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Note: Web authors - check out this excellent link regarding copyright and fair use. The Educator's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use (Handy Chart) WEB
PUBLISHING REGULATIONS Mohonasen’s evolving web site allows the district to communicate electronically with the various publics it serves, including parents, students, taxpayers, business leaders and other educators. The web site provides information to the community (and the world) about curriculum and instruction in our schools, school-related activities, the annual budget and school news. It also allows the community to provide immediate feedback on important issues via e-mail links and on-line surveys. Throughout the district, the web site serves as a graphical gateway for students to conduct research, take "virtual field trips" and connect with experts around the world. The availability of Internet access in each school also provides an opportunity for staff and students to contribute to the district’s presence on the World Wide Web. Mohonasen’s web site provides a forum to showcase student achievement and classroom projects. It offers a new vehicle for teachers to engage students, enhance instruction and communicate with parents and others. Its potential has only begun to be tapped. THE DISTRICT WEB TEAM Internet access for the creation of web pages is authorized by the Mohonasen Central School District Web Team. Membership on the Web Team includes the district’s technology facilitator, technology staff developer and communications coordinator. It may also include four faculty members (preferably representing each school building in the district) and one or two student representatives. Final decisions regarding web pages will rest with the district web team, which reports to the Superintendent of Schools. Creators of web pages need to familiarize themselves with, and adhere to, the following regulations in order to receive authoring privileges on the district web server. Failure to follow these regulations may result in the loss of privileges or other more stringent disciplinary measures. CONTENT STANDARDS Members of the district Web Team are responsible for web page approvals. In particular, Mohonasen’s communications coordinator will oversee content for all district-level pages. Mohonasen’s staff developer will have final responsibility for overseeing content standards on all building-level pages. Building home pages will be considered part of the root web and will be managed by the Web Team. All subject matter on web pages should relate to curriculum, instruction, school-authorized activities, school or school district news or general information that relates to the district’s mission. Therefore, neither staff nor students may publish personal home pages as part of the Mohonasen web site, or home pages for other individuals or organizations not directly affiliated with the district. Staff or student work may be published only as it relates to a class project, course or other school-related information/activity. Faculty web pages should not contain surveys dealing with district-level issues or other topics outside of the authors’ area of responsibility. All web documents should be free of spelling and grammatical errors. Web pages may not contain objectionable material or link directly to objectionable material. Objectionable material is defined as material that does not meet the content standards that are defined above or are stated in the district web policy. The judgment of the Web Team and/or district administrators will ultimately prevail regarding the quality or propriety of web page materials for publication on the Mohonasen web site. Note: Material on web pages reflects the author's thoughts, interests and activities. Concern about the content of any page(s) created by students or staff should be directed to the building principal, superintendent of schools and/or members of the district web team. OWNERSHIP AND RETENTION All web pages on the Mohonasen web server are the property of the school district. Student web pages will be deleted when a student graduates or moves unless the sponsoring teacher makes prior arrangements with the network coordinator. STUDENT SAFEGUARDS/PUBLISHINGThe use of student photographs and names on Mohonasen Web pages is not specifically prohibited provided the student's parent/guardian has made no formal request to block the use of student information. For additional clarification, see "release of student directory information." COMPLIANCE WITH SCHOOL BOARD POLICIES All pages on the Mohonasen web site must conform to School Board Policies and regulations as well as established school regulations. Copies of Board Policies are available in each school office. Some of the relevant issues and related Board Policies include the following:
PROCESS FOR STAFF TO APPLY FOR WEB AUTHORING PRIVILEGES
TECHNICAL STANDARDS, CONSISTENCY AND NAMING CONVENTIONS Each page on the Mohonasen web server is part of the larger site. As such, it must contain standard elements to improve navigation and provide a general consistency to the site. Toward that end the following regulations apply:
• Web page authors are expected to abide by "best practices" for web page design. When it comes to web pages, content is king. The page design should enhance, not compete with, content. In particular, page authors are expected to abide by three key expectations: 1. Backgrounds will be kept simple and subtle. 2. Blinking or animated text and graphics should almost always be avoided since even the best animations quickly loose their charm and end up distracting and/or annoying visitors. 3. Huge, bandwidth-clogging photos or graphics should be avoided. Such files require extensive download time, are frustrating for modem users and slow down the file servers. As a general rule, a web page should not take longer than one minute to download over a 14.4K modem connection and graphic files should be under 60K in size. Unreasonable consumption of Internet bandwidth, CPU or memory usage is prohibited. • Web pages may not contain links to pages that are not yet completed. If additional pages are anticipated but not yet developed, the text that will provide such a link may be included. However, the actual link to those pages may not be made until the final pages are both completed and published on the district web server. • The names of all documents shall coincide with current district naming practices and structures: – Each web page should have a title that clearly identifies it. (The title appears on the web browser’s title bar and should not be confused with the file name.) – The web site will be organized into two parts: a root web (district-level pages and each school home page) and sub webs which will generally be organized by grade level in grades K-6 and by department in grades 6-12. Web page authors who do not fit into a grade level or department would be grouped into subfolders as appropriate. This organization will affect naming conventions and help to minimize the length of the URLs for each page. The goal is to make naming conventions consistent, logical and intuitive. For example: • A 6th-grade math teacher named Jane Smith would have her own folder within the subweb titled dmsmath. The URL for her home page would be: www.mohonasen.org/dmsmath/smith/default.htm. This teacher would share the dmsmath subweb with other math teachers at Draper, but would keep all of her pages within her own folder. (Note: There could also be a shared folder within this subweb that contains department-wide information and/or a department-wide "draper math homepage.") • A 3rd-grade classroom teacher named Joe Jones would have his own folder within the subweb titled grade3. The URL for his home page would be: www.mohonasen.org/grade3/jones/default.htm. This teacher would share the grade3 subweb with other 3rd-grade teachers at Pinewood, but would keep all of his pages within his own folder. (Note: There could also be a shared folder within this subweb that contains general grade 3 information and/or a "third-grade homepage.") • Under the district’s web naming conventions, the URL for each school home page would be: MHS: http://www.mohonasen.org/03mohonhs/mohonHS.htm DMS: http://www.mohonasen.org/03draper/draperMS.htm Pinewood: http://www.mohonasen.org/03pinewood/pinewood.htm Bradt: http://www.mohonasen.org/03bradt/bradt.htm
• Any graphics, sounds or video used on web pages must conform to the format currently used or approved by the district. • No computers other than the assigned Mohonasen server shall be configured as web/FTP servers. UPDATES TO THESE REGULATIONS Given the rapid change in technology, some of the guidelines outlined in this document may require change from time to time. Members of the district Web Team invite and encourage feedback on these regulations so that they may be continually improved. Special thanks to the Winona School District in Winona, Minnesota and the Oswego School District in New York for allowing Mohonasen to draw upon their significant research/contributions in school web site design and management.
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Maintained According to Mohonasen Central School District Web Publishing
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