All online students of NOIC Academy Online will be required to read and accept the Acceptable Use Policy. Students and their parent/guardian will sign and acknowledge this policy prior to the student accessing the learning platform(s) of NOIC Academy Online (the School).
The School and the teachers will provide students with instruction on the appropriate use of the Internet and the protocols for the use of the virtual learning platform(s). If other electronic communications or technology methods are to be used, they shall be accompanied by instruction on appropriate use and associated risks. Teachers shall ensure that students accessing the School’s learning platform(s) do so as part of an instructional plan.
Parents and/or Guardians agree that they have read and understood the School’s Acceptable Use Policy and have explained the same to their children or wards and that they will emphasize the ethical and responsible use of technology and caution against inappropriate use.
Parents and or Guardians grant permission for their child or ward to access networked information technology, inclusive of the internet and e-mail. If a Parent or Guardian does not wish for their child or ward to access networked information, they shall inform the Principal in writing.
Parents and/or Guardians agree to fully cooperate with the School and any relevant investigating authority, should a serious infraction of the policy occur.
Students found to be violating this Acceptable Use Policy will be warned and may be removed from the course(s) and the School’s learning platform(s) without refund.
All users of the School’s virtual learning platform(s) should abide by generally accepted rules of etiquette, including the following:
In the case that a student is found to use technology in an unacceptable manner, the student and parent / guardian will be contacted. The consequences of such actions may result in the removal of the student from the course(s) without refund.
Creation and transmission of offensive, obscene, or indecent document or images.
Creation and transmission of material which is designed to cause annoyance, anxiety or inconvenience.
Creation of defamatory material.
Creation and transmission that infringes copyright of another person.
Transmission of unsolicited commercial or advertising material and deliberate unauthorized access to other services accessible using the connection to the network/Internet.
Causing technical staff to troubleshoot a problem for which the user is the cause.
Corrupting or destroying other user’s data.
Violating the privacy of others online.
Using the network in such a way that it denies the service to others.
Continuing to use software or other system for which the user has already been warned about using.
Any other misuse of the network such as introduction of viruses.
All students registered on the School’s learning platform(s) should abide by generally accepted rules of academic honesty, including the following:
Students must understand plagiarism is a serious academic offence.
A student must work on the assigned practices, homework, quizzes, exams and other forms of assessment independently, with the exception of group homework.
Students must acknowledge the visual or written sources when quoting the words or the ideas of other people or sources for any assignment or project.
Except for the software and hardware allowed by the teacher, no assistive software or device, e.g. smart phones and tablets, are allowed during formative or summative assessments.
All assessments conducted during the School’s online credit courses will be invigilated and recorded by teachers using synchronous classroom technology, therefore student must turn on computer camera and show their full face during the assessments invigilated using synchronous virtual classroom.
In the event that a student commits an act of plagiarism, the following steps will be taken:
The first offence concluded as plagiarism will result in an academic warning. The teacher will notify the student service office and the student will be given an opportunity to resubmit their own work. Parents will be notified of the offence by the School.
A second offence will result in a zero for the submitted work and an academic review by the principal, which may result in the student’s removal from the course without refund. The parents or guardians will be notified.
It is imperative that students attend all synchronous teaching session on time and spend sufficient time in the asynchronous components of the course(s).
The School and teachers closely monitor and track the student’s synchronous session attendance record and asynchronous platform’s browsing history using real-time session attendance and website history analytics technology.
Student must attend all synchronous teaching sessions on time. Failure to attend will be marked as an absence.
Lateness (joining a session 10 mins after the beginning) and failure to attend a whole session will be recorded, and will be considered as one session absence if 30 minutes of absence from the classroom is accumulated.
To encourage students to spend sufficient time in the asynchronous components of the course(s), if the student fails to login for four consecutive days, an absence will be recorded by the teacher. Upon a second consecutive recorded absence, the teacher will contact a Parent or Guardian.
If the student expects a long delay in course login, a note is to be provided and signed by the Parent or Guardian, scanned and forwarded to the teacher and the School.
Student can withdraw from the School’s online credit course.
When a student decides to withdraw from an online credit course before the mid-term, no notation of withdrawal will be recorded on the student’s transcript, and no refund will be issued.
When a student decides to withdraw from an online credit course after the mid-term, a notation of withdrawal will be recorded on the student’s transcript, and no refund will be issued.
If a student fails the School’s online credit course and decides not to withdraw from the course before the final assessment, the student’s final grade will be recorded on the transcript, but no credit will be issued to the student.
All users of the School’s learning platform(s) should abide by generally accepted rules of security and personal safety, including the following:
Users may not share their passwords or accounts with others and must make all efforts to safeguard this information from unauthorized users.
Users are advised to refrain from giving out personal information, such as their family name, email address, home address, school name, city, country or other information that could help someone locate or contact them in person.
Users must not post identifying photos or videos.
When using school-provided technology including e-mail or online forum services, all communications sent and received by users are the property of the School. E-mail, internet, or voice-mail communications are not private or personal despite any such designation by the sender or the recipient. Personal or private communications transmitted on the School’s electronic teaching platform(s) may be accessed, reviewed, copied, deleted, retained, or disclosed by the School at any time and without notice.
Establishing or accessing websites, links, postings, email messages, text messages, or any form of publishing which has an unauthorized connection to the School and may be criminal, degrading, defamatory or inappropriate is expressly forbidden and in violation of this policy. The author will be required to remove such material as soon as it is identified as being in violation of this policy and further action may be taken against the author.
The School’s learning platform(s) may not be used to store, distribute, post, download, or view any defamatory, abusive, obscene, profane, pornographic, sexually oriented, threatening, racially or ethnically offensive, sexist or illegal material.
Transmission and use of any unlicensed software, software having the purpose of damaging computer systems or files (e.g. computer viruses), software that compromises the integrity of the systems (e.g. key loggers, password sniffers) is prohibited. All software and files downloaded must be systematically checked for viruses before loading on the School’s virtual learning platform(s).
For the purpose of this policy, “inappropriate use” and “unlawful activity” is interpreted broadly and includes any criminal activity or other illegal activity.
The following are examples of “inappropriate use” “unlawful activity” for the purpose of the policy:
Infringing Intellectual Property
Infringing on another person’s copyright, trade mark, trade secret of any other property without lawful excuse.
Infringing on another person’s copyright, trade mark, trade secret of any other property without lawful excuse.
A matter published without lawful justification or excuse, that is likely to injure the reputation of any person by exposing that person to hatred, contempt or ridicule, or that is designed to insult the person. – The Libel and Slander Act, RSO 1990, Chapter L.12.
Using technology, without lawful authority, to cause people to fear for their safety or the safety of anyone known to them.
Communicating messages that promote or incite hatred against an identifiable group that is likely to lead to a breach of the peace.
Unlawfully intercepting someone’s private communications or unlawfully intercepting someone’s electronic mail.
Gaining unauthorized access to a computer system, trying to defeat the security features of network connected devices, use of software and/or hardware designed to intercept, capture and/or decrypt passwords, intentionally spreading a computer virus, destroying or encrypting data without authorization and with the intent of making it inaccessible to others with a lawful need to access it, interfering with others lawful use of data and technology.
Distributing, publishing or possessing for the purpose of distributing or publicly displaying any obscene material.
Possessing, downloading or distributing any pornography.
Using technology to commit criminal activity (examples include but are not limited to fraud, extortion, sale and/or purchase of restricted goods).
