Privacy in the WebCT Environment

Chat Rooms: None of the chat rooms in the course environment are private. First, they are open to anyone in the class who enters the “room.” Of course, their identifier appears immediately upon entry. Second, all conversations in rooms 1-4 are automatically recorded. The transcripts from those sessions show up in the instructor’s file space. On occasion, students may ask to have access to those transcripts. As instructor, I will use the following rules:

• I will not look at the transcript unless I was a participant or unless all the participants of the conversation wish me to.

• I will make the transcript of a conversation available for general use to the class or to a participant who wasn't there during the session, if and only if I have the permission of every person present at the conversation.

• Under no circumstances will anything said in a chat room be used in the processes of student evaluation and grading.

And of course, it would be a breach of your duty of confidentiality owed by you to your classmates for one of you to distribute the transcript of a chat room session without first obtaining permission of all those present at the conversation.

Private File Space: Your private space on the server accessed through the Student Files, Homepage, My Grades and My Access Record is not totally private. The grades and access record are secure spaces in that your classmates do not have access to them, but of course they are not secure from the instructor who will be posting the grades (The access record is automatically tabulated by the computer program).

The Student Files and Homepage are secure from the outside world but your files are intended to be accessible to other students in the class as well as the instructor. Please do not place any confidential files in the course environment.

Private Mail: Your mail is private to you, although as is true of all aspects of WebCT, it is accessible to the instructor. For your ease of mind (in case it's necessary), I will not read any mail not intended for me. If you wish to send messages to the class as a whole, use the Bulletin Board, which is not private.