Netiquette Responsibility

Netiquette: Etiquette on the Internet. Familiar term for you? As an educator or parent, it should be. The second part of the definition is "a learned skill which does not come naturally but is taught." Finally, netiquette is a "needed skill as a result of the emergence of the Internet."

Each course syllabus on which I have worked has included a section on the instructor's expectations for behavior online, especially within the confines of the online classroom. The rules are always similar. Be aware of tone, word choice, and contribute a professional or educational response. Make sure humor is universal, unoffensive, and either related to the topic or placed within the designated "social lounge discussion area" for the course. Students need to know all postings will be seen by the instructor and, as happens on the open Internet, will remain indefinitely if appropriate (the Eternal Internet) or be removed if not (although we know that doesn't always take care of the issue. Again, the Eternal Internet).

Expand the instructor's communication expectations to include those of the school. Plagiarism, cheating in general, student, instructor or course bashing, and no use of harsh or unacceptable language are all universal expectations.



Even in "adult only" writing classes for which I have designed content, I ask participants to use a disclaimer or indicator their stories contain violence, adult language, etc. so others can choose to pass by. I sometimes will create an adult content discussion board if I have people writing murder mysteries or difficult memoirs. It isn't a freedom of speech inhibitor, but a move to forewarn for informed choices like the movie or television ratings' indicators.

People of all ages err seriously when it comes to trusting the Internet. Unfortunately, traffic on the Net reflects real life and whether in classrooms or in the world, students/our children will push the margins of acceptability even when watched and warned. It is the responsibility of every adult no matter what your position to promote - no, to insist on - best practices. The online classroom is a much bigger, more exposed, venue than a brick and mortar room, and footprints left travel distances of which we could never conceive even a few years ago. However, if you check my additional material below, you will see we have been working on these issues since Shea's 1994 definitive text and we continue to fine tune the rules.

Join the conversation. What does this topic look like in your world at home or school?

Additional Material:

Check out an excellent and concise set of 10 rules concerning The Core Rules of Netiquette, written by Virginia Shea and shared on the blog, "Computer Science?" by Jude Candaleria.

Also, another important excerpt you can read: "Netiquette: Rules of Behavior on the Internet" by M.D. Roblyer and A.H. Doering from their book, Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching, 2010, Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall publisher, with information assistance from Virginia Shea's 1994 Netiquette.