The Day And The Data; Catching Policy Up To Reality
8 min read
In discussions about student privacy and data collection, it's easy to remain stuck on small pieces of the larger picture. In the interest of showing a more complete picture, it's worth looking at the data trail that could be created from a single day of learning. To guide us on this journey, we will work with Sondra*, a sixteen year old high school student. Sondra is enrolled in her local public school. She plays basketball, and takes a regular courseload.
1. The Day
A. Waking Up
Sondra wakes up at 6:30. She has left her school-issued iPad (part of the schools 1:1 iPad initiative) on and charging all night. Her school has Google Apps; she messages Amy, her girfriend, and says a quick "hello" via hangout.
B. Homeroom
On her way to school, Sondra stops off and gets coffee. She had been up late the night before, and mornings are always difficult. The caffeine helps her get moving. As a result, though, she is late to school, which is reported by her homeroom teacher.
C. History - In Class Research
In her World History class, the teacher has them research Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Her school is part of Microsoft's Bing For Schools program, and the teacher has them compare search results from Google, Bing, and Duck Duck Go.
They store notes with information from their searches in a Google doc.
D. English - Handing In A Paper
In her English 10 class, she has a paper due. Because her teacher is lazy, doesn't trust his students, and has never put in the time or effort to learn the writing styles of his students, he uses TurnItIn.com to collect papers and check for plagiarism.
While Sondra and her classmates hand in their papers, she sees her teacher writing on a notepad. He is planning his presentation for ISTE: Technology Integration in the Writing Process.
E. Lunch
Sondra gets hot lunch - pizza, salad, and water. She also gets some potato chips as a snack. She pays with her swipe card.
F. Testing
Sondra's school is field testing the Smarter Balanced tests. As a result, she spends 90 minutes after lunch taking a sample math exam.
G. Basketball Practice
That afternoon, during basketball practice, Sondra lands on the side of her foot after getting a rebound. Eventually, she's able to walk it off. Her coach is tracking types of injuries during specific drills, and he makes a note of Sondra's sprained ankle.
H. Study Group
After basketball practice, Sondra is meeting up with some friends at Starbucks (not the the one at the indoor mall, the one at the strip mall). It's a little out of her way, but she swings by Amy's house to say hi. Sondra's parents have told her not too, and while Sondra hasn't come out to them yet, she thinks they might know, and she's pretty sure that they will freak out. But she has 15 minutes to spare, so she makes the detour.
At the study group, they do more work on Napoleon's invasion of Russia, using Bing for Schools to search, and storing notes in a Google Doc. After working for an hour, Sondra heads home, arriving around 7.
2. The Data
A. Waking Up
Many schools put tracking devices on school issued devices; this basically converts the iPad into a personal tracking device. This data is accessible by the school, and is usually stored on servers provided by the vendor selling the tracking service. Because Sondra left the device on all night, the location of her iPad (and by extension, Sondra) can be tracked for the entire night. Using a Google service lets Google know who Sondra is talking with, and when.
For this part of the day, data is sent to:
- Google;
- Apple, or whatever company is tracking iPad location.
B. Homeroom
Attendance data is stored in the school's Student Information System. As noted above, the iPad is set to collect geolocation info, which is also stored. Theoretically, the school could attempt to track Sondra's location (and, possibly, the reason for her tardiness). Some districts are already doing this.
For this part of the day, data is sent to:
- The school's Student Information System (SIS) - this can be onsite, or an offsite solution managed by a vendor like Pearson or Follett. There are many options here, and running the SIS offsite, on a vendor's hardware, is pretty common;
- Geolocation data, as noted above.
C. History - In Class Research
Searching sends student data to both Google and Microsoft.
Using Duck Duck Go preserves some student privacy.
Storing data in Google docs sends additional information to Google.
For this part of the day, data is sent to:
- Microsoft;
- Google, twice (search and docs);
- The school SIS (attendance, and possibly other class-related information).
D. English - Handing In A Paper
Services like TurnItIn.com rely on student Intellectual Property to run their service. A lawsuit in 2007 challenged this practice; TurnItIn prevailed in the case.
For this part of the day, data is sent to:
- TurnItIn.com (there are a slew of other options)
- The school's SIS.
E. Lunch
Many schools manage their lunch programs using a Point of Sale vendor.
For this part of the day, data is sent to:
- The school's Point of Sale vendor - depending on the vendor, this information can be stored on or off site, but most solutions require some student information to track expenses to an individual.
F. Testing
In this example, Sondra's school (like many others) is piloting the Smarter Balanced tests. The example here could just as easily have been PARCC, NWEA, Pearson, or the College Board.
For this part of the day, data is sent to:
- The testing organization;
- In some cases, question-level data is sent to the school's student information system;
- In some cases, question-level data is sent to regional educational service entities.
G. Basketball Practice
That afternoon, during basketball practice, Sondra lands on the side of her foot after getting a rebound. Eventually, she's able to walk it off. Her coach is tracking types of injuries during specific drills, and he makes a note of Sondra's sprained ankle.
For this part of the day, data is sent to:
- Possibly, the school's SIS; and/or
- Possibly, a third party coaching app.
H. Study Group
When Sondra is on her way to her study group, the geolocation on her iPad is tracking her movement. When she gets to her study group, her searches and the text of her research is being sent to Microsoft and Google, at the very least.
For this part of the day, data is sent to:
- Apple, or whatever company is tracking iPad location;
- Microsoft;
- Google.
Defining Educational Records
FERPA defines "educational records", but various data streams described here don't fit neatly into the definitions within FERPA. As students progress through a single day, they create a data stream that can easily be spread across five or more service providers. Many of these providers offer no opportunity for students or parents to review or scrub a data trail.
In the example used here, Sondra is a public school student on a school-issued device. Do her parents have the right to examine Sondra's geolocation data (fwiw, Apple's track record here is pretty spotty)? In the example used here, accessing the geolocation data could potentially have personal repercussions for Sondra. If a student does work on a school provided device after hours, and that work is saved and stored in a place that is maintained by the school or an agent of the school, is that an "educational record"? What ownership do students, or their parents, have over the flow of data that arises when a kid has a normal day of school? Sondra is a public school student, using a school-provided device - how does that change the picture of student ownership of her data, and who could potentially have rights to access it? If she used a family-provided computer to access school provided services outside school hours to create something, who would have the ability to control when and how that was used?
In the course of a fairly typical day, Sondra created a data trail that is stored on the servers of at least 8 different vendors. Her school only has direct access to a subset of that data, and no one has delete rights over it. The activities looked at in this post intentionally left out Facebook and Instagram, and the ecosystem of apps that spread a person's data over a range of advertisers and sites. In this context, simple privacy isn't adequate. Sondra owns her life, and she should own the data that results from her life. From a pedogogical place, it only makes sense that students should be able to reflect on the data trails they create. From a "creating informed people in the 21st century" place, it only makes sense that people get the chance to see the full breadth of the data trails they create.
The laws around data in education have yet to catch up with the realities of data in education. One way to fill the gap, short term, is with effective policies at the school and district level.
Notes
* While "Sondra" is having a pretty typical school day, there is no actual person named "Sondra." She is a fictional invention meant to personalize the experiences many students have on a daily basis.
