What's the Deal With Data Piracy? Or is it Privacy...
THE SITUATION
Online Privacy is more important than ever! It is essential we keep our students safe.
BOUND BY LAW
As educators, we are bound by two laws, Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the Family Educational Right to Privacy Act (FERPA). These laws apply to online sites, apps, and extensions used in the classroom. Example: Discovery Education Plus (site), WeVideo (app), Google Hangout (extension)... Here's a brief video from iKeepSafe that explains, in layman's terms, why online privacy is so critical.
Student Privacy for K-12 Educators - Video
THE SOLUTION
Use the form linked below to fill out any sites, apps or extensions you use with your students, and we will review them for COPPA and FERPA compliance for you. These are only for sites, apps and extensions that require a student to login, or ones where student data must be uploaded. Please do not list normal websites like Google.com or Dictionary.com.
Before submitting an app or tool for approval, please check to make sure that the app hasn't already been approved or denied. Submitting duplicate apps for approval will slow down the process for everyone and create serious delays in getting apps approved. The links to the approved and denied apps lists are below. Please check both lists before submitting an app. Please note: Apps, extensions, or tools, that are designed to violate copyright laws cannot be approved or used. This includes various video, audio, and image downloaders.
APP APPROVAL FORM
THE APPROVAL PROCESS
Apps submitted are run through the Education Framework matrix and either approved or denied, based on their compliance with Federal law, as indicated by their privacy score. The video below explains the process. (Again, in a lighthearted format. If you want to skip the lightheartedness and get to the nitty-gritty of app approval, skip to the 3:55 mark in the video.)
LIST OF APPROVED APPS - Quick and easy to view/sort list of apps approved for use in the district.
LIST OF DENIED APPS - This List is actually the master list of applications that contains all apps submitted by staff members. It is not as clean as the list above, but if you want to know specifics on your app's review, please search this list. Also, please check this list to see if your app is already on it BEFORE submitting an App Approval Form.