Educational technologies offer an abundance of affordances — they can help to foster student engagement, and help teachers to manage classrooms more efficiently. But in many cases, these benefits come with a trade-off in terms of student privacy.
So, what can we, as educational professionals, do to balance the affordances and constraints of the technologies we use? Here are three main considerations to get you started.
1. Be aware of digital data being collected about your students
Digital interactions create a story about who your students are―and it doesn’t take your students being actively involved to create that story.
Consider this example of data collected about a student in their digital day. How does this story compare to your own context?
- An auto-generated email notification about a low lunch account is sent to the student’s guardian
- Security cameras record the student entering the building
- Teacher marks the student as tardy when taking attendance in the student information system
- Student adds a discussion post in the learning management system
- Class uses an online game to review for test
- Guardian emails the teacher about issues at home and potential impact on the student
- Guardian emails the teacher about issues at home and potential impact on the student
- Teacher adds a note in the student information system so that all teachers are aware of a concern
- Teacher creates new student accounts for an online creation tool for students to use on a project
- Student searches and visits multiple sites and links as they research the topic for their project
- Teacher enters grades in learning management system, which auto-syncs to student information system
- Student’s national assessment scores are released online
- Teacher enters student participation into classroom management system
To take this a step further, how does the story change:
- If this student is on free or reduced lunch?
- If third-party services having access to student demographics, location, online behaviors, etc.?
- If the data is being mined by service providers and sold to corporations for profit?
2. Interpret and evaluate “big data” with a critical eye
We see many claims in today’s educational landscape for products and approaches that are research — or evidence-based. Often, these claims are supported by numbers — quantitative data that seems to support a given conclusion. But does that always mean an intervention has been proven to be effective? Not necessarily. For example, does the research in question:
- Dismiss outliers that don’t fit with the rest of the data? When researchers only look for what they expect (in other words, looking for data to support a predetermined hypothesis), this is called confirmation bias.
- Rely on algorithms that include inherent associations amongst gender, race, ethnicity, or culture? In other words, does it ignore connections between different data points? If so, this is an example of association bias.
- Imply that correlation is causation? Just because an association exists between two factors, it doesn’t necessarily follow that one causes the other. There are often unmeasured factors that may not have been accounted for in the analysis.
Sifting through research can be tricky — but here are some general recommendations for evaluating research critically:
- Be a curious data consumer
- Be skeptical of interpretations
- Question assumptions
- Examine data collection
- Challenge the source
- Expect bias
- Verify, then trust
3. Learn about state and federal laws related to student privacy
There are a variety of state and federal laws related to student privacy that should inform the use of technology in educational contexts. Several important laws are listed below, along with guiding questions and considerations to keep in mind to ensure you and your school are in compliance.
- FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) guarantees parents the right to access their child’s educational record and restricts who can access and use student information.
- Does the product collect Personally Identifiable Information?
- Does the vendor clearly promise never to sell data to third parties?
- Does the vendor create a profile of students (other than for specified educational purposes)?
- Will the vendor delete all the student data that has been collected when an account/app is deleted?
- Does the product show ads to students? (general ads are allowed, but many states ban targeted ads)
- Does the vendor allow parents and/or schools to access collected data?
- Does the vendor promise to secure the data it collects?
- Does the vendor state that it can change its privacy policy without notice at any time?
- Does the vendor say that if the company is sold, all bets are off?
- Do reviews or articles about the product or vendor raise any red flags?
- COPPA (The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) restricts what information can be collected from children by companies operating websites, games, and mobile applications directed toward children under 13.
- Does the company have a comprehensive privacy policy describing practices for information collected from children?
- Do they provide notice to parents and obtain verifiable parental consent, with limited exceptions, before collecting personal information from children?
- Do they give parents the choice of consenting to the collection and use of a child’s information, but prohibit the disclosure of information to third parties (unless integral to the site or service, which must be made clear to parents)?
- Do they provide parents access to their child’s personal information to review and/or have the information deleted?
- Do they give parents the opportunity to prevent further use or collection of a child’s personal information?
- Do they promise to maintain the confidentiality, security, and integrity of information they collect from children?
- Do they only retain personal information collected online from a child for as long as is necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected?
- PPRA (The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment) restricts how students can be asked for information as part of federally funded surveys or evaluations.
- Does the survey impact student privacy, parental access to information, or include physical examinations?
- Does the survey collect data on any of the following areas?
- political affiliations or beliefs
- mental or psychological problems
- sex behavior or attitudes
- illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating, or demeaning behavior
- critical appraisals of individuals with whom respondents have close family relationships
- legally recognized privileged relationships (lawyers, doctors, ministers)
- religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs
- income (other than required by law)
- CIPA (Children’s Internet Protection Act) imposes requirements on schools and libraries that receive discounts for Internet access through the E-rate program. Their internet safety policies must:
- Block access (on computers accessed by minors) to pictures that are obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors
- Monitor the online activities of minors
- Educate minors about appropriate online behavior
What do you think?
We want to hear from you! Take this anonymous, 2-minute survey to share your perspectives on big data and privacy in education.
Printable Resources
Protecting Student Privacy Bookmarks: download and print these bookmarks with quick tips and resources for protecting student privacy.
Interpreting Data, Understanding FERPA, and A Student’s Digital Data in a Day: download these infographics to help you and your students be critical consumers of research, understand FERPA compliance, and visualize how much digital data is collected during the average day of a student.
Additional Reading
Haselton, T. (2017, Dec. 6). How to find out what Google knows about you and limit the data it collects. CNBC. Retrieved February 28 from https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/20/what-does-google-know-about-me.html.
Fain, P. (2020, Feb. 6). Report: Lenders use educational data to discriminate. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved February 28 from https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/02/06/report-lenders-use-educational-data-discriminate
References
Connect Safely (n.d.). The Educator’s Guide to Student Data Privacy. Retrieved February 28 from http://connectsafely.org/eduprivacy.
U.S. Department of Education (n.d.). Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Retrieved February 28 from https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html
Murrell, A. (2019, May 30). Big data and the problem of bias in higher education. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/audreymurrell/2019/05/30/big-data-and-the-problem-of-bias-in-higher-education/#242a2aba5758
Willingham, D.T. (2012). When can you trust the experts?: How to tell good science from bad in education. John Wiley & Sons.