E Mitchell's Communicate 1.1.2 – Laws of Communication Quest

• How can one refrain from violating FERPA guidelines in online communication?
• To be honest, I would always error on the side of caution.  After taking the FERPA training that was suggested to all GaVS employees, I am now more aware of FERPA standards and the importance of adhering the to rules for the protection of all parties involved.  I think about, "What if this email address is incorrect"?  What if you just sent personal information via email to another email address unrelated to the students household.  Additionally I have had situations where students were involved in a custody battle with their parents and I had to know who exactly I could notify about the student's performance.  I would stay as vague as possible, making blanket statements.  Since parents have the ability to login for themselves and view grades, this is the best thing to suggest to them individually if they want more detailed information.
• What methods could be employed to verify that copyright is not being violated?
• When in doubt, ASK!  Having a review committee is a great way to double check for a content developer.  In addition, reading the fine print.  Teaching AP, College Board makes known their copyright policy on everything.  For example practice exams.  I have the right to use a released practice exam from College Board for instructional purposes.  What I can NOT do is post the practice exam I secured from them on my website.  Now if the site is protected and students have to login and the exam is posted in a quiz format, not one that students can download and save, then it is okay.     
• Does copyright require that all work, images, words, and graphics must be original?
• No, and that is where is gets tricky.