Terms and Conditions

Connected Terms & Conditions

Connected Community User Agreement

Thank you for being part of the Connected community.

To ensure the best possible experience for all members, this user agreement outlines the rules and guidelines for participation.

This user agreement applies to all staff, volunteers and contractors working within schools, preschools and the Department for Education, as well as parents, carers and other community members who use Connected as a communication tool.

By joining and using Connected, you agree that you have read, agree with, accept and will comply with these rules and guidelines and the terms of use below. You also agree to use discretion regarding the conversations, information and content that is shared and ensure it aligns with the Department for Education’s Social Media Terms of Use. If you do not agree as above, please discontinue your use of Connected immediately.

Connected is a communication tool that allows users to participate in online conversations and share information and documents with trusted peers within their Connected community.

To encourage an environment of courteous and respectful dialogue, we require all community members to follow the rules and guidelines outlined below. If any community member violates the rules or guidelines, the Community Administrator, or the Department for Education, reserves the right to suspend or terminate their membership to this community.

The Community Rules will be reviewed annually and the most recent version can be found here Terms and Conditions - Connected (schools.sa.edu.au).

Connected Rules and Guidelines

Respect others. Focus on the content of each email/post and not on the people making them. Please be considerate to newer members, there’s no such thing as a stupid question.
Ensure you have taken your ethical, legal and duty of care obligations into account when using Connected. You must have prior consent to post images, videos, audio and creative work of children, students, staff, and the community.
Respect the purpose of the community. Use the community to share information and have constructive and relevant conversations.
Information posted on the discussion groups and in the document libraries is available for all members to see, and content must not breach defamation, slander, and antitrust laws.
All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.
Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator.
When posting items, please indicate if the item is not available for reuse. Post your message or documents only to appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating “noise.”
All community administrators must have a schools.sa.edu.au email address. This ensures all administrators are bound by the Code of Ethics for the SA Public Sector.
Members must be approved by the community administrators before they can access a Connected community.
Notwithstanding the rules above, bullying, harassment, swearing, sharing of commercial advertising and student/child content is inappropriate. Each community member has a responsibility to moderate comments made by other members and escalate to the community administrator if they believe the content is inappropriate. Self-moderation should ensure content is relevant and respectful.
If you have a complaint, issue or feedback, please contact your community administrator in the first instance. If the issue cannot be resolved in a timely manner, in a suitable way, or there is a conflict of interest, you can escalate the issue by

Logging a job via edIT (for DfE employees), or
emailing Education.Comms@sa.gov.au or by calling 8226 2885 during office hours.

The Department for Education will investigate your concern and may contact you for further information or with an outcome.
If an issue occurs after normal business hours and you believe the situation requires urgent attention, contact the media unit hotline on 8226 7990 or the SA Police and follow their advice
Connected is not an approved Department for Education document management repository and should not be used as such to store and record files or information
The misuse of this communication platform may result in disciplinary action. You may be privately liable for defamation if defamatory content is published on Connected (including via email).
When communicating via Connected, clearly state the topic of your discussion in the subject line. This helps members to respond more appropriately to your post/email and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.
Messages such as “thanks” or “me, too” should be sent via reply to individuals only and not to the entire community.
Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list” to the entire community. Instead, log in to https://Connected.schools.sa.edu.au/home to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing email addresses, you can change your email address in Settings and do not need to remove yourself from the list and re-join.

The Legal Stuff

In addition to the community rules and guidelines, Connected members must agree to the following terms of use. By using Connected, you confirm you have read, understand, and agree to the following terms of use:

Connected is an online communication tool that allows schools, preschools and the Department for Education to engage with staff and the wider community. The Department for Education is not responsible for the opinions and information posted using this platform by others. The Department for Education disclaim all warranties regarding information posted on Connected, whether posted by members or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness.
In no event shall the Department for Education be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this platform.
Users must not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials or comments.
Users must not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting such materials, the posting user or party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting user or party grants the Department for Education and users of this platform the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.
The platform must not be used for any commercial purpose, including the promotion or conducting of any business, unless previously authorised by the Department for Education Director of Communications.
The Department for Education does not actively monitor Connected for inappropriate postings and does not undertake editorial control of postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of the Department for Education, we will take all appropriate action.
The Department for Education reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.

Privacy Policy

The Department for Education enables access to this communication platform, which has been developed and delivered by Higher Logic Pty Ltd. The Department for Education is required to adhere to government privacy and records management requirements in the use and management of your personal information, and information contained within this platform.

The below information outlines how Higher Logic, as the vendor of this platform, uses, manages and stores information contained within the platform.

When creating your account and using the platform, any personal information you provide to us including your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and other similar information will not be released, sold, or rented to any entities or individuals outside of the Department for Education except as noted below.

With Whom Do the Department for Education Share the Personal Information We Collect Through This Platform:

The management of information in based on the department’s data sharing obligations as outlined in the Public Sector (Data Sharing) Act 2016.

Government and Legal Disclosures

We may disclose the personal information we collect through this platform, for the purposes reasonably necessary or directly related to Connected, or otherwise required or authorised by law.

Cookies

A “cookie” is a small data text file that is placed in your browser and allows us to recognize you each time you visit Connected. Cookies themselves do not contain any personal information, and we do not use cookies to collect personal information. Cookies may also be used by 3^rd party content providers such as newsfeeds.

Data Storage

Higher Logic store data in Amazon Web Services (AWS) a cloud-based datacentre in the US and is compliant with the Australian Privacy Principles.

Higher Logic personnel that are engaged in the Processing of Personal Data have limited and audited access to personal data. They understand their responsibilities and have executed written confidentiality agreements.

Higher Logic Privacy Policy

Remember The Risks Whenever You Use The Internet

While we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us and you are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any passwords or other account information. In addition, other Internet sites or services that may be accessible through our site have separate data and privacy practices independent of this platform, and therefore we disclaim any responsibility or liability for their policies or actions. Please contact those vendors and others directly if you have any questions about their privacy policies. For any other information on the privacy or information handling on this platform, please contact the Department for Education.