When to Update Acceptable Use Policies in Higher Education
Acceptable use policies are ever-changing. Consider how much technology has changed in the past few years alone, particularly the proliferation of online learning. Once upon a time, email was taboo. As new technology arises, the way faculty, students and staff interact with those tools changes as well. Administrations must amend their policies in turn.
At the same time, some policies can become antiquated. Fax machines aren’t as popular as sending scanned documents via email or portal.
Security is also a major concern for higher education, including national security issues regarding certain social media platforms that are currently being discussed. If those vulnerabilities exist, institutions might have back doors into their networks and data.
“As threats arise or as social norms change, you have to adapt your policies,” says Hall, who monitors UCF’s network for vulnerabilities and security events.
Sometimes machines or software must be removed from the network because of their vulnerability to attack, explains Hall. “I have an obligation to monitor our devices, and as a matter of policy, I have an obligation to take them off the network if they don’t meet our minimum standards,” he says.
However, AUPs can be amended to be more expansive. “Personal and professional lives have been conjoined,” Hall explains. “Imagine if you couldn’t use a corporate asset to look up the number of a plumber during an emergency.”
As long as the incidental use isn’t abusive, people aren’t misusing the technology or slacking, says Hall.
He also likes to think of these changes as removing the barriers for faculty and students to collaborate and advance their fields. If students want to use a cloud-based solution such as Microsoft Teams to collaborate on a project, but they’re hindered by bureaucratic forms and a lengthy approval process, the opportunity to learn is lost.
“We need to make sure that the assets we manage are used fully and maximally on behalf of the people we serve, whether it’s the faculty, students or administration. We buy these assets not for people to host their website or play games; we buy them to further the mission of the university,” Hall explains. “It’s our job as IT management to make sure these assets are used fully to that purpose.”
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