April Newell writes: After serving as an orientation leader during this semester’s move-in, I thought I knew Emerson’s alcohol and drug policy inside and out. During training, we were drilled on the privacy rights of students and the details of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA. College students are legally entitled to…
Category: Youth & Schools
States Backtrack on Student Tracking Technology
Jeffrey Stinson reports: Do you know where your student is? At school? On the bus? Paying for lunch in the cafeteria? Principals in thousands of the nation’s schools know the answer because radio frequency chips are embedded in students’ ID cards, or their schools are equipped with biometric scanners that can identify portions of a…
EFF and ACLU of Tennessee Team Up to Challenge Unconstitutional School District Policy
Nate Cardozo and Jamie Lee Williams write: School districts across the country are grappling with how to deal with their students’ use of technology and social media. All too often, in an attempt to protect students, they end up implementing technology polices that give administrators too much power and go too far in restricting what…
Student app in Ottawa classes gets raves from teachers, but worries privacy experts
Vito Pilieci reports: Experts are expressing concern over a new computer application that collects and stores information about the in-class behaviour of students, some as young as six years old, as the app rolls out in schools around the world, including here in Ottawa. Called ClassDojo, the application allows teachers to assign points to students for positive behaviour, and to…