Gem-A Education

The Gem-A online Campus Website Site Policy

Site Policy for GDPR compliance.

The Gem-A online Campus Website Site Policy

Gem-A online campus Policy and Data Protection Statement

Introduction

The Gem-A online campus is the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) used at Gem-A. It is based on the Moodle 'Course Management System' (http://www.moodle.org), a free open source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities. Moodle is distributed under the GNU General Public License.

The Gem-A online campus provides a range of features for the delivery, support, administration and participation in teaching and learning activities. The features include content delivery and collaboration between tutors and learners, such as:

· Content creation or upload;

· Discussion forums and chat rooms;

· Messaging tools;

· Assignments;

· Quizzes; and

· Monitoring of users' online activity.

The Gem-A online campus is integrated with the Gem-A Student Records database to enable the creation of accounts for enrolled students and their allocation to the appropriate study areas. Other software and web services may also be linked to provide an integrated learning environment for staff and students. The Gem-A online campus is defined as the Gem-A implementation of the Moodle course management system and all other linked software tools for the support and delivery of teaching, learning and research at Gem-A. Hereafter it will be referred to as 'The Gem-A online campus'.

Purpose of the Site Policy

The purpose of the Gem-A online campus Site Policy is to specify user responsibilities and to promote the appropriate use of the Gem-A online campus for the protection of all members of the Gem-A learning community. The Site Policy applies both within and outside of Gem-A premises.

Site Policy

Please note that users include ad hoc learners attending short courses at Gem-A.

Registration

· All users must register to use the Gem-A online campus.

· All registered users must agree to the Gem-A online campus Site Policy and any other applicable policies.

These Policies cover the whole period that the user is a member of the Moodle community at Gem-A.

On registration, users must give their consent to Gem-A's processing of their personal data via the Gem-A online campus and to acknowledge Gem-A's Data Protection Statement.[LD1] [LD2] 

Your Responsibilities

Users of the Gem-A online campus must agree to:

a) Not use the Gem-A online campus for anything else other than for the purposes of teaching, learning and research. However, incidental personal use, for example via the Moodle social forums, is acceptable.

b) Not use the Gem-A online campus for personal commercial use, for example marketing.

c) Not use the Gem-A online campus for uploading, storing, viewing or transmitting any material which is (or may be considered to be) defamatory, inflammatory, discriminatory, obscene or offensive.

d) Not misrepresent Gem-A or bring it into disrepute in any way through the use of the Gem-A online campus.

e) Be responsible for moderating discussion forums which they may have created.

f) Always act in a professional manner. Be polite and courteous to others when using the Gem-A online campus. The Gem-A online campus is not to be used to libel, slander, or harass any other persons.

g) Not plagiarise in submitted postings or assignments.

h) Not breach the copyright of Gem-A or any third party by copying from the Gem-A online campus without authorisation. Copyright of the course materials and content of the Gem-A online campus are owned or controlled by Gem-A unless otherwise stated. Any copies of third-party materials will be clearly labelled with warnings about any copyright restrictions.

i) ensure that any copyright material reproduced and loaded onto Moodle conforms with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60180c2b8fa8f53fc62c5897/Copyright-designs-and-patents-act-1988.pdf or with[LD3]  any licence agreement held by Gem-A, or has been made with the express permission of the rights holder. All reproductions must be fully acknowledged. Material not conforming to these requirements will be removed from Moodle.

j) any piece of work submitted electronically may be submitted to Turnitin (3rd party software to check for originality) and added to the TurnitinUK database.

Your Responsibilities and Data Protection

Users of the Gem-A online campus must agree to:

i) Look after their own username and password. Do not share your password with anyone else and do not use the username and password of other users.

j) Keep physical access to the Gem-A online campus secure. For example, do not login to the Gem-A online campus and then leave your computer unattended.

k) Not attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the Gem-A online campus.

l) Not post material which contains viruses or other programs which may disrupt Gem-A's systems.

m) Not upload private, confidential or sensitive material unless this is authorised.

n) Keep their own data up-to-date and secure.

o) Understand that Gem-A will not take responsibility for any loss of information, which has been posted on the Gem-A online campus, once users cease to be formally associated with Gem-A.

Enforcement

Certain activities will be regarded very seriously by Gem-A and are subject to severe penalties for users, including suspension of use of the Gem-A online campus.

These activities include deliberate interruption to the use of the Gem-A online campus; gaining or attempting to gain unauthorised access to any part of the Gem-A online campus or information stored therein; unauthorised disclosure of personal data; wilful or reckless infringement of any intellectual property rights of Gem-A or third parties; and the viewing, transmitting or storing any material which is (or may be considered to be) defamatory, inflammatory, discriminatory, obscene or offensive.

Gem-A Online Campus Data Protection Statement

Your Permission

By agreeing to the following Data Protection Statement, you are giving your permission to Gem-A to process your personal data via the Gem-A online campus for the purposes of teaching, learning and research.  Gem-A will also process your personal data as part of the administration of your studies at Gem-A.

The Gem-A online campus is by a third parties under contract. Gem-A and contracted third parties will deal with your personal data in accordance with the principles set out in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018.

Collection of your personal data

Gem-A collects data directly from you (e.g. from application forms, change of details forms, at events and via our website) and will create some data internally (e.g. when we assign you a student or membership ID or determine examination results). We may also collect some data from external sources. For example:

 

Employers and accredited teaching providers (ATCs, GAPPs) may provide Gem-A with relevant information about members and students employed by or training with them.

Gem-A's service providers (e.g. examiners or invigilators) will send Gem-A information relevant to the service they are providing.

The general public may provide information to Gem-A in relation to complaints or investigations.

 

 

Online activities: If you visit Gem-A website or online campus, we collect information about cookies and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of your device used to access the site which is used in monitoring the level of activity and services we provide. For more information, please see our website notice.

Cookies

In order to use the Gem-A online campus you must have 'cookies enabled' on your web browser.  By agreeing to this Data Protection Statement, you agree to allow certain information about you to be collected from the Gem-A online campus.

We collect your information by cookies.  Cookies are small file structures used by the Gem-A online campus to 'request' information from the computer which you are using.  This information is then returned to the Gem-A online campus and stored.  The types of information we collect may include usage statistics, for example when users last logged into the system, when they accessed certain activities, or when they uploaded their assignments.

We use this information to help improve the Gem-A online campus services by ensuring that the material and content of the courses match with the users' requirement and also to make sure users are not having problems with access.  The usage statistics are visible to the Gem-A online campus administrators and may be visible to your course tutors and, where applicable, authorised users from your employer's organisation.

Who will have access to your information?

Fellow students on your course and authorised persons, for example external examiners [LD4] [LD5] will have access to your name, photograph and any discussion comments you make. 

Only you and authorised persons will have access to your assessment information.

For further information and help on data protection issues, please visit Gem-A: Data Protection web pages at https://gem-a.com/privacy-policy/

 

Disclaimer

Please note that Gem-A reserves the right to remove, vary or amend any of the content which appears on the Gem-A online campus at any time and without prior notice.

Please also note that the Gem-A online campus may contain links to other websites outside Gem-A's control and that Gem-A is not responsible for the content or accessibility of these sites.