Cranfield Moodle - User Acceptance Policy

Introduction

Cranfield Moodle Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) supports staff and students enrolled on courses run by Cranfield University at its School of Defence and Security based at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom at Shrivenham.
Cranfield Moodle 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.
As a user of Cranfield Moodle, you are required to accept this User Acceptance Policy when you log on for the first time. Non-acceptance of these conditions will prohibit access to any material.

Purpose of the User Acceptance Policy

The purpose of the Cranfield Moodle User Acceptance Policy is to specify user responsibilities and to promote the appropriate use of Cranfield Moodle for the benefit of all members of the University community. The User Acceptance Policy applies both within and without Cranfield University premises. You can download a PDF copy of this Policy by clicking here.

Terms and Conditions

Please read these terms and conditions carefully. 
Cranfield University may modify these terms and conditions at any time and may discontinue any or all of its online services. Your continued use of the services, after online notice of modifications, signifies your acceptance to be bound by the modifications.
If you breach any of these conditions, Cranfield University may regard this as misconduct. 
In addition using Cranfield Moodle you agree to comply with the terms of the Joint Academic Network (JANET) Acceptable Use Policy

Variation of Content

Cranfield University reserves the right at any time and without prior notice to remove any content published on Cranfield Moodle which does not conform to the requirements set out below.

Suspension of User Account

Cranfield University may terminate your account, your access rights to specific areas of Cranfield Moodle or to the entire service, with or without notice and at its sole discretion, in the event of disciplinary action being taken.

Rules for Online Conduct

You agree to:

• Always act in a professional manner. Be polite and courteous to other online users at all times. Cranfield Moodle is not to be used to libel, slander, or harass any other persons;
• Use Cranfield Moodle only for the purposes of teaching, learning and research. This prohibits use of Cranfield Moodle for personal commercial use;
• Upload only material which has been passed by an up-to-date virus-checker as being free of virus, malicious content or malware
• Not share and/or sell mailing lists or participant details generated on Cranfield Moodle;
• Not upload, store, view or transmit any material or statements which are (or may be considered to be) illegal, abusive, defamatory, inflammatory, discriminatory, obscene, indecent, threatening or offensive;
• Not plagiarise in submitted postings or assignments;
• Give due acknowledgement for material quoted from other sources, both within Cranfield Moodle and elsewhere, when submitting postings or assignments within Cranfield Moodle. Further details on this subject can be found in the regulations and student handbook.
• Be responsible for moderating any discussion forums which you may create;
• Not misrepresent the University or bring it into disrepute in any way through the use of Cranfield Moodle;
• Ensure that all links to non-Cranfield University owned or managed materials are launched in a new window and clearly labelled as third-party content;
• Not breach the copyright of the University or any third party by copying from Cranfield Moodle without prior written authorisation. Copyright of the course materials and content of Cranfield Moodle are owned or controlled by the University unless otherwise stated. Any copies of third party materials will be clearly labelled with warnings about any copyright restrictions;
• Ensure that any copyright material reproduced and loaded onto Cranfield Moodle conforms with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) (clickable link to http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/contents) or with any licence agreement held by the University, or has been made with the express written permission of the rights holder. All reproductions must be fully acknowledged.

You should report any instances of abusive or inappropriate material published on Cranfield Moodle to your Course Director in the first instance.

Security

You must not disclose to any third party your username and password to Cranfield Moodle. Sharing of your account details with another party is strictly forbidden.
You must not publish any content to Cranfield Moodle which is protectively marked or commercially sensitive.
You agree never to log on to Cranfield Moodle and then leave your device logged in and unattended. Ensure you log out before closing your browser.

Copyright

Except for copyright in learning materials for courses delivered under Cranfield University's Academic Provider contract with the Ministry of Defence (MOD), and for copyright-cleared third party materials, all copyright of the learning content published to Cranfield Moodle is owned or controlled by Cranfield University.
All rights are reserved. All course materials are made available to you to download onto your PC or other device on the strict understanding that it is for your personal educational use only, in order to enable you to complete the course. Course material so downloaded is not, under any circumstances, to be forwarded, transferred to any other student on the course or to any other party. No part of the material may be reproduced or transmitted to any other person, in any form or by any means, including by hard copy print-out. 
As part of the Alumni you will have access to your learning content after completion of your award for a period of time. This is for reference only and you must not copy or print any of this material.

Information we collect

In order to use Cranfield Moodle you must have 'cookies enabled' on your web browser. By accepting these conditions you agree to allow certain information about you to be collected from Cranfield Moodle (see below). 
Cranfield University collects your information by cookies. Cookies are small file structures used by Cranfield Moodle to 'request' information from the computer you are using. This information is then returned to and stored by Cranfield Moodle.

Data Protection

Cranfield University will deal with your personal data in accordance with the principles set out in the Data Protection Act and the University's Privacy Policy.
Any personal information which you provide to Cranfield University will be used only within the University and by CDS's service providers (Serco and Turnitin UK) and will not be disclosed to any other party. However, we may share information such as your username and password or email address with other Cranfield University staff only for purposes connected directly with your course and your use of Cranfield Moodle. Cranfield University staff may require this information to deal with student queries such as password reminders and to provide notification that a particular service has been suspended for maintenance. 
By accepting these conditions you are giving your consent to Cranfield University to process your personal data for the purposes described in the preceding paragraph. 

The types of information we collect may include usage statistics e.g. when a user last logged into the system, when he or she accessed certain activities, or when he or she uploaded an assignment.
We use this information to help improve Cranfield Moodle services by ensuring that the material and content of the courses accord with users' requirement and also to make sure that users are not having problems with access. 
The usage statistics are visible to Cranfield Moodle administrators and may be visible to your course tutors.

Your Privacy

Although the Moodle community made GDPR compliance possible via a Moodle-specific plugin, this plugin is not enabled on this site. Cranfield University has an overarching policy for GDPR compliance for all Cranfield University applications and this is applied at University level.

Disclaimer

Whilst Cranfield University will endeavour to ensure that this site is normally available 24 hours a day, Cranfield University will not be liable if for any reason the site is unavailable at any time or for any period. Access to this site may be suspended temporarily and without notice in circumstances of system failure, maintenance or repair or for reasons beyond the control of Cranfield University. 
Cranfield Moodle may contain links to other websites outside Cranfield University's control; Cranfield University is not responsible for the content of these sites. Cranfield University gives no guarantee that these links will work all of the time and it exercises no control over the availability of the linked sites. Likewise, references and links to any such websites must not be taken as an endorsement by Cranfield University of opinions expressed or services provided at those sites. Cranfield University takes no responsibility for the privacy policies of any linked websites.

Governing Law

These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the Law of England and Wales and shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England.

Contacts

For learning content, technical, administrative issues contact servicedesk@cranfield.ac.uk. 
For harassment/equality issues and complaints contact your Course Director in the first instance.