What's at risk with high school MOOCs

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have made their way into high schools, and loopholes in federal privacy laws allow a flood of personal data about students to flow to private companies, reports Caitlin Emma for Politico.com. The slew of free, open-access online courses have been presented to students as a way to supplement Advanced Placement coursework or earn a certificate of completion for college-level classes. When students participate, they unwittingly transmit a torrent of data about their academic strengths and weaknesses, learning styles, and thought processes. They may also hand over birth dates, addresses, even drivers license information. Their IP addresses, attendance, and participation in public forums are all logged by providers of the courses. With little federal guidance, key decisions on how to handle student data -- including how widely to share them and whether to mine them for commercial gain -- are left up to the company hosting the MOOC or its business partners. Student data are less protected by federal law since a 2012 update by the Education Department that allows even greater disclosure of students' personal identifying information. Congress is divided on how to tackle privacy laws. Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) proposed a bill in July that would prohibit the use of personally identifiable information to target advertising to students.

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Source:  Public Education News Blast

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Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) is an education support organization that works as a collaborative partner in high-poverty communities.