With nearly every American school shut down to slow the spread of COVID-19, many educators are either adopting online educational and conferencing products for the first time or, at the very least, increasing their use of these resources. This means that millions of children per day are logging in from home to Internet communications platforms such as Zoom, Google’s G-Suite for Education, Nearpod, and Flipgrid. These online options offer the potential for students to connect with their classmates and teachers, structure their days at home, and “save” some of the remaining school year. But they also pose threats to students’ privacy.
This blog post from the National Education Policy Center, based in the CU Boulder School of Education, encourages parents and educators to ask 10 questions about how ed-tech companies are collecting and protecting students’ data.