Privacy in Education

This is an area that I am very curious about. In my experience, we do not talk enough about this issue. Although it is American, I found the article Protecting Student Privacy on Social Media A primer for ensuring that students’ personal information remains confidential on social media offered some meaningful tips. Specifically, the opting out form. I look forward to reading the posts/ questions of others in the course.

1. Ultimately the responsibility is that of the teachers to remain informed and up to date with FIPPA regulations and laws; However, how can administration and school districts best support/ familiarizing teachers (especially new teachers) when it comes to their knowledge and understanding of publishing student work online?
2. How can we make this responsibility manageable for teachers in their practice? Writing an email or letter home every time you wish to use cloud-based platforms is daunting and teachers might simply avoid this step.
3. I am concerned that this still isn’t included in many conversations when using cloud/ tech platforms in education. How do we make this topic (FIPPA) part of our everyday dialogue in schools so teachers feel empowered and knowledgeable? In my experience, teachers are not always aware and feel judged/ ashamed when the topic is brought up.

References:

Hengstler, Julia. “A K-12 Primer for British Columbia Teachers Posting Students’ Work Online.” Jhengstler’s Blog, 13 May 2014, https://jhengstler.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/a-k-12-primer-for-british-columbia-teachers-posting-students-work-online/.

Higgin, Tanner. “Protecting Student Privacy on Social Media.” Edutopia, George Lucas Educational Foundation, 19 Sept. 2017, https://www.edutopia.org/article/protecting-student-privacy-social-media.