Office of Youth Safety & Compliance

Adults who are responsible for delivering virtual content to youth audiences are expected to abide by the same Standards of Behavior that apply to all OSU youth programs.

These standards address the need to include a second adult in any direct electronic communications, secure parent consent prior to capturing or using any media containing minors, and limit 1-on-1 interactions. In addition to the guidelines for youth programs in general, the following recommendations should be considered when creating safe virtual experiences for youth:

• Ensure that you have a current technology use agreement and electronic code of conduct for youth participants (see Templates below).
• As a general rule, avoid recording or capturing the likeness of any minor participants. This is especially important to avoid if you are using a personal device or shared computer.
• Secure parental consent forms, which specifically authorize youth participation in the virtual programming. Be sure to include specifics about supervision ratios (adults-to-youth), program design, content moderation and behavior expectations.
• Parents or caregivers should be cc’d on all meeting invitations. Individual invitations or unmonitored messages should not be sent directly to youth attendees without including a parent recipient. This includes private chats or direct messaging within a software application.
• Maintain online security by using technology that requires login via e-mail invitation, password protection, or other secure methods (see Technical Tips below). Avoid posting meeting links on public sites.
• Monitor and prohibit sharing of personal contact information. This includes any personally-identifiable information, such as phone number, social media accounts, e-mail addresses, etc.
• Plan a debrief at the end of each session to learn what worked and what can be improved.

 

See Templates below for sample virtual codes of conduct for program staff and youth participants.

In alignment with Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA") regulations, parents should ultimately be in control over what information is collected from young children--particularly those under age 13--while online. Several popular social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, require that users be at least 13 years old in order to gain access to their services. Given the dynamic nature of the Internet, it is often difficult to determine which commercial websites and online services (including mobile apps) are directed at children. While the COPPA rule does not directly apply to OSU, it should inform our usage of certain platforms to deliver content to youth.

The chart below includes general guidance on appropriate usage and possible age restrictions of several popular 3rd party platforms. In many cases, while it may be acceptable to use tools like Facebook to promote your program or events to a general audience, it may not be appropriate to use the same service for delivery of programming to children and youth.

Note: this not intended to be an exhaustive list, and OSU does not endorse usage of any particular service for its youth programs.

		Adult		Youth 13-18		Children <13
Type	Platform	Delivery	Promotion	Delivery	Promotion	Delivery	Promotion
Social Media	Facebook	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	red_small.png	yellow_small.png
	Twitch	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	red_small.png	yellow_small.png
	Twitter	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	red_small.png	yellow_small.png
	YouTube	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png
	Instagram	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	red_small.png	yellow_small.png
	Weibo	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	red_small.png	yellow_small.png
	Reddit	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	red_small.png	yellow_small.png
	Pinterest	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	red_small.png	yellow_small.png
	Ask.fm	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	green_small.png	red_small.png	yellow_small.png
	LinkedIn	green_small.png	green_small.png	yellow_small.png	yellow_small.png	red_small.png	red_small.png
Video Collaboration	Zoom	green_small.png		green_small.png		green_small.png
	Google Hangouts	green_small.png		green_small.png		green_small.png

There should be no issues using this platform

There may be some restrictions using this platform

Not appropriate for use with the identified audience

• Zoom video conferencing is a free service made available to OSU personnel. 
• Canvas is the learning management system (LMS) available to individuals with ONID credentials. For instructions on how to add non-OSU individuals to a Canvas Studio site, go here.
• Bridge can be used to host online training or professional development for OSU employees (ONID login required).

 

See also Online Safety Resources below for non-OSU sponsored content.

 

To view the Privacy Notice for Oregon State University, go to https://uit.oregonstate.edu/ois/privacy-notice-oregon-state-university.

Zoom Meetings’ privacy policies can be found here: https://zoom.us/privacy and https://www.zoom.us/docs/en-us/childrens-privacy.html

Zoom is utilized by K-12 schools and educational institutions to connect virtually with their students and is FERPA compliant. More information can be found here.

 

See Templates below for sample parental consent forms and waivers.

 

It is recommended that OSU youth programs utilize the more restrictive Webinar platform when using Zoom. Webinars are designed so that only the host and designated presenters are able to share video and audio. Webinar attendees join in listen-only mode, and participant lists are only visible to the host or presenter(s).

For information on how to request a Zoom Webinar license through OSU Information Services, visit https://is.oregonstate.edu/zoom/webinar-licenses.

If the webinar service is not an option for your program, the following settings are recommended when using Zoom's standard Meetings service:

• Disable “Join Before Host” to ensure your youth participants cannot join the meeting until the adult host and moderator are present.
• Enable the Waiting Room feature, which prevents attendees from joining the meeting until you are ready, with adequate program staff in place.
• Turn off (disable) participant recording. You can do this from the Host Dashboard.
• Turn off (disable) screen sharing and file sharing by participants. You can do this from the Host Dashboard.
• Disable participant-to-participant private chat using the “Everyone Publicly” setting.
  • For more information about chat settings, visit https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/203650445-In-Meeting-Chat.
• If using the public chat feature, consider whether or not you will be saving a chat log. If so, logs should be saved to a university-owned computer or device and must follow OSU's General Records Retention guidelines.
  • For more information about saving the chat log, visit https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115004792763-Saving-In-Meeting-Chat.

 

For additional information about how to properly configure Zoom Meetings, please review OSU's Zoom Security Guide.

Take an online mini-course on how to deter "zoombombing" and unauthorized access in Zoom (Canvas login required)

See also the following recent (March 2020) security guidance published by Zoom:

• School Administrator’s Guide to Rolling Out Zoom (.pdf download)
• How to keep Uninvited Guests Out of Your Zoom Event

 

• Acknowledgement of Risk and Waiver of Liability Forms - used to inform participants and parents about potential risks involved with an activity, and to document their acceptance of those risks.
• Model and Information Release Forms - required in order to record the name, likeness, voice, participation, comments and/or appearance of participants in video, sound, photographic or written material.
• Sample Virtual Code of Conduct for staff (addendum to Youth Safety Standards of Behavior)
• Sample Virtual Code of Conduct for youth participants