Providing password security for your online class is often considered as optional, left up to the discretion of the instructor. We believe that providing online security is as essential for electronic courses as it is for inclass courses. What first comes to mind when instructors consider the benefits of online security, is that the instructor is protected from people outside the course from tampering with or plagiarizing the material. While these are important benefits, they are not the only benefits. If these were the only benefits for providing online security, we might agree that it should be left up to the discretion of the instructor. After all, if the instructor chooses to risk tampering or plagiarizing, the instructor has every right to do so. However, online security also provides protection for the student and for copyrighted materials.

We all know that students are entitled to privacy concerning their coursework and grades. However, students are also entitled to privacy with respect to their classroom discussions and activities. It is acknowledged that students do not have the same level of privacy for classroom discussions and activities as they do for grades, however. There are, obviously, other students in the room during these discussions and activities. What there is not, however, is access to the students' comments by people not currently enrolled in the course. The unsecured online environment allows access to the students' bulletin board comments and activities to virtually everyone. As we continue to create and utilize additional technology to improve the online learning environment, we also must consider the safety of our online students. Just recently, the courts ruled that universities can be held liable for the safety of their students at off campus locations (McMahon & Schuster, 2000). It is not unreasonable to expect that universities would also be obligated (both morally as well as legally) to provide reasonable protection for students in an online environment. NSU has already experienced at least one incidence of a student being harassed by an individual who had accessed her bulletin board comments. Thus, faculty are responsible for providing security for the student who enrolls in an online course.

In addition to protecting web pages from vandalism and plagiarism and ensuring student privacy, the issue of copyrighted material must also be considered in an online environment. Instructors freely use textbook materials within their inclass presentations. Handouts from the text, instructor's manual material such as transparencies and cases, and even exams are copyrighted material. When instructors use this material within their inclass courses, it is assumed that the students enrolled in those courses are required to purchase the textbook. Thus, it is also assumed that online students will also be required to purchase the textbook when the instructor uses accompanying material in the online course. However, no one outside the course (who is thus not expected to purchase the accompanying textbook) has the right to view this accompanying material (Am I a Crook, 1998). This means that instructors are obligated under copyright laws to ensure that only their enrolled students have access to course material based on the textbook. Even lecture notes based on the textbook content can be viewed as material which must be restricted.

It is our belief that instructors must provide security for their online courses. It is not optional, nor a matter of academic freedom. Just as instructors must follow the established guidelines for providing security for their inclass students, online students must also be afforded reasonable security. Likewise, faculty must follow the established copyright laws in the delivery of their inclass and online courses.

Am I a Crook? Copyright Issues on the Internet. (1998, April 2). Participant Packet. R. Jan LeCroy Center for Educational Telecommunications. Dallas County Community College District. PBS Adult Learning Satellite Service.

McMahon, P., & Schuster, K. (2000, March 31). Risky internships can cost schools. Sun-Sentinel, pp. 1B-2B.

For more information concerning providing security for your online course, visit Web Page Security

Return to Presentations Listings

E-mail: sims@nova.edu
Copyright Randi Sims. All rights reserved.