It take's a great deal of effort and collaboration to create and nurture a school's digital culture. Educational Technology ("EdTech") is a rapidly evolving ecosystem of networked technology, all contributing to the rise of the Educational Data Economy.
Within this growing ecosystem is an increase of debate, concern and uncertainty about how schools can best protect student data privacy. An important step in cyber risk mitigation in schools is educating teachers on making better informed decisions towards EdTech adoption. Teachers must be supported by school leaders in raising awareness of digital privacy and cyber security practices being used by EdTech vendors, including how they collect, use, store and share sensitive data.
Instead of turning pages of a text book, or writing notes in a workbook, in today’s classroom it is not uncommon to see students log into online accounts and Learner Management Systems to study lessons, complete interactive tasks, write emails, or research topics on the Internet. These tasks are predominately performed on computer devices provided by the school, preloaded with educational software for free or at heavily discounted costs.
With the growth of these EdTech tools, the potential for students to learn, communicate and create also increases. However, there also sees the potential for these vendors to amass personal data about young people that can be tracked, mined, shared and exploited by unintended audiences over the course of time. Much of this data sharing is at the expense of end-users, or students, having no knowledge about, or providing consent towards this taking place.
To help guide decision-making efforts, assisting schools with more informed choices on EdTech adoption, we've created Student Privacy - Tips for Educators. Learn the best practices for gathering, communicating, and protecting student data, and much more.
This 16-page ebook has been created to assist schools in further understanding towards data privacy compliance. Student Privacy - Tips for Educators provides a series of question prompts to encourage decisions that meet legal, technical and moral obligations when safeguarding student data. This resource will aid in school protocol and decision making that relates to:
- Data collection & transparency
- Data use & disclosure
- Data storage & access
- Consent & accountability
