Digital learning has become a crucial part in the life of contemporary students, and it is vital for us to pay attention to privacy issues when we use digital identity for communicating and learning. From my personal perspective, students’ personal information, such as full names, home address, phone numbers, should not be leaked to other people, organizations, and companies. However, it is acceptable for institutions or instructors to use tools that may challenge students’ privacy only if there is a permission from the students.

In terms of the idea and policies of privacy in education, it is easy to look for relevant and uncovered information on the school website. What students need to do is to search some key words, such as students’ privacy. There are a variety of ways that helps students access and understand the areas of students’ privacy. Some pages and documents are instructing the idea of privacy from the perspective of teachers, others may from the students’ point of views. They are even showing the exact policies in details. Before I search them, I surely cared about my personal privacy, and I noticed some of the policies. For example, whether or not my email address, home address, and my photos are shown on class communities. It is nice that schools and professors respect our choices, so we are optional to reveal our information when there is a class meeting for learning.

Moreover, I learned that BC’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), as privacy legislation, really supports students to protect their personal privacies. According to FIPPA, since foreign governments may access to students’ personal information from some educational technologies, whether or not student information is accessed and stored on servers outside of Canada is inevitable for us to notice and know. That explains why our instructors always spend some time to detailedly discuss the class technologies in course syllabus and at the beginning of the first class. I was thinking that information about class technologies is not necessary for us to know before we study and start to use, which was completely wrong. Besides, I also discovered that students are able to decide which educational technologies they would use if they are aware of some privacy restrictions; meanwhile, professors always provide alternatives for students to choose and complete school tasks.

Furthermore, this learning about students’ digital privacy is meaningful for me, and it helps me to be closer to my learning goals. Specifically, it allows me to understand more about the field of digital identity and technology tools we use for studying as well as how they are playing a role in our life.

References:

https://www.uvic.ca/til/onlinelearning/home/privacyresources/index.php

https://www.uvic.ca/til/assets/docs/Student%20Privacy.pdf

https://www.uvic.ca/library/research-teaching/copyright/faculty/studentprivacy/index.php

https://www.uvic.ca/til/assets/docs/Top%20Educational%20Technology%20Tools%20for%20Learning.pdf