Guidance for Staff on Use of Web 2.0 Technologies: Illustrative Worked Examples

1. Asking students to use Wikispaces for a group activities 2

2. Asking students to use the WordPress.com blogging service 5 during a work placement

3. Using Ning for class social networking and collaboration 8

4. Using Flickr for a class activity 12

1

1: Asking students to use Wikispaces for a group activities

Wikispaces is a well-established and free-to-use wiki tool that is popular within the education community. If you plan to use it with students, take care to do the following:

1. Provide a statement in the module handbook or on WebCT that:

Makes it clear that Wikispaces is an external service to the University and points out the implications of this

Advises students on managing their registration and ongoing relationship with Wikispaces

Reminds students of the University’s IPR policy and the general copyright considerations involved in using a publicly-accessible wiki space

Provides an accessibility statement

Example:

For this activity, we will be using Wikispaces (www.wikispaces.com). This is a simple and easy-to-use wiki service that will allow you to work alongside the other members of your group to complete the activity.

Wikispaces is a third party service with no connection to Edinburgh Napier University. Any information you post to Wikispaces will be held externally to the University on the Wikispaces servers.

Please be aware that material you post to your Wikispaces page will be accessible by anyone with an internet connection; do not publish any information on the wiki or within your Profile that you would not wish the world at large to see. Note the potential to control what content you make available on the service and who can edit it by setting wiki permissions – the Features page at http://www.wikispaces.com/site/features provides details.

Registering for Wikispaces involves providing your name and email address to Wikispaces. Wikispaces undertakes not to share this with third parties and this information is not visible to other users of the site. You can also control what personal information you make available via your Profile. Consult the Privacy Notice at http://www.wikispaces.com/Privacy+Notice for full details on:

opting out of receiving emails from Wikispaces log files maintained by Wikispaces

2

cookies used by Wikispaces changing or removing your personal information held by Wikispaces

See the Terms page at http://www.wikispaces.com/terms for information on:User conduct and content

You retain intellectual property rights of original material that you post to Wikispaces (is it joint if it’s group work??) but note Wikispaces retains rights to use and distribute the content in connection with the provision of the service – see the Terms page at http://www.wikispaces.com/terms for full details. Please also note Edinburgh Napier’s IPR policy which is available at ...

Take care not to infringe copyright by posting content to Wikispaces that is not your own or which you do not have permission to publish online.

Remember to follow the Netiquette guidelines (web reference) when you are working with other students online.

Although Wikispaces provides a generally stable and secure service, we have no control over its servers. You may wish to make a regular back up copy of your work.

The use of Wikispaces has been adopted to enhance your learning experience. If you have any issue relating to your specific access needs, please contact me as soon as possible.

2. Annotate web links from WebCT to Wikispaces with a statement about the link connecting to an external service.

Example:

3. Require students to sign up themselves for the service, allowing them to decide on the extent to which they wish to establish their own relationship with the service provider, and to withhold or disclose whatever personal information they wish.

Example:

Please register for Wikispaces by visiting www.wikispaces.com and filling in the Get Started box. Note that you have control over the amount of information you disclose to Wikispaces and to whom it is visible – see the Privacy Notice for further information.

3

3. Do a risk assessment regarding the stability and security of the service.

Example:

Wikispaces is a well-established and reliable so the sudden failure or withdrawal of the service is unlikely. It is possible to remove content so liability issues can be managed.

4. Check that you are not placing any students with disabilities at a disadvantage when using the service and consider what equivalent learning experience could be offered to students who are unable to use it.

Wikispaces meets general accessibility criteria and students have been told to let me know if they experience any problems accessing or using it. If there’s a problem students can carry out the activity via a face-to-face meetings with their group members.

5. If the exercise is to be assessed, ensure that a copy is in accordance with the University’s records retention schedules.

4

Asking students to use the WordPress.com blogging service during a work placement

WordPress.com is a popular, flexible and free-to-use blogging tool. If you encourage students to use it – for example to maintain a learning log and communicate with class tutor and peers during work placement - we recommend that you:

1. Provide a statement in the module handbook or on WebCT that:

Makes it clear that WordPress is an external service to the University and points out the implications of this

Advises students on managing their registration and ongoing relationship with WordPress

Reminds students of the University’s IPR policy and the general copyright considerations involved in publishing content on publicly-accessible blogs

Provides an accessibility statement

Example:

For this activity, we will be using WordPress (www.wordpress.com). This is a flexible and free-to-use blogging service that will allow you to maintain a learning log during the course of your work placement and to communicate with the course tutor and fellow students.

WordPress is a third party service with no connection to Edinburgh Napier University. We are using the externally-hosted version of WordPress which means that any information you post to your blog will be stored outside the University on the WordPress servers.

Registering for WordPress involves providing your email address and agreeing to the terms of service. You can choose to provide your real name and to complete a Profile but this is not compulsory. Consult the Privacy Policy at http://automattic.com/privacy/ to find out about how your personal information will be treated once you register for the service. The Privacy Policy also provides information about

emails that Automattic (the company that runs WordPress) may send you how Automattic uses cookies

As when using Edinburgh Napier C&IT services, there is an expectation that you will behave responsibly and appropriately when using WordPress. Consult http://en.wordpress.com/tos/ for details of the Terms of Service that you agree to when registering for the service, including prohibited activities and responsibilities of contributors.

When using WordPress, please be aware of your options to control what material is made

5

available to the public. You can decide whether your blog is visible to everyone including search engines, or you can block search engines but allow normal visitors or you can limit visibility to specific users that you choose. Consult Settings > Privacy once you are logged in to WordPress for further details.

Take care not to infringe copyright by posting content to WordPress that is not your own or which you do not have permission to publish online. Please be aware that if you delete content from your blog, while Automattic will use reasonable efforts to remove it from the website, caching or references to the content may not be made immediately unavailable.

Although WordPress is a well-established and stable service, we have no control over its servers. You may wish to make a regular back up copy of your work.

The use of WordPress has been adopted to enhance your learning experience. If you have any issue relating to your specific access needs, please contact me as soon as possible.

2. Annotate web links from WebCT to WordPress with a statement about the link connecting to an external service.

Example:

3. Require students to sign up themselves for the service, allowing them to decide on the extent to which they wish to establish their own relationship with the service provider, and to withhold or disclose whatever personal information they wish.

Example:

Please register for WordPress by visiting http://wordpress.com and clicking on the ‘Sign Up Now’ box. Note that you have control over the amount of information you disclose to WordPress and to whom it is available – see the Privacy Policy for further information and note the options for setting the visibility of your blog in Settings > Privacy once you are logged in to WordPress.

6

3. Do a risk assessment regarding the stability and security of the service.

Example:

WordPress is well-established, popular and reliable tool so the sudden failure or withdrawal of the service is unlikely. It is possible to remove content so liability issues can be managed.

4. Check that you are not placing any students with disabilities at a disadvantage when using the service and consider what equivalent learning experience could be offered to students who are unable to use it.

WordPress meets general accessibility standards (though this may vary according to the blog theme selected) and students have been told to let me know if they experience any problems accessing or using it. If there’s a problem, students can maintain a learning log on paper and use phone, email or other online services to communicate with the course tutor and fellow students during their placement.

5. If the exercise is to be assessed, ensure that a copy is in accordance with the University’s records retention schedules.

7

Using Ning for class social networking and collaboration

Ning is a free, externally-hosted social networking platform which allows you to create your own public or private network for the use of students in your class. It has been utilised extensively in education already and provides a platform for participants to collaborate using member’s pages, photo sharing, video sharing, events, forums, blogs and groups.

If you plan to use Ning with students, it is important to work through the following points and implement the guidelines if applicable.

1. Ning is a privately run website, external to Edinburgh Napier, and this brings with it certain issues which you and your students must consider. You also have the option to create either a public or a private site, the latter being completely hidden from anyone you do not invite in. For a public site issues of privacy must be considered. You should provide a statement in the module handbook or on WebCT that covers the following:

Makes it clear that Ning is an external service to the University and points out the implications of this

Let the students know that an alternative is offered if they do not wish to use Ning – offering this alternative by-passes many legal issues which would otherwise have to be considered. See the university WEB 2.0 SERVICES AND OTHER EXTERNALLY HOSTED SERVICES - GUIDANCE FOR STAFF document for further details of this.

Advise students on managing their registration and ongoing relationship with Ning

Remind students of the University’s IPR policy and the general copyright considerations involved in using a publicly or class-accessible site

Provides an accessibility statement

Example (Section titles in red shown for guidance only, not to be included in a final statement):

External service implications: For this activity, we will be using Ning (www.ning.com). Ning is a very easy to use social networking website, along the same lines as Facebook, Bebo or MySpace, and will be used on this course for creating project groups, sharing online materials like websites and videos, talking on discussion boards and managing events.

If you prefer not to sign up to external services or use sites like Ning then you may complete this task using WebCT’s discussion boards for communication and file sharing, and create your collaborative materials face-to-face. Please let me know if you prefer to do this.

Ning is a third party service with no connection to Edinburgh Napier University. Any information you post to Ning will be held outside of the University on the Ning website.

8

Possible paragraph for public social networking site: Please be aware that material you post to Ning will be accessible by anyone with an internet connection; do not publish any information on the site or within your Profile that you would not wish the world at large to see.

Possible paragraph for a private site: Please be aware that, while the site is private to our class, any information you post to it can be seen by everyone here. Do not publish your private information, such as addresses or phone numbers

Registering for Ning involves providing your email address. Ning undertakes not to share your email address with third parties and this information is not visible to other users of the site. You can also control what personal information you make available via your Profile. Consult the Privacy Policy at http://about.ning.com/privacy.php for full details on:

How Ning can and will use your personal information How to alter or remove your personal information Who can see your posted information and when How to set communication preferences, including opting out of email communication

from Ning Cookies used by Ning

Ning provides the option to set permissions on your profile, so only certain people can see your details. You can set it to be visible to only people on the same network as you, ie. all classmates, or just your friends in that class, ie. people you have actively invited to view your profile. You can also set it to be completely private if you prefer.

See the Terms of Service page at http://about.ning.com/tos.php for information on: How Ning can use any materials that you post on their site How you should conduct yourself on the site

Remember that any material that you post to Ning remains yours, but Ning has the right to distribute or use your material anywhere within the site. Check the Terms of Service for exact details: http://about.ning.com/tos.php.

Take care not to infringe copyright by posting content to Ning that is not your own or which you do not have permission to publish online. This includes Edinburgh Napier owner material. For further details see Edinburgh Napier’s IPR policy which is available here.

Remember to follow the Netiquette guidelines (web reference) when you are working with other students online.

Although Ning provides a generally stable and secure service, we have no control over its servers. You may wish are advised to make a regular back up copy of your work.

The use of Ning has been adopted to enhance your learning experience. If you have any difficulty issue with using Ning, either through disability accessibility issues or because you do not have the requisite lack of IT skills please contact me as soon as possible.

2. Annotate web links from WebCT to Ning with a statement about the link connecting to an external service.

Example:

9

3. Require students to sign up themselves for the service, allowing them to decide on the extent to which they wish to establish their own relationship with the service provider, and to withhold or disclose whatever personal information they wish.

Example:

Please register for Ning by visiting www.ning.com and clicking the Join now button as circled below.

You are asked for personal details straight away but you can view the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service to see immediately how they will use this.

3. Do a risk assessment regarding the stability and security of the service.

Example:

10

Ning is a well-established and reliable site so the sudden failure or withdrawal of the service is unlikely. It is possible to remove content so liability issues can be managed. It is also possible to create a private network so privacy and data

protection issues can be averted.

4. Check that you are not placing any students with disabilities at a disadvantage when using the service and consider what equivalent learning experience could be offered to students who are unable to use it.

Ning is known to have some accessibility difficulties with regards to entirely blind students using screen readers in the sign-up process. If a student with this disability were to sign up to the course then they would have to have

assistance in signing up to the site. Once signed up the site meets general accessibility requirements.

If issues do arise then face-to-face networking and collaboration or external discussion boards could be used to provide an equivalent experience.

5. If the exercise is to be assessed, ensure that a copy is in accordance with the University’s records retention schedules.

11

Using Flickr for a class activity

Flickr is a free, externally-hosted image sharing platform which allows you to store, categorize and share images, whether they be illustrations, photos or otherwise. Within Flickr you can create sharing networks which allows your group of students to create a collaborative photostream, or individual image banks for communal viewing.

If you plan to use Flickr with students, it is important to work through the following points and implement the guidelines if applicable.

1. Flickr is a privately run website, external to Edinburgh Napier, and this brings with it certain issues which you and your students must consider. Material posted on Flickr can be viewing by any member of the public and so issues of privacy and copyright must be considered. You should provide a statement in the module handbook or on WebCT that covers the following:

Make it clear that Flickr is an external service to the University and points out the implications of this

Advise students on managing their registration and ongoing relationship with Flickr

Remind students of the University’s IPR policy and the general copyright considerations involved in using a publicly or class-accessible site

Provides an accessibility statement

Example (Section titles in red shown for guidance only, not to be included in a final statement):

External service implications: For this activity, we will be using Flickr (www.flickr.com). Flickr is a very easy to use image sharing website and will be used on this course for creating a group photostream to show our work.

Flickr is a third party service with no connection to Edinburgh Napier University. Any information you post to Flickr will be held outside of the University on the Flickr website.

Please be aware that material you post to Flickr will be accessible by anyone with an internet connection; do not publish any information on the site that you would not wish the world at large to see.

Flickr is owned by Yahoo and so you must sign up for a yahoo account to access the site. Registering with Yahoo involves providing your email address, your birthday and the country in which you live. Yahoo undertakes not to share your email address, or any other personal information, with third parties and this information is not visible to other users of the site. Consult the Privacy Notice at http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/details.html for full details on:

How your personal details are used

12

cookies and IP data stored by Yahoo/Flickr changing or removing your personal information held by Flickr who to contact if you have any questions about privacy on the site

It’s also worth having a look at the Terms of Service page at http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/utos-173.html for information on:

How you should conduct yourself on any yahoo site, including Flickr How they can use your photos or images after you have published them to Flickr

You retain all ownership rights of any original material that you post to Flickr but note that Flickr can adapt and publish your materials on the Flickr site however it sees fit. Once you have removed your material from the Flickr site, however, they have no further right to use it for anything at all. See the Terms page at http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/utos-173.html full details. Please also note Edinburgh Napier’s IPR policy which is available here.

Take care not to infringe copyright by posting content to Flickr that is not your own or which you do not have permission to publish online.

Remember to follow the Netiquette guidelines (web reference) when you are working with other students online.

Although Flickr provides a generally stable and secure service, we have no control over its servers. You may wish to make a regular back up copy of your work.

The use of Flickr has been adopted to enhance your learning experience. If you have any issue with using Flickr, either through disability or lack of IT skills please contact me as soon as possible.

2. Annotate web links from WebCT to Flickr with a statement about the link connecting to an external service.

Example:

3. Require students to sign up themselves for the service, allowing them to decide on the extent to which they wish to establish their own relationship with the service provider, and to withhold or disclose whatever personal information they wish.

Example:

13

Please register for Flickr by visiting www.flickr.com and a clicking the Create your Account box on the top right of the screen. You should see the screen opposite as you are now signing up for a yahoo account. Click the sign up link at the bottom as circled and then fill in the details required.

The sign in page has links to the Terms of Service and the Privacy policies so it’s worth taking a quick look to make sure you’re happy with both.

3. Do a risk assessment regarding the stability and security of the service.

Example:

Flickr is a very well-established and reliable service, run by a multi-billion dollar company, Yahoo, so the sudden failure or withdrawal of the service is very unlikely. It is also possible to remove content so liability issues can be

managed.

4. Check that you are not placing any students with disabilities at a disadvantage when using the service and consider what equivalent learning experience could be offered to students who are unable to use it.

Flickr meets general accessibility criteria and is accessible to all disabilities. Students have been told to let me know if they experience any problems accessing or using it. If there’s a problem students can carry out the activity via a face-to-face meetings with their group members.

5. If the exercise is to be assessed, ensure that a copy is in accordance with the University’s records retention schedules.

14

15