Within the GCSE courses, many students from the same and different schools will be studying the same material. Considering this, I may sometimes create ‘shared content’ courses. I may, for example, make a course for GCSE Power and Conflict poetry, and invite all of my students studying this, whether they study English with me or not. These courses can be on any platform of my choosing, including Moodle, Canvas, Teams, Classroom among others.
This is done for the best educational interests; parents and students alike can self serve with material. However, to allow this to happen, ground rules must be set.
1. Communication with other students is forbidden
Due to the classroom context these systems are designed for, these systems often allow students to direct message and email one another. While this is usually disabled, creating content courses counteracts this. All students are forbidden from communicating with one another through my systems, regardless of any relationship (friendship, sibling etc) outside of this. Should I be made aware of instances of this happening, offending students will be banned from collaborative courses, and parents will be called.
2. Copyright, downloading and sharing
Resources shared to shared content classrooms are subject to copyright. This may be copyright held by myself, or by another publisher from whom I have permission to share their files. Content on shared content classrooms must not be shared with anybody. Furthermore, I ask that resources are not stored on private systems, such as a students own Google Drive account.
3. IT compatibility
Content uploaded to shared content courses is posted with the best of intent. I reserve the right to use any format I see appropriate; this may include YouTube videos, Quizlet links, Seneca codes, as well as files in formats such as pdf, pptx, ppt, png, doc, docx, xlsx, among others. While I can share content, I cannot share responsibility for compatibility. Families are responsible for ensuring their IT is compatible with documents, resolving this if necessary.
4. Externally hosted content
Within shared content courses, I may use a wide range of external resources. These can include, but are not limited to: YouTube clips, Spotify playlists, Seneca codes, Quizlet sets, Microsoft Forms, Educake links, Tassomai assignments, Sparx codes, among others. These are all hosted externally. While I take responsibility for anything on a *.georgehalltuition.com domain, anything external is used at your own risk. I cannot take any responsibility for external content, although I can recommend an ad-blocker and an antivirus are installed.
5. Anti-tampering
I cannot guarantee that the system will operate continuously or without interruptions or be error-free. You must not attempt to interfere with the proper working of the system and, in particular, you must not attempt to circumvent security, tamper with, hack into, or otherwise disrupt any computer system, server, router or any other internet-connected device related to the system. This can include editing documents that are not intended to be collaborative, attempting to sign in as other users, reverse engineering systems to sign in as me, or other malicious actions. Under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, I reserve and will enforce legal action against serious malicious actors who attempt to access the data of others, or seriously interrupt the access of myself and others to the service.
6. Disclaimer
Files uploaded are provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement. In no event shall the authors or copyright holders be liable for any claim, damages or other liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or otherwise, arising from, out of or in connection with the files or the use or other dealings in the files.