Foundations for Success
5 FERPA & Online Privacy
In any online learning experience, we need to consider the privacy of student records. These privacy considerations will affect how we interact online, as well as the tools we choose. It’s important to have an understanding of FERPA.
What is FERPA?
FERPA gives students the right to:
- Review their educational records.
- Request amendment to records they believe to be inaccurate.
- Limit disclosure from those records.
An institution’s failure to comply with FERPA could result in the withdrawal of federal funds by the Department of Education. In order to ensure compliance with FERPA.
Whether you are delivering a face-to-face or an online course, it is important to identify the difference between Directory Information and Personally Identifiable Information.
See the UMN ASR FERPA website for more information.
Communicate Safely Online
The online environment provides new options to communicate with your students. In addition to using Canvas, you may choose to use tools outside of your course to communicate with your students or hold virtual office hours.
The best method to communicate with students regarding grades or other personally identifiable information is through Canvas, since this is password protected and FERPA compliant. In addition to the course mail tool, there are other areas in your online course where you can provide feedback and grades to students in a private area, including the grade book, the assessments tool, and the assignments tool.
For more information see UMN Guidelines for Online Teaching and Design: Student and Technology Privacy
Instructional Strategies & Best Practices
A few general guidelines to consider are provided below:
- Never use Social Security Numbers to identify students.
- Do not e-mail or share NIDs as this is personally identifiable information.
- When mailing a group of students outside of Canvas put all e-mail addresses in the blind carbon copy (BCC) box.
- Do not email students outside of Canvas with grade information or other personally identifiable information.
- Be careful not to post grade information in areas of Canvas where all students in the course may view the grade, such as replying to a public discussion post with grade information.
- If you choose to use third party public tools (e.g., blogs, wikis) include a FERPA statement in your syllabus reminding students not to include any personally identifying information on this public site.