Online Code of Conduct


A bronze statue of John Harvard on campus from behind

We extend a warm welcome to the GSD community and look forward to your participation in our events and programs! GSD Executive Education brings together a diverse group of individuals for a short time, and as such, the guidelines we set out below are intended to establish community norms and set expectations for participant engagement, both in and out of the classroom.

A Safe and Professional Setting

We ask participants to demonstrate respect for each individual’s dignity and capacity to contribute. Please refrain from making comments about an individual’s ethnicity, gender, sexual, or political orientation.

GSD Executive Education reserves the right to remove a participant from an event or program in response to disruptive or disrespectful behavior towards fellow participants or staff members.

Please Prepare your Technology Early

Please make sure you are ready and comfortable to use Zoom, your device’s audio settings, and camera well before the program. To assist you, we have a number of technology resources on our website.

Consider your Attire, Lighting, & Virtual Desk-space

Please wear modest business-casual attire. Choose a place to sit where you have plenty of natural or overhead light on your face. Choose a muted backdrop or room view that is not a distraction to others. Position your device so that your eyes are on level with the camera lens. (Tip: You may wish to place your device on top of a stack of books.)

Be Punctual & Engage Fully

Please be on time, respecting that our instructors will begin on the hour, with a full agenda.

Our programs are highly interactive and we ask our participants to attend all sessions of a program to contribute to discussions and enhance everyone’s learning. Please do not multi-task during sessions, so that you are available to join paired and group exercises. (Tip: Should an urgent need arise, please use the “on a break” indication in Zoom.)

At times, our moderator may or may ask you to mute or unmute your microphone to offer you the opportunity to speak, to focus attention on the instructor(s) or another speaker, or to mitigate background noise.

We recognize full participation in our multi-day online Open Enrollment programs with a Certificate of Completion.

Refrain from Taking Photos & Recording

Participants may not take photos of the Zoom screen, record video or audio files, or post the same to social media. Your co-participants have a right to educational privacy and all content displayed in the classroom is the intellectual property of instructors and GSD Executive Education.

Online Open Enrollment programs are recorded for internal use only and will not be rebroadcast or shared.

Help Create a Safe & Confidential Learning Space

Our virtual classrooms are safe spaces in which we encourage professional growth and personal reflection. We ask that you hold all conversations confidential to recognize the sensitivity of others’ comments, and we ask you to demonstrate respect for each individual’s dignity and capacity to contribute.

Thank you for supporting our efforts to create an inclusive and rewarding virtual classroom experience.