Student Conduct

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Student Conduct

Purpose, Scope, & Relationship to Other Student Conduct Standards

This policy aims to establish standards for student behavior when taking a course or engaged in any activity related to enrollment at the North Dakota Center for Distance (NDCDE). NDCDE has established several standalone policies containing specific behavior expectations for students related to Acceptable Use, the Academic Honor Code, Bullying, and Non-Discrimination & Harassment. 
While the specific policies outline many expectations and prohibitions related to student conduct, this policy aims to provide additional general expectations intended to guide behavior but may not be all-encompassing. NDCDE reserves the right to address any student behavior that it deems inappropriate, even if not explicitly mentioned in this policy.

Dissemination

NDCDE will publish all student conduct policies online in locations highly visible and regularly visited by students and in the Student Handbook. Teachers and administrators may also review any of these policies with students whenever deemed necessary to ensure understanding and compliance.

Expected Behavior

  • Respect: When interacting with NDCDE teachers and staff, student shall listen without interrupting, use polite language when communication orally and in writing, monitor their tone to ensure it is courteous, receive teacher feedback non-defensively, respond to their teachers in a timely manner, not attempt to breach or otherwise compromise NDCDE technology, and when on camera, use body language to show they are paying attention and are receptive to what they are hearing. Students will also follow the instructions and directives given to them by their teachers and learning coaches. More specific expectations related to showing respect when completing academic work are outlined in the Academic Honor Code Policy, A6. More information concerning acceptable technology use is contained in the Acceptable Use Policy, A7.
  • Honesty: Students will be truthful in all their activity associated with being an NDCDE student and interactions with NDCDE teachers, learning coaches, and staff. More specific expectations related to honesty in academic work are outlined in the Academic Honor Code Policy, A6.
  • Adhering to Privacy Expectations: Students shall respect the privacy of others by not recording meetings, not taking screenshots or sharing discussion posts and other student work, and will not share personal information that belongs to other NDCDE students. Students shall also follow all privacy requirements in the Acceptable Use Policy, A7.
  • Respecting Copyright Laws and Intellectual Property: All NDCDE course content is copyrighted, and students must only access and use it within the NDCDE learning management system. Students must properly cite the work produced by others and by artificial intelligence when use of such resources is allowed by the teacher. For more information, see the Academic Honor Code Policy, A6.

Expected Behavior

A violation of this or any policy governing student conduct may be subject to disciplinary action under the Student Discipline Policy, C3ea.

  • Causing Disruption to the Online Learning Environment: Any negative student behavior that causes or results in the following is considered disruptive and is prohibited:
    • NDCDE needing to change policy or procedure;
    • Causes a temporary interruption to the services that NDCDE offers;
    • NDCDE needing to put new protections in place for a teacher(s), staff, or students;
    • Causes a teacher to prematurely end a meeting with a student or make changes to a course.
  • Disrespectful and offensive behavior: This prohibited behavior occurs when a student is rude, unresponsive, inattentive, argumentative, hostile, derogatory, belittling, offensive, harassing, discriminatory, or insubordinate, meaning intentionally ignoring or violating a directive given to them by a NDCDE teacher, administrator, or learning coach.
  • Illegal activity: Students who engage in or make reference to engaging in illegal activity (such as in in an assignment), or reveal plans to engage in illegal activity will be subject to disciplinary action and referred to law enforcement. This includes drugs and alcohol use.
  • Impersonation: NDCDE prohibits any attempt to impersonate another student, a learning coach, school staff member, parent, a NDCDE staff member, teacher, or administrator.
  • Threatening Behavior: Students who make reference to committing violence, reveal plans to commit violence, or display a firearm or weapon in a threatening manner while on camera will be subject to disciplinary action, immediate referral to their schools, and, depending on the nature and severity of the threat as determined by the NDCDE dean of students in consultation with the state director or designee, may be referred to law enforcement.
  • Violating Privacy Rights: This behavior includes compromising information and/or work that belongs to someone else by posting it online or otherwise sharing it with others. It also includes recording or taking screenshots of online meetings or classes without permission of the teacher.
  • Violating Copyright Laws & Unauthorized Use of Intellectual Property: Violations in these areas are addressed in the Academic Honor Code Policy, A6.

Reporting Procedure:

Students, teachers, learning coaches, or staff who witness or become aware of a conduct violation should promptly report it to the dean of students or designee who shall determine if the teacher or s/he should respond, reviewing relevant information with the NDCDE teacher such as behavioral intervention plans and accommodation plans as necessary. The dean of students or designee may also refer this matter to the student's school district when the student engaged in the misconduct at school, when a student's behavioral intervention or accommodation plan may need updates in response to the behavior, when NDCDE determines a new learning coach may need to be assigned, or when the student's conduct may threaten or negatively impact the school/district. In addition, NDCDE maintains records of student misconduct, which are available to school officials who have access to the student's information in the NDCDE student information system. The dean of students may also refer student misconduct to law enforcement when s/he believes the student has violated the law or poses a threat to public safety. For out-of-state students, NDCDE will make referrals based on a perceived violation of North Dakota law.