Thank you for being a part of PAEA’s Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). By joining and using a community, you agree that you have read, understand, and will abide by the following rules and guidelines.
Disclaimer: PAEA is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others.
Overview and Introduction
The Professional Learning Communities (“PLCs”) are a platform used for facilitating learning in a welcoming and inclusive environment for all PA education professionals and community stakeholders. The PAEA Learning Community Guidelines (“Community Guidelines”) establish the expectations for how users of the PLCs will communicate with each other and share content within the PLCs. We require all authorized users of the PLCs (“Users”) to adhere to the Community Guidelines and maintain professional, responsible, and courteous etiquette at all times. Please read the following information carefully. All Users of the PLCs are also bound by and must abide by the PAEA Website and Services Terms of Use.
Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
PAEA values upholding diversity and inclusion principles, encouraging contributions from those with different perspectives and backgrounds. Community groups are a forum for professional and educational discussion and information sharing. Please be accepting of others for their points of view. Comments, statements and content that relate in any way to any person’s personal or physical characteristics or race, gender, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnicity, disability, political views or affiliations have no place in the PLCs.
Access to Professional Learning Communities
The PLCs are made available by PAEA as a benefit for PAEA members and other stakeholders authorized by PAEA. Users of the PLCs who are not PAEA members must be approved by PAEA community administrators.
Posting Content
For all content that you post on the PLCs, including but not limited to text, articles, essays, commentary, publications, slide shows, graphic images, photographs, video recordings, audio recordings, multi-media content, electronic files and all other content and materials incorporated into, made part of or used, broadcast, played or displayed in connection with the content you post (collectively or individually, “Content”), you are making the following representations about the Content:
- The Content does not violate the intellectual property rights of a third party, including copyright, trademark and trade secret rights;
- The Content does not include or incorporate the material, literary work, creation, photograph, graphic image, illustration, video, audio, recording, media, choreography or artwork of a third party without the explicit written permission and license of any such third party, and User has sought and obtained all required clearances, permissions and licenses before including any such licensed content in the Content and paid any required fees for any such licenses;
- The Content does not violate the privacy or publicity rights of a third party;
- The Content does not include any confidential, inaccurate, false, misleading, defamatory, libelous, unlawful, scandalous, offensive or actionable statements, images or allegations; and
- The Content complies in all respects with all applicable international, federal, state and local laws, and regulations.
- Post Content in the most appropriate channels.
- Use clear headings for the topics. Consider using words that others might search for to find the post.
- In public communities, only post Content that you would be comfortable having reproduced or shared outside of the PLC.
- Never post confidential information of your own or any other person, company or organization.
- Never post inaccurate, false or misleading information.
- Never post photographs of any person without their explicit permission in writing.
- PAEA staff may contact Users with a request to repurpose information for other uses by PAEA.
- Private communities carry the expectation of confidentiality among the participating Users.
- No information from these groups should be shared publicly by any user of the PLCs and no authorized user is allowed to share their user credentials for the PLCs with any other person.
- Do not share or disclose any person’s personal information (name, date of birth, cell phone number, address, or any other personal identifying information) without their express advance consent.
- Do not engage in “trolling,” or posting deliberately disruptive statements meant to hijack comment threads or throw discussion off-track.
- Do not post links or comments containing sexually explicit or otherwise potentially offensive material.
- Do not bully your peers; do not post language that is threatening or meant to attack another person.
- Do not post spam, link baiting files, phishing links or files containing viruses that could damage the operation of other people’s computers or mobile devices.
- Community groups may not be used for the furtherance of commercial activity (e.g., the buying and selling of goods and services).
- Exercise discretion when discussing products. Users are strictly prohibited from selling, advertising, or otherwise promoting for their own profit any products through the PLCs.
Objectionable Content
PAEA has a zero tolerance policy for the posting or further distribution of Content that violates any aspect of the Community Guidelines.
Do not post Content that violates the rights of third parties or could be viewed as offensive, insensitive or discriminatory.
Examples of objectionable, offensive, and insensitive Content include (but are not limited to): harassment, dehumanizing speech, statements of inferiority, calls for exclusion or segregation, and targeting people or making any comment or statement related in any way to a person’s personal or physical characteristics or race, gender, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnicity, disability, political views or affiliations.
Examples of graphic Content include (but are not limited to): explicit language or imagery, vulgar or lewd speech, and graphic images.
Examples of Content that violates the rights of third parties include (but are not limited to): false or misleading statements about a person or company that tend to paint the person or company in a negative light and/or photographs of a person posted without their permission.
Copyrighted Content and Intellectual Property
Community moderators are able to exercise discretion in reporting Content that they reasonably believe infringes the copyrights of others to PAEA staff, who may request that it be taken down. Please note that PAEA and other community participants have the right to reproduce postings made to the public community groups.
Do not post any copyright protected Content without first obtaining permission to do so from the copyright owner, and please credit the Content owner and creator of the Content if you are posting another person’s Content with permission.
Community participants are encouraged to post links to free information and journal articles that are in the public domain. PLC Users may post Content they have authored themselves, so long as the User retained the right to republish their own work.
Do not post the trademarks of any person or company without obtaining a license from the trademark owner.
Do not represent Content that you post as yours if you did not create it.
Community Management
Community Reporting of Objectionable Content
Users and moderators have the ability to report potentially objectionable Content, including advertisers, and/or comments for PAEA staff to review and take action on. Please submit a support case via “My Support Cases” in the navigation bar if you see a post that you think is not in adherence with the Community Guidelines and PAEA will review the post and exercise its discretion as it deems appropriate.
Violation of Community Standards
The consequences for violating the Community Guidelines will vary depending on the severity of the violation and a person’s history on the platform and is left to PAEA’s sole discretion. For instance, PAEA may warn someone for a first violation if it is not severe, but if they continue to violate the Community Guidelines, we may restrict their ability to post or terminate their ability to use the PLCs. If a violation is severe, in PAEA’s sole discretion, PAEA may immediately terminate the User’s ability to use the PLCs. Users have no recourse for PAEA’s decisions regarding violations.
PAEA Staff Engagement
Staff may contribute to a conversation in the instance that PAEA can provide to support to our membership or stakeholder community in some way. Staff may also engage in discussions based around their areas of expertise or to provide clarifying information if the opportunity provides itself.
Community Creation Guidelines
New communities can be requested and will be created and approved at the discretion of PAEA staff. Niche topics of discussion or community ideas that do not clearly fit under a broader group are more likely to be approved. To request a new community, submit a support case via “My Support Cases” in the navigation bar and a PAEA staff member will contact you with next steps.
PAEA staff will develop PLCs for volunteer groups and events as necessary.
Updated June 2020.