Changing Policies Concerning Student Privacy and Ethics in Online Education

Abstract

Whereas the growth in global distance and online education has blossomed, especially with the arrival of massive open online courses (MOOCs), the same technological infrastructure permits unprecedented access to knowledge about students and their behaviors. This knowledge extends far beyond scores on tests to include the measurement of noncognitive factors such as persistence, and intrusive metadata such as geolocation information. Moreover, the growth in the internet of things (e.g., via smart phones and RFID chips) is rapidly complexifying the problem of intrusive data collection. In this paper, we review some of the policy challenges facing student privacy in online learning.