OTAN News

New Website Aims to Address Student Privacy

With so many tech tools out there, with new ones being introduced while others are shut down, it’s hard to make sense of what tools are best for your students. Add to that privacy concerns over the sharing of data with nameless, faceless companies that may not have your students’ best interests at heart, and making technology choices that best protect your students can become daunting.

What if there were a resource that would help educators make sense of the tech tool landscape and make recommendations based on privacy and efficacy considerations? That is the impetus behind a new effort called Check the Privacy, spearheaded by K-12 technology leaders across the country. Check the Privacy aims to be a one-stop center for any educator to see how a tech tool does when it comes to protecting the data shared by students and will also include other features, such as reviews and recommendations by other teachers who are using the product. Users will also be able to compare similar tools – for example, a teacher will have a way to see any differences between apps that conduct formative assessments.

Check the Privacy hopes to fill in the gaps that smaller state and organizational efforts have not been able to close, due to the sheer volume of tech tools on the market. Check the Privacy founders hope to roll out a searchable website in time for the start of the 2019-2020 school year. A major part of the project will be getting vendors to share their privacy policies and other terms of service on the website for review by any school personnel and parents and guardians who want to make sure that their children’s personal information is safe. In the meantime, teachers and administrators can sign up to receive notifications on the progress of the website.

To follow Check the Privacy, visit https://www.checktheprivacy.org.

Article: K-12 Leaders Unite for 'Check the Privacy,' a One-Stop Shop for Safe Classroom Tech from EdSurge