Brian Abeling  
Pekin District 108  
Pekin, Illinois 

Part 2: District Site Licenses 
 

The purpose of this project is to review and analyze our District Internet Acceptable Use Policy. 
 

Part 1 
The District 108 Authorization for Internet Access was developed in Jan. 1997 to establish a policy for how students and teachers would use the District's Internet access.  Instead of just a listing of acceptable and unacceptable Internet usage rules, our Internet plan also includes a training, testing, and an actual "Internet Drivers License" card for students and teachers. Rather than just summarize the written plan, I'll provide you with a description of the process that students and teachers go through to actually become "licensed" to use the Internet. 

Step 1) Internet Drivers License Training session 
The Learning Center teacher in each building conducts a training session with all students in their building (not all at once, of course). A sample copy of this Internet Driver's License PowerPoint presentation is available in HTML format and a downloadable version.  During this session, students are informed of the specific rules that are involved in using the Internet at school.   

Step 2)  Internet Drivers License Test 
Students take a 10 question quiz which tests their practical knowledge of the Internet rules.  The test serves several purposes.  One, do the students really know the rules and can they apply them to specific situations?  Secondly, we keep and store the written test as physical evidence that the students took and passed, therefore providing evidence that they were aware of the district guidelines. 

Step 3) Authorization for Internet Access 
Students take home an actual copy of the policy to preview with their parents.  In order for the students to actually receive their drivers license, they must sign the agreement as well as their parents and their teacher. This document is then stored in the main office of every building. 

Step 4) Internet Drivers License 
Once students have submitted their signed policy to the main office, they are presented with a small laminated card that is their actual Internet Drivers License.  In most cases this card is stored in the Learning Center of every building.  Whenever students want to use the Internet, they must get adult approval and they must get their actual drivers license and they must display it next to the computer monitor that they are using.  By displaying the actually license when using the Internet, it becomes a constant reminder that there are rules and regulations while using the District's Internet access. 

Step 5)  
Internet Drivers Tutorial 
Just because students have their actual license doesn't mean that they know how to actually use the Internet.  This tutorial helps take students through the basic Internet terminology and policies.
 
 

Part 2: District Site Licenses 
Our district only owns a few district-wide site licenses for newer software.  We do own a lot of old MECC and IBM courseware site licenses, but their use is descreasing.  On our newer computer network, we have not been buying full district-wide site licenses because we really don't have a need for them.  Instead, we are allowed to installed the software on the network server which allow only a specific number of simultaneous users (which is usually 50).  Below is a sample of some of the major productivity and curriculum software that we currently use. 
 
 

Microsoft Office	Microsoft doesn't sell site licenses, so we buy a license for each machine that we install it on.
Eudora and Netscape	Free products that we install on all Internet capable machines.
School Vista	We are allowed to install School Vista on every machine, but the network limits the number of simulataneous users to 200.
Writing to Read	This software is installed on the network server, but only allows 50 simultaneous users.
Math Concepts I, II, III	This software is installed on the network server and allows ony 50 simultaneous users.