CCEA Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

Terms and Conditions

Introduction

Moodle is a virtual learning environment (VLE) that offers file sharing and communication tools to users. CCEA provides these services subject to the following rules and guidelines.

These guidelines should be used in conjunction with CCEA’s policies and the following legal statements, which are available at www.ccea.org.uk:

• Cookies
• Disclaimer
• Freedom of Information
• Data Protection
• Privacy    
• Terms of Use.

They should also be used in conjunction with any C2k or school policies that are in use.

If there is a conflict between this document and any CCEA policy, the terms in the policy will govern. Any questions regarding Moodle usage should be directed to CCEA at [email protected].

Use of Moodle
When using Moodle and connecting services, users must:

• respect the rights of others;
• remember to log out at the end of each session; and
• comply with current and future legislation, including:
• the Data Protection Act 1998;
• the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988;
• the Computer Misuse Act 1990;
• the Telecommunications Act 1984; and
• the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

Each user (teacher, supervisor, learner or guest) is responsible for ensuring that their use of Moodle complies with CCEA’s policies and this document.

By using our Moodle services users agree to be bound by the following terms, which will take effect immediately on their first use. If users do not agree to be bound by all of these terms then they should cease using Moodle.

CCEA may revise these terms without notice by posting the latest version of this document onto Moodle. A user’s continued use of Moodle will be deemed acceptance of the updated terms or amendments.

Users accessing Moodle from non-school owned equipment (such as mobile phones or personal laptops) and users accessing Moodle from outside C2k or school premises (such as their home or workplace) are bound by the same conditions of use.

In accordance with CCEA’s terms and conditions, use of Moodle must be for the purpose of teaching, training, research, coursework, associated administration or other authorised use.

Security
Access to course information and resources on Moodle are controlled by user permissions. Users should log in to Moodle with their own network user account and never allow another user to access Moodle under their network user account.

If an area on Moodle is protected by an enrolment key (a password required to gain access) that is set by the teacher or supervisor, learners should never disclose the enrolment key to allow access by an unauthorised user.

Users should never attempt to access any protected Moodle area unless they are a member of the course and have been given permission to do so by the course teacher or supervisor.

Activities on Moodle are fully audited. Records are kept of when users access courses and resources along with a log of all communications, such as forum posts, assignment submissions etc. These records are available to teachers for course evidence. They may also be used as a point of reference for any matters arising, such as accounts of harassment, bullying or transmitting inappropriate material.

Users should not post personal or sensitive information to any part of Moodle, including to their profile, blogs, file uploads or any course activities. Information sent through Moodle may be read by third parties. Users should refer to their school’s internet safety policy for further advice.

When teachers or learners place information onto Moodle, they are acknowledging that they are making it available for download, and therefore other teachers in the school will have access.

Teachers will often place links to useful websites on Moodle to help learners with their research. CCEA cannot accept any responsibility for the contents of external sites.

Access to Moodle will be withdrawn when a user is no longer employed by CCEA or studying at school.

Content
Teachers and learners are responsible for ensuring that the learning materials added to their areas do not infringe confidentiality, copyright or the intellectual property rights of others (including colleagues).

Teachers and learners should not upload any materials that would breach CCEA’s acceptable usage policies (such as illegal or obscene content) or add links to any web pages that host such material.

Learners taking part in online course activities (including assignment submissions, chat rooms, forums etc.) are prohibited from transmitting any words or pictures that are protected by copyright, libellous, insulting, abusive or would otherwise contravene CCEA’s codes of conduct.

All work submitted electronically by learners should be their own. Copying others’ work, cheating, collusion, plagiarism and attempting to obtain unfair assessment advantages are in violation of CCEA’s policies.

Teachers are responsible for supervising their Moodle areas and ensuring that any violations of CCEA’s policies are dealt with. Any violations of policies identified by learners should be made to their teacher in the first instance.

Moodle areas may be removed without warning if:

• the teacher or learner has not accessed the area since it was created;
• no resources and/or activities have been added to the area;
• the area has had no recent access by learners; or
• the area is inappropriately visible in the hierarchy.

Where a course area has multiple teachers then arrangements should be made by the teaching team to ensure that they work collaboratively. CCEA cannot accept any responsibility where a teacher makes changes to files or settings without informing their colleagues.

Moodle contains documents created with a variety of software. Where possible, we encourage teachers to upload resources in commonly used formats (such as Microsoft Office) to offer wider compatibility. CCEA cannot support learners with problems opening files externally if they are caused by incompatible software and/or hardware.

Many files on Moodle (such as videos) are quite large. CCEA cannot guarantee quality of performance or be responsible for connection issues when downloading these materials externally.

Data Protection
Users of Moodle must agree to:

• look after their own username and password;
• not share their password with anyone else and must not use the username and password of other users;
• keep physical access to Moodle secure, for example they must not log in to Moodle and then leave their computer unattended;
• not attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of Moodle;
• not post material that contains viruses or other programs which may disrupt CCEA’s systems;
• not upload private, confidential or sensitive material unless this is authorised;
• not upload copyright material unless this is authorised;
• keep their own data up to date and secure; and
• understand that CCEA will not take responsibility for any loss of information that has been posted on Moodle once users cease to be formally associated with CCEA.

Access logs
Access to Moodle is logged and the information recorded about Moodle usage is available to the CCEA Administrator. This information includes which users have visited the course, when they visited and what they have looked at. These statistics are monitored and may be used:

• to provide information on course usage; and
• as part of our learner assessment.

If you have any concerns, please contact CCEA at [email protected].

Data storage limitations
Moodle is a platform for making files and resources available to learners throughout their course. It should not be used as a general storage area.

Users should always keep original copies of work they upload onto Moodle. CCEA accepts no liability for lost or corrupt data that has been stored on Moodle by teachers or learners.

The server is routinely backed up for the purposes of disaster recovery. However, it is the responsibility of users to ensure that they have saved copies of any important data, including uploaded resources, submitted assignments etc.

If course information needs to be retained or if learners will be active through the summer period, staff should consult (in advance) with the Moodle Co-ordinator to ensure data is not lost.

CCEA servers are routinely virus scanned but CCEA cannot guarantee that all files transmitted through Moodle will be virus free. Users accessing Moodle from home should ensure that they have adequate virus protection on their computer to help prevent the infection or distribution of viruses.

Teachers should not use Moodle as a tool to distribute software applications to learners (except where it has been created as part of a programming course).

Snas agus Blas
All learner data and submitted work are purged from the server at the end of the summer term ready for the next academic year. Staff should ensure that they have copied off Moodle any submitted assignments, feedback, grades, forum posts, quiz scores etc. that they need to keep as evidence.

ProgressFile and other courses
All learner data and submitted work are purged from the server when learners have not accessed the course within one year. It is the learner’s responsibility to ensure that they have copied off Moodle any submitted assignments, feedback, grades, forum posts, quiz scores etc. that they need to keep as evidence.

Contravention of Terms and Conditions
Should a user contravene these terms of use or any other policy related to the use of Moodle, the offence will be logged and appropriate action will be taken, from a temporary restriction of services up to and including permanent removal of services.

Information about us
This site is operated by the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment at 29 Clarendon Road, Clarendon Dock, Belfast, BT1 3BG (the website provider).

If you have any concerns about material that appears on the site, please contact [email protected].