JISC

South East Essex College turns to JISC Legal services for information and advice on a wide range of enquiries to do with internet access, data handling, email protocols and other IT service issues.

Keeping it legal

‘They take time to look into our specific queries rather than referring us on to other sources’ South East Essex College, like any FE College, they want to ensure that policies and procedures are in line with current legislation, yet fair and encouraging to staff and students who increasingly rely on internet access both on and off site to facilitate flexible teaching, learning and assessment.

The College is particularly satisfied with the service provided by the JISC Legal helpdesk.

About JISC Legal

JISC Legal is an advisory service funded to prevent legal issues being a barrier to the development and use of IT in Further and Higher Education in the UK. The JISC Legal team based at Strathclyde University offer high quality, relevant, up to date legal information on IT issues – designed to dispel the myths and misunderstandings that can arise where the law is concerned, and instil confidence and promote good practice in compliance.

Services from JISC Legal take the form of regional and national staff development events, webcasts on ‘hot topics’, practical written guidance  and model documents on the website, a free monthly newsletter, and a quick-turnaround enquiry service by email, web form or telephone.

By providing a joined-up service, co-operating with JISC’s other facilities and services JISC Legal enables all managers and staff in FE to have a full awareness of compliance issues through a better understanding of IT law.

Challenge

South East Essex College  is based on a main campus in the centre of Southend, plus five other sites across the city. Annually enrolling over 12,500 young people and adult learners on a wide range of F/HE and work-based learning programmes presents real challenges in the provision of reliable and secure internet access for 900 staff and students both in college and from home.

Committed to providing high quality courses, support and facilities for all learners and employees, the College is particularly proud of its promotion of equality and diversity –recognised in a Grade 1 ‘outstanding’ in the Ofsted inspection in 2008. Many learners receiving student support also require additional IT facilities such as screen readers or specialist software installed on laptops loaned from the College.

The Information Systems Manager Craig Willcocks, leads a team of 16 staff dedicated to planning, installing and managing all the IT services for the College. Operating within the Information Technology and Systems department, it is Craig’s responsibility to ensure legal compliance with internet access, data handling, email protocols and other IT services. Craig has found JISC Legal an invaluable source of advice and support for queries such as:

• mandatory data handling procedures from the Government gave guidelines in June 2008 that all institutional staff need two factor authentication to access systems such as personal ID and card-swipe facilities. Does this legislation apply to staff and students in FE colleges?
• are there any legal requirements for us to set a certain font and font size for our emails under the Disability Discrimination Act?
• the UK law on email retention for ISPs. Does this affect an institution which runs their own email servers?
• What data protection issues do we need to be aware of with Web 2.0? For instance, is the college liable for content that students might post on Facebook using College PCs?

Solution

Queries from the College have been successfully resolved with advice from the JISC Legal helpdesk and webcasts and college policies and procedures amended accordingly.

Items from the JISC legal monthly newsletter are also extracted and circulated to relevant staff along with information on forthcoming webcasts. In addition, training sessions for all staff on key IT legislation such as data protection policies are arranged by the staff development team at the College.

Impact on the learning provider

The College has a comprehensive set of policies and procedures for data protection and e-security for staff and students and has checked all relevant rights and obligations under new regulations regarding interception of communications. These policies are regularly monitored and reviewed to ensure best practice and conformance to relevant legislation.
Based on the advice received from JISC Legal, South East Essex College have determined that Data Handling Procedures legislation does not currently apply to educational institutions since JANET is currently defined as a ‘private communications network’.

Logs of email traffic are archived for 7 years following advice from the JISC Legal helpdesk on the Freedom of Information Act which Craig Willcocks describes as ‘invaluable’.

New challenges are emerging around Web 2.0 access and control, squaring how to share videos of learner achievements with the requirements of the Data Protection Act, and the emerging use of the Unique Learner Number. The college is confident that with the help of JISC Legal these issues can be resolved.

Impact on the learner

Learners value the easy access to College IT systems and there are plans to provide ‘touch screen’ information around the campus showing where the closest available terminal for VLE and internet log-in can be located.

Students can use their student ID and individual password to sign-in to a bespoke VLE whether in college or at home – but must sign a Policy Statement for Students on appropriate internet use before doing so each time they log in. Webmarshall internet blocking software is in place to block access to specified sites and useage is monitored with website access records stored for 100 days.

In addition, students who require special support can have the loan of a College laptop with specialist software. There are no significant problems with this scheme as currently operated.

Key messages

1. JISC Legal is seen an authoritative, helpful and efficient ‘one stop shop’ for all legal information and guidance on IT issues
2. JISC Legal removes uncertainty with regards to possible legal barriers, allowing FE institutions to make informed decisions as to legal risks

Further information

JISC Legal 

South East Essex College