Education Apps, Keeping Students Safe

There are so many free apps out there, and many that do require a license offer a "lite" or "basic" version for free. With the right intentions, teachers are always looking for new apps that further student engagement, differentiate learning, and help them save time in their lessons.

Many apps that target the education market will target these key areas to teachers to gain their attention.  What is often overlooked however is what information these apps collect.  As Ted Hughes, the poet, quoted like many others,

"Nothing is free."

What appears free isn't. It is important to read the terms of use as it identifies what data is collected and how it will be used, stored, and who owns it. These apps collect vital user information and behaviour that can be sold and used for profit. Information that is not sold, app providers can still use it for marketing and analyze it non-anonymously for development. This can also be the case with licensed apps, although not as common it is still important to check the terms of use. 

App providers terms of use stating what is collected and provide guidelines for the minimum age. This can be wearisome as well because it is common practice for providers to change their terms of use. Usually annually or more frequently to ensure they remain compliant with governing laws.

When the changes take place, the end user is usually notified via email or popup on the app. The problem with Terms of Use agreements are they are extremely long. Does anyone really read them? It is designed to protect the providers, not the end user. That is the risk.

As a leader in education, what can you do to help protect your students?

1. Create an APP policy that meets your school's policies and outline transparency by checking their Terms of Use, such as their update policy, age limit, data ownership and sharing policies.
2. Set your organization to white list apps: so only approved apps can be used using school resources.
3. Audit all apps Terms of Use: check to see if the apps do not sell your organization's data, has appropriate age limits, 
4. Get your colleagues to explore apps:  Encourage them to ask about new apps to be evaluated and have them look for new changes with existing apps.
5. Have staff forward any Terms of User emails or notifications: Apps can change at anytime and it is easy to miss an update
6. Inform stakeholders of the apps you use and what data is collected and for what purpose these apps are used in the school

This article was inspired by an article published by BLG, School board must take action to protect student personal information online. After reading it, it was important to reflect on my practices and how teachers use apps in their schools.