Student and Learning Data Privacy in Higher Education Virtual Exchanges
Higher education institutions around the world are engaging in virtual exchanges— technology-enabled, sustained, people to people education programs— with partners in other countries at an exponential rate. Virtual exchanges offer a neutral platform for students from a diversity of backgrounds to have the freedom to express their individuality, demonstrate curiosity and develop empathy through meaningful international online collaboration. Improved internet bandwidth, the proliferation of online communication/social media technologies, and cloud-based applications and learning management systems are easing how instructors and students across borders are able to work together for shared online teaching and learning.
However, with these advantageous tools have also come unintended consequences to how student data and learning data are captured, used, and managed. Though there are new data privacy laws emerging to protect personal data collection (i.e., U.S. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA/SHERPA),ERASMUS+ Virtual Exchange - Privacy Statement and the Japanese Act on the Protection of Personal Information), there are still considerable gaps in what data is protected and how protections are enforced in different parts of the world. In the U.S, in lieu of having student data and learning data privacy and safeguard policies at the national level, many higher education institutions are now proactively creating their own data privacy principles and practices to protect data deriving from faculty and students engaged in online learning activities like virtual exchange.
Please join us for an interactive webinar discussion with: Jim Philips from the University of California System, a higher education institution system that has been on the forefront of a movement to raise awareness of learning data privacy in U.S. higher education; and Sara Collins from the Future of Privacy Forum, a U.S. nonprofit organization whose Education Privacy Project serves as a catalyst for privacy leadership and scholarship; advancing principled higher education data practices in support of emerging technologies for a safe, enriching academic experience.
This webinar session is the first within a series of ACE webinars geared to support and promote best practices for U.S. higher education institutions using technology to advance global learning, intercultural skills, and cross-border collaboration for a greater number of postsecondary students. Register Here by Monday, April 22. An email with additional information, including the webinar link, will be sent in the days before the webinar.