When and where should we be teaching students about their digital footprint? Does ISBs AUP take this issue into account?

When should students be aware of their digital footprint. Hmmmmmm..........as soon as they start using internet or web-based applications? When they have their "real" name attached to stuff, or when their school's name is attached? Makes me think a bit about middle school health education: do you start talking about stuff like drug/alcohol use, sexuality, etc., before kids are entering the "experimental" age? during that time? I think the potential "thrill" of seeing yourself out there online might overshadow, at least initially, a school's efforts to teach students responsible online behavior. We all know the more you ask/tell/force/coerce a kid NOT to do something, the more likely he is TO do that exact thing. Unfortunately, sometimes for some student's, lessons are learned the hard way. Also, as with the above mentioned health-education topics, successfuly educating students about issues surrounding digital footprints should take place at home and at school. I think as the use of technology in schools expands both in depth and breadth, we as educators will need to develop plans for phasing in digital footprint awareness.

I imagine 50 years from now, the look of technology and how it's used in the classroom will be very different. But even right now today in my classroom at my school, the use of technology is rapidly increasing. So this brings up the main topic of this course, the AUP. I did a quick Google blogsearch of the topic "Middle School AUP" and got some good hits, including this one: http://teacherweb.com/CA/BigBearMiddleSchool/RobWilliams/ap1.stm It would be easy to go through this school's AUP and bascially pick it apart step by step, but that could probably be done with ANY school's AUP. The point is things are chaning so rapidly, and the change ranges from the software and applicaitons being used to HOW they're being used, and even when the programs are coming from. What I liked most about the Big Bear Middle School's AUP is this simple sentence:
"All users must be continuously on guard to avoid inappropriate and illegal interaction with the information service."

As I'm thinking through developing an AUP for ISB's Middle School, it seems the thrust of an AUP is building students' perception of what a digital footprint is and how to manage theirs, and what that management looks like in a school environment compared to an "at-home" environment...and really, thought, that since the technology exisits virtually (literally!) everywhere and at home and in school and at your friend's house, your digital foot prints follow you everywhere.

So, back to the AUP. Rather than focusing on rules of what students can't do (though I suppose that's somewhat inevitable), an AUP should focus on the student's responsibilities of awareness of the digital footprint.

At this point, I don't think the ISB MS AUP fully takes in to account the rapidly changing landscape of computer use at the school. Again, it seems like if we follow the current format of many AUP's the list of rules would simply grow and grow and grow.
I can imagine trying to create rules of using iGoogle in the classroom

1. school items should be in one tab labeled school
2. each school tab must contain sub-tabs for each subject
3. at each teacher's discretion, students may not click a tab for "class a" while currently in "class b."
   
4. Students must seek permission from the teacher to school tabs
   
5. personal items should be labeled in on tab labeled personal
6. Students are not to click on their personal tab during class time, but may do so during lunch, breaks, etc.
   
7. If students include tabs not appropriate for school viewing at any time, a sub-tab must be created that says "NSFS" (not safe for school)
8. NSFS tabs should never be clicked at school

And then mid-way through the year we'll change to netvibes and most of the above will be rendered obsolete.

So, again, the point is the creat an AUP focusing on awareness and responsibility rather than soley a list of rules. Students and teachers must get used to the idea of their lives being on one screen!