Since the pandemic, the number of educational technologies used in classrooms has exploded (Singer, 2021). Most, “ed tech apps,” however, are built by tech start-ups with little background in children’s privacy laws (eChalk, 2019). Free learning apps are most likely to gather user data and track children’s activities for the purpose of delivering targeted ads. However, even paid learning apps have been found to be tracking and using children’s data in troubling ways, either with intent or through ignorance of best practices in children’s privacy protection (eChalk, 2019).
Data privacy generally means the ability of a person to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent personal information about them is shared with or communicated to others (CloudShare, 2022). This personal information can be one’s name, location, contact information, or online or real-world behavior. Just as someone may wish to exclude people from a private conversation, many online users want to control or prevent certain types of personal data collection (CloudShare, 2022). Yet, students have little power to influence what or how much information is collected when they use technology.
Before selecting an edtech app to use in the classroom, educators should assess how the app collects, stores, shares, and/or sells students’ personal data. An easy method for determining just how well the app protects student privacy assessing is to follow the framework I recently developed.
