard) from the LMS site, but that they also link back into the subject site wherever possible. Common images or subject branding may be used on both institutional and EET sites to enable clear connections between individual sites. Deeper integration is desirable, if possible.
  4. Preparing students for using EETs involves:
    1. When deciding to use EETs, you'll need to consider how to support and supervise students as they learn to use the technology.
    2. Questions to consider are:

      (69) Are learning and teaching processes accessible to all students?

      Is the response time to questions in all educational technologies (including EETs) part of the rules of engagement in this subject? (Refer to the Academic Communication with Students Policy.)

      (70) Have students already used these EETs in other subjects in the course?

      (71) Will they have used the technologies personally for social use, but not for educational purposes?

      (72) Will they come to the technologies with misconceptions that need to be explored, or are there particular literacies linked to these technologies that will need to be scaffolded (i.e., there's guided support available that fades over time as a learner gains competence)?

      (73) In terms of utilising the technologies, are there support sites for the chosen tools that students should be made aware of?

      (74) Are there any particular privacy and copyright issues that need to be highlighted?

    3. A structured online tutorial or class meeting at the start of session, in combination with a clear FAQ page for the EET, may resolve most end-user issues and ensure that any learning activities are conducted trouble-free.
    4. When planning to use non-University provided or supported EETs in learning and teaching, staff need to consider that students will not be able to call on Student Central if they have difficulties using the external technology.

      (75) Staff will need to be prepared to assist less 'tech savvy' students in their use of the technology, or be able to point them to support resources offered by the technology provider in question.

(76) Trialling EETs involves:

  1. When deciding whether or not to use External Educational Technologies (EETs) it is recommended to conduct a trial with a small group (for example, a tutorial group) first before using the technology with larger groups of students, and evaluate the outcome before up-scaling the engagement.
    1. It is recommended that the trial be optional and not include assessable work.
  2. Supporting students' development of digital literacies involves:
    1. Using EETs provides an excellent opportunity to support your students' development of digital literacies.
    2. We have moved from a world of limited knowledge and abundant time to one of increasingly abundant knowledge and scarcity of time (Weller, 2011). Working in this new context challenges us to revisit existing literacies, such as those required to communicate, collaborate or "find, evaluate, analyse and apply information" (Bates, 2012), and develop new skills such as determining what to attend to, how to filter knowledge and curate for others if we are to be successful and not become overwhelmed.
    3. When working with EETs, these skills can be successfully supported through teaching approaches such as cognitive apprenticeship. For more information, contact your Educational Designer.
  3. Open learning involves:
    1. The University is developing policies on open learning, including the development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and these Guidelines will be updated in line with these policies as they are made available.
    2. In the meantime, it is advisable to contact the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) for further information.
  4. Open Educational Resources (OERs) involves:
    1. Small learning objects such as videos to whole courses, are often created in EETs and can be a valuable part of quality, efficient subject design.
    2. For more information about finding, re-using, revising, re-mixing and/or re-distributing appropriate OERs, contact your Educational Designer.
  5. Allowing for choice involves:
    1. Accessibility should be considered proactively in providing choice of EETs.
    2. When incorporating EETs, it's likely that students may have already adopted particular tools for their own use. For example, you might ask students to create a blog using EETs, but this could become problematic if you enforce one particular EET on students when they are already familiar with other tools.
    3. In many cases, you can allow for student choice in the selection of EETs, such as blogs, by providing suggested tools and demonstrating to students how to collate feeds from different tools. Your Educational Designer should be able to help you with this.
    4. It is also advisable to consider what devices participants may be using to access the technology.

      (77) Allowing use of a diverse range of computers (Windows, Mac and Linux) tablets (iPad, Android, Windows) and phones (Android, iPhone, Windows, Blackberry) will maximise choice and opportunities for engagement with the technology.

      (78) In certain contexts you may wish to consider technologies that work with feature phones rather than smart phones based on the preferences of the learners.

    5. Another avenue for allowing student choice might be in the selection of tools that students use when working in study or project groups. Once again, suggestions can be provided for those unfamiliar with EETs, and student responsibilities should be made clear.

(79) Evaluating EET involves:

  1. Academics using EETS are encouraged to evaluate the effectiveness of the EETS in terms of contributing to the learning outcomes of the subject and to share their findings with colleagues, such as through Yammer, the ICT Community of Practice or learning and teaching brown-bag sessions.
  2. Public domain evaluation systems like Survey Monkey could be used, as well as the University's own Student Experience Survey system.
  3. Where possible, learning analytics and tracking technologies should be used as they can help refine approaches for future iterations by charting the students' interactions and use of the medium.

Utilising external educational technologies (EETs)

(80) Just as in other forms of teaching practice, the use of EETs requires:

  1. setting clear expectations;
  2. careful monitoring;
  3. modelling appropriate behaviours; and
  4. an active presence.

(81) There are specific techniques (your Educational Designer might be able to assist) for moderating in an online environment. When effectively used, they will add value to the educational experience. It is important that the behaviours described below are explained to students and modelled by teaching staff.

Learning Analytics and external educational technologies

(82) Many EETs offer and employ Learning Analytics, for example in the contexts of:

  1. providing feedback to students and instructors on activity, performance and progress within the technology; and/or
  2. enabling adaptive learning and teaching processes built into the technology.

(83) Such "analytics-enabled" EETs raise issues around data privacy and security, which are referred to in section 1 of this document.

(84) To support staff in the appropriate and effective use of Learning Analytics and analytics-enabled technologies, a Learning Analytics Code of Practice has been developed.

  1. Teaching staff are encouraged to familiarise themselves with this resource and engage with the various support activities/ resources provided by Adaptive Learning and Teaching Services, Division of Learning and Teaching.

(85) For media where there is no provision for moderation (such as Twitter), staff should consider from the outset how they would manage problematic situations (for example, dealing with a student's unacceptable behaviour) and make expectations clear to students.

Managing online identity

(86) Developing a digital identity is a critical aspect of using social media, and supporting students to do this is part of nurturing students' digital literacy.

(87) Statements made in an EET environment are often public and best considered permanent.

  1. Staff and students should be mindful of this when posting statements and always reflect before sending a post.
  2. Posts have an unlimited life in the public domain, along with associated comments that can be forwarded and copied.

(88) Staff will also need to consider carefully who will be allowed to 'follow' or 'friend' an EET site, and who will be allowed to post comments (particularly if this extends beyond the student group).

Independent student use of social media for organising their studies

(89) If individual students or groups of students choose to use External Educational Technologies (EETs) sites for organising their studies, it is beneficial for staff to discuss with students how they are selecting, using and monitoring them, and also consider how their use might relate to the subject learning outcomes.

(90) Staff should also refer students to the Student Misconduct Rule 2020 and to 'Personal use of external educational technologies' in this University's Guideline on External Educational Technologies.

Considerations for posting

(91) All staff and students should remember to treat fellow users with respect and with cultural sensitivity.

(92) The University has guidelines among its policies on cultural diversity and anti-racism for reference in this area if you are unsure.

(93) To ensure that no ethical behaviour breaches occur, posts should be monitored regularly.

(94) Careful consideration should also be given as to how posts reflect on both the person posting, and on the University.

  1. Users posting inappropriate content should be directed to the University's policies' guidelines.
  2. Comments may need to be moderated to ensure students learn and observe appropriate behaviours.

(95) In spaces where this is possible and permissible under the provider's terms of service, and where it makes sense in the context of the learning and teaching approach, it might be advisable to create a dedicated account separate from the private account used in this space (for example, @JaneBloggsBSB123 for the account used in that subject, as opposed to Jane's private Twitter account @JaneBloggs).

(96) Teaching staff should respond within the established times which should form part of the rules of engagement of the subject.

Sustaining and managing the use of external educational technologies (EETs)

Maintaining, updating and archiving

(97) The use of EETs should ideally be discussed and agreed within subject and course teams.

(98) EETs users have an expectation that material will be maintained and updated regularly.

(99) Staff should ensure they are clear about their intentions for updating and maintaining, even if it is as simple as indicating how often students can expect staff to log on. Determining these details ahead of time and posting them somewhere visible is advisable.

(100) If the strategies planned at the beginning become untenable, staff should alert users of any change in status or intention on the University's Learning Management System (LMS) subject site, as well as through the selected medium.

(101) Where feasible, staff should archive the content after each iteration of the subject (for example, after each semester) and ensure that essential student information is stored within the subject site for the legally required time.

  1. It is recommended to have a plan to deactivate or delete sites once the teaching period is over and the site is no longer used.
  2. Responsible teaching areas should also have a business continuity plan to cover any staff changes or absences to ensure that EETs sites are maintained and archived as necessary.

(102) Being prepared for changes to EETs is important, for example when technologies cease to exist. It is therefore important for teaching staff to have a plan for exporting and moving to a backup technology.

When things go wrong

(103) It is important to consider how inappropriate or objectionable contributions will be dealt with before you start using External Educational Technologies (EETs) with students.

(104) EETs sites have a range of security settings; more details on the appropriate settings are available from providers' sites.

(105) Sometimes an EET becomes unavailable and teaching staff should have a back-up plan if EETs are used, especially when they are used for assessment.

  1. This should include the back-up of information in particular assessable work.
  2. This responsibility needs to be negotiated between teaching staff and students.

(106) Sometimes material may need to be taken down due to a mistake, misuse, or someone else's misuse or, at worst, a breach of law.

(107) Users are obliged to obey the terms and conditions of the EETs they are using and to follow its user guidelines.

(108) Support for some of the major EETs sites is available from the websites listed below:

  1. Facebook Help Center
  2. Twitter Help Center
  3. YouTube Help
  4. WordPress Support
  5. Flickr
  6. SlideShare Forums

(109) Be cautious before removing material; removing material could drive activity elsewhere and/or inflame further conflict. There are nevertheless cases where removal of material is appropriate.

Support

(110) The University provides some support to teaching staff in a number of areas around EETs for learning and teaching through the www.yammer.com discussions, a peer group, Educational Designers, Adaptive Learning and Teaching services, Division of Marketing and Communication, and the Copyright Officer.

(111) Note that the Division of Information Technology Service Desk will not be able to provide support in the use of EETs, neither will Student Central be able to assist students.

(112) The reference list is available in the associated information for this Guideline.