Investigating Student Data Privacy Policies

The protection of student data has become the primary focus of school districts during the last few years. In Connecticut, the passing of PA-18-189 has driven how districts choose and acquire educational websites and applications. In order for a district to engage with a particular app or website, the company providing the service must sign a Student Data Privacy addendum provided by the school district. In short, this addendum requires the company to notify the school district within a certain amount of time of a student-data breach so that the school district can in turn notify families. The data in question can consist of a variety of information - student Personally-Identifying Information (PII) such as name and address, student-created content, and other automatically collected information such as device and browser info, as well as Internet Service Provider information, among others.

In my research, I review the privacy policies of the following educational services: Edpuzzle, Flipgrid, and Codesters. Predictably, there were many similarities, along with a few minor differences.

Edpuzzle was the only one of the three to have signed the Student Privacy Pledge, which was created by the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) and the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) promises that its signatories will support the effective use of student information and safeguard student privacy and information security. Edpuzzle also displays the iKeepSafe FERPA, COPPA, and CSPC seals signifying that their website and apps have been reviewed and approved for having policies and practices surrounding the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of personal information from children consistent with the iKeepSafe FERPA, COPPA and CSPC programs guidelines. The appearance of these together with the aforementioned Student Privacy Pledge highlights Edpuzzle's commitment to the safe and proper use of student data.

All three companies outline that certain student PII will be collected as a result of account creation, especially in the case of a "sign up with Google" option, where at the very least, name and email address are obtained. Other information that is automatically collected typically involves the following: cookies, device info, log info, location, and LMS used. 

Info that is automatically collected: cookies, device info, log info, location, and LMS used. Flipgrid and Codesters elaborate further by collecting information on the user's browser and Internet Service Provider. 

All companies have a deletion process where the user, or parent, may request that the student account be deleted and all accompanying information deleted. Interestingly, all companies retain an archive of said data after account deletion. The reason found was to provide customer support and also to prevent accidental deletion. I wonder how often a customer goes back on their request for account deletion?

All companies support the use of de-identified data, which is data that has been stripped of any PII, which may be used for research and product improvement.

They all also note that publicly visible data may be created by users as a result of using the service. For example, Flipgrid contains discussion topics where the content created by students is visible to its participants. Flipgrid notes that it is not responsible for the information disclosed in this manner. They also further note that any request to delete information presented in this manner is to be requested of the discussion topic owner, who will submit the deletion request on the user's behalf.

These and many other products are used by students of varying school ages, many of which are under the age of 13. All of the above-mentioned apps require parental consent for use. According to COPPA, the district is empowered to provide consent on behalf of the parent, assuming that the district has notified families of the applications intended for use during the school year. 

The protection of student data in the context of school may seem to many a process that never yields perceivable results outside of the lack of marketing emails. But the data created by the creation and use of accounts for these and similar products still deserves to be protected and utilized for their intended purpose - to enhance student learning.

Using Google Meet with Pre K - 1 Students on MPS iPads

To connect with your Pre K - First Grade students via Google Meet, we're going to create share the URL for our Meet with the families of our students:

• Create your Google Meet by -
• Create an event on your Google Calendar and select "Add Google Meet Video Conferencing". Select "Google Meet">

• Right-click on "Join with Google Meet" and select "copy link address".

• Or, go to meet.google.com, start a meeting and copy the URL from the joining info.

Create your announcement in Seesaw, or Class Dojo and paste this link. Be sure to include the date and time for when you want your students to join you on the call!

The Google Meet app is not needed on the MPS iPads for this to work!

When your students access this link, they will be prompted to enter a guest name. After they complete this, the teacher who is already in the call will receive a message that the Guest is asking to join the call - the teacher can now either admit or deny entry. Because of this detail, students will not be able to access the Meet without teacher approval!

Change Your Google Account Password

Follow these quick steps to change your Google account password:

• From the Chrome browser, click your profile picture in the upper right corner.
• Choose Manage your Google Account.
• Select Security from the left sidebar menu.
• Scroll down to the Signing in to Google, select Password.
• Enter your password and click Next.
• Type your new password where you see "New Password", and again at "Confirm Password".
• Finally, click "Change password".

Create Classes in Seesaw

Creating classes in Seesaw is a breeze! If you are brand new to Seesaw and were added by your school district, you will see "Restore archived class" and "Create new class" on your screen when you first login. Select "Create new class", then choose the school for which you are creating the class from the dropdown list. This is the window where you can decide your class destination!

Create Your Account with Seesaw!

Creating your new account with Seesaw is quick and easy! Follow along with the video, or follow these steps:

• Goto www.seesaw.com
• Choose "Sign-up Free"
• Select "I'm a teacher.
• Scroll to the bottom of the page, then select "Teacher sign up with Google".
• Select your Google account from the list in the popup window.
• Create your class by entering the class name in the "Name your class" bubble, then choose the class grade
• Or, select, "Import from Google Classroom" to import your students from an existing Google Classroom.
• Click the green check with you are finished.
• Select your name in the upper left of the screen (you should see a red number 1 next to it), then "Select your school"
• Enter your school name in the search bubble in the upper center of the screen, then select it from the choices below. Note that there may be several schools of the same name, be sure to select the school from your town!

And there you have it! Give it a try, and if you have any questions, email me at matthewss@mpsct.org!

VIrtual Conference with Google Meet

Add animated headers to your Google Classroom and Forms!

By now you all know how to change the header image in your Google Classrooms and on Forms. You may not be aware, however, that you can add some pizzazz to these by uploading an animated image!

First, search for your image.

For our example, we will perform a Google search for "space". Type this, or your own selection, in the Omnibox at the top of Chrome (Google calls the area where you type and find URLs the Omnibox). Next, select Images.

Now select "Tools", then "Type", then "Animated". 

The size of headers in Classroom and Forms is 800x200 pixels. To ensure that we don't receive results that are too small, click on "Size", then "Larger than 800x600".

You may also want to consider filtering your images by usage rights, ensuring that you are not using someone else's property (their pictures) without their permission. Click "Usage rights", then choose one of the "Labeled for reuse..." options. Beware, though, that just because Google has labeled an image, does not necessarily mean that you actually have the rights to use the photo as Google says. For more info, check out "How not to use Google's new 'Image Rights' Filter", and "5 dangers of using Google Images without permission".

Once you find a picture that you would like to use, click on it to select, then right-click (2-finger tap or alt + click on a Chromebook), then select "Save image as". On a PC or Mac, choose where on your computer you want to save. On a Chromebook, this will automatically save in your Google Drive, if you are logged in. 

To include your image in Forms, click on the color pallette in the upper right.

Then select the image icon, then upload from your computer.

In Classroom, select "Upload photo" in the upper right, then upload from your computer.

This video demonstrates the directions from this article.

Now go and wow your students and colleagues with your spiffed up Forms and Classroom!