In the 21st century, the use of technology is as important as ever — there are so many ways to instantly access information and connect with others, all with the touch of a button. This power can be beneficial to students, as it provides sources of information for projects, essays, and other assignments. The rise of COVID forced schools across the United States to close and sent many students home, causing many school districts to look for feasible ways to provide their students with internet access. For example, MHS issued district-sanctioned Chromebooks to students to use at their discretion. However, the use of these computers can be observed by MUSD administrators, calling into question how much privacy MHS students are given online.
Assistant Principal Amanda Gross stated that MUSD made a decision to distribute Chromebooks to students in order to provide the opportunity to join classes online and work on assignments at home.
“There is an MHS textbook and Chromebook agreement that is done every year through our textbook room, including information that we get from IT regarding damages and misplacement,” Gross said.
MHS requires a seperate form regarding appropriate internet usage to be filled out and signed by both the student and their guardian before receiving a designated computer, she added.
“There’s a form that says I’ve read through all the forms within this handbook and I’m signing this form to show that I have read and understand these rules and will abide by an acceptable internet use policy,” Gross said.
MHS administrators are unable to fully access information or data directly from the school-issued Chromebooks without requesting a report, according to Gross. Student information isn’t monitored continuously unless the district has a reason to look through their Chromebook data, she explained.
“We have some form of an online firewall for students to only be able to access certain websites, and this was put in place by district IT,” Gross said.
English teacher Kent Mitchell said that the use of software programs and the online firewall came in handy during online learning, stating in an interview that they can be used to combat the academic integrity issue schools are facing.
“I know that there is software in place and apps that teachers can use in order to monitor. Are they going away from the assessment site? Are they using search engines when they’re doing assessments online? That was the biggest challenge,” Mitchell said.
There are situations that may occur where administrators can contact district IT in order to get a full report on a specific student or Chromebook, according to Gross.
“We’ve asked technology services to ping a Chromebook if a student has accidentally lost theirs. In a situation that (occurred) before COVID, we were working with the Milpitas Police Department regarding a student who had run away,” Gross said. “One of the things that we wondered was if that student still had access to their school-issued Chromebook, and our IT department was able to work with police to get a location for that student.”
Despite the school’s ability to request student information and data from district IT, teachers and staff can’t fully depend on Chromebook monitoring software to observe what their students are doing, Mitchell said.
“You still couldn’t ensure anything because they had other computers or their phones,” Mitchell said in regards to students staying at home during distance learning. “That’s the consequence of learning online, you try and fight against misuse the best that you can, but academic integrity is never going to be ensured in that type of setting.”