Some Tips for Online Student Projects

Several issues arise with web-based projects that are not usually found with more traditional projects such as research papers: 1) students’ (incorrect) feeling of anonymity, which leads them to say things they might not say in a paper or in person; 2) the public nature of the web means that sometimes work can be taken out of context by those it wasn’t intended for; and 3) issues of student’s privacy, since their academic work is protected by the Family Education Privacy Rights Act (FERPA).

  1. When presenting a web-based project assignment, discuss the implications with your students. Remind them that it is still a class project and should be approached with the same thoughtfulness and discretion as any other work for the class. For some students, it is difficult to balance free expression with campus values of civility and tolerance. Below we offer some sample guidelines of the kind you should hand out to your students, and discuss with them.

  2. When considering a web-based assignment, you should probably assume that somehow, someone who isn’t the intended audience will see it.  (The equivalent of the email rule that you shouldn’t send it if you wouldn’t be comfortable with its being forwarded around.) Since the context of an assignment may not be visible online, the results of an assignment can leave you, the student, and the campus open to a variety of unwarranted criticisms, and in extreme cases, legal action.  Therefore, if you are asking students to deal with sensitive issues, e.g., issues of identity, such as race, gender, religion, you might ask yourself whether an online presentation is the best way to approach the subject.  If you conclude that it is, you might want to modify the assignment to remove personal responses. Remember, anything posted on the open web is likely to be indexed and archived. This means that this content could live on in perpetuity. They should put up nothing they would regret when running for President 20 years later.

  3. Protect your students’ right to privacy.

    First and foremost, unless it is pertinent to the intended learning goals, assignments should be posted in web spaces that require authentication (bSpace). Avoid using open web services, such as blogspot.com or Google groups, that are outside the Berkeley domain.  If students choose, on their own, to also post their work in a public space (their own web pages, myspace, etc), that is left to their individual choice but should not be a requirement of the course.

    If the instructors believe that the assignment cannot meet their educational goals if assignments are not posted publicly, then students should sign a written waiver agreeing to this. However, in all probability, students can refuse to sign such a waiver without penalty.

    In addition, students (or student groups for joint projects) should sign some sort of agreement at the beginning of class about the public nature of their work (for example, that assignments will be available for all class members to see within bSpace), and this agreement should be specific about behavior and keeping the web-based environment as civil and as safe as we would expect in a physical classroom. The general expectation is that t work is shared only between the student and the instructor.

    For more details on student privacy policies, see “Disclosure of Information from Student Records” [pdf]

Sample Guidelines for Your Students

Being a responsible citizen in a digital world

  1. While I strongly respect, support, and encourage your right to free expression of your ideas, I expect you to respect me, your fellow students, and others who might see your project. By publishing on the web, you not only represent yourself, but this course and the university.

  2. The projects should abide not only by the UC Berkeley Principles of Community, but campus policies governing computer use (see attached), and student conduct.

  3. Just as they are not acceptable in class, hostility, rudeness, and disrespectfulness will not be tolerated in your projects.

  4. Please remember that this project is part of a course of instruction, not an independent work published independently; therefore, it must follow the guidelines laid out.

  5. If you are unsure whether an approach you are taking violates any of these guidelines, please check with me before finishing the project.

  6. If I consider any part of your project to be in violation of university principles or guidelines, I will discuss the issue with you.  If we cannot come to an agreement, I  reserve the right, as the instructor, to remove the project from the page.

Helpful background material for instructors wishing to create their own guidelines:

Principles of Community

These principles of community for the University of California, Berkeley, are rooted in our mission of teaching, research and public service. They reflect our passion for critical inquiry, debate, discovery and innovation, and our deep commitment to contributing to a better world. Every member of the UC Berkeley community has a role in sustaining a safe, caring and humane environment in which these values can thrive.

(UC Berkeley's "Principles of Community" statement was developed collaboratively by students, faculty, staff, and alumni, and issued by the Chancellor. Its intent is to serve as an affirmation of the intrinsic and unique value of each member of the UC Berkeley community and as a guide for our personal and collective behavior, both on campus and as we serve society.)

Computer Use Policy

Examples of Misuse

Appropriate Use

UC Berkeley extends to students, faculty, and staff the privilege to use its computers and network. When you are provided access to our campus network, you are enabled to send and receive electronic mail messages around the world, share in the exchange of ideas through electronic news groups, and use Web browsers and other Internet tools to search and find needed information.

The Internet is a very large set of connected computers, whose users make up a worldwide community. In addition to formal policies, regulations, and laws which govern your use of computers and networks, the Internet user community observes informal standards of conduct. These standards are based on common understandings of appropriate, considerate behavior which evolved in the early days of the Internet, when it was used mainly by an academic and highly technical community. The Internet now has a much wider variety of users, but the early codes of conduct persist, crossing boundaries of geography and government, in order to make using the Internet a positive, productive, experience. You are expected to comply with these informal standards and be a "good citizen" of the Internet.

Campus Online Activities Policy

Technology service providers must take a broad view of their privacy and confidentiality responsibilities, such as minimizing invasion into private lives and avoiding risks to health and safety. For example, the online publisher of a class roster who wishes to include student pictures and contact information must get permission from each student, and also must limit access to class members only, using password protection or other technologies.

Student Conduct Polic–102.11 Harassment

Harassment by a student of any person. For the purposes of these policies, ‘harassment’: (a) is the use, display, or other demonstration of words, gestures, imagery, or physical materials, or the engagement in any form of bodily conduct, on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, alienage, sex, religion, age, sexual orientation, or physical or mental disability, that has the effect of creating a hostile and intimidating environment sufficiently severe or pervasive to substantially impair a reasonable person’s participation in University programs or activities, or use of University facilities; (b) must target a specific person or persons; and (c) must be addressed directly to that person or persons.

Statement from the Syllabus of Anthropology 136i Summer 2006, Ruth Tringham

We meet as a class for a number of reasons: