Student Privacy Professional Development for Educators
Whether in-person or online, educators have the first line of defense on student privacy. Below are free, flexible professional development trainings for teachers to take on their own or through their school, which we will continue to update.
About the Student Privacy Series
Recognizing the urgent need for professional development training resources for educators, we created a series of short videos, slide decks, and interactive activities on the most pressing privacy topics schools face.
You can watch the full playlist below, or jump to any of the sections below to access its video, slides, and activity.
Student Privacy 101: Defining Privacy
Student Privacy 101: Student Data
Student Privacy 101: Legal Compliance, Privacy & Security Risks, and Transparency & Trust
Student Privacy 101: Why Protect Student Data?
Student Privacy 101: Understanding and Reducing Risk
Student Privacy 101: How to Protect Student Data
Student Privacy 101: Contextual Privacy
Vulnerable Students: Students Experiencing Homelessness
Student Privacy 101: What Are Your School’s Policies?
Adopting EdTech: FERPA and COPPA
Adopting EdTech: Privacy Vetting
Data Security: Improving Your Cyberhygiene
Special Topics: Monitoring Students
Special Topics: Student Surveys
Teaching Privacy to Your Students
Teaching Security to Your Students
Communicating with Parents: Your Privacy Partners
Advocating for Privacy
All resources are provided under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Watch our full playlist of training videos:
Student Privacy 101: Defining Privacy
This short training explores the meaning of privacy and why privacy is important.
Resources
- Carnegie Mellon University, Privacy Illustrated
- Rob Kitchin, Privacy in a Digital World
- Desiree Fields, Data, Privacy, and Identity (Design Changes for Cards)
Student Privacy 101: Student Data
Through videos created by the Data Quality Campaign, this section explores what student data is, why it is important, and identifies who collects student data and when.
Resources
- Data Quality Campaign, Who Uses Student Data?
- NY Times, Will You Graduate? Ask Big Data
- Data Quality Campaign, What is Student Data?
Student Privacy 101: Legal Compliance, Privacy & Security Risks, and Transparency & Trust
This short training provides an animated overview of student privacy.
Access the training video for an explanation of the activity
Resources
- U.S. Department of Education, FERPA 101
- FPF, The Educator’s Guide to Student Data Privacy
- U.S. Department of Education’s Privacy Technical Assistance Center
Student Privacy 101: Why Protect Student Data?
This training explores provides an overview of potential risks to student privacy and why student information needs to be protected.
Download the activity and guide key
Resources
- CBS NEWS, After Zoom calls hacked with racial slurs and pornography, CEO admits “mistake”, April 2, 2020
More on federal and state laws:
- Utah State Board of Education, Student Data Privacy Training Videos
- FPF, Privacy Vetting
Student Privacy 101: Understanding and Reducing Risk
This training discusses how to evaluate the benefits and risks of different scenarios and implement strategies to reduce risk to student privacy.
Download the activity and guide key
Resources
Student Privacy 101: How to Protect Student Data
This short training walks through best practices for how to protect student data.
Resources
- FPF, Adopting EdTech: Privacy Vetting
- Berkman Klein Center, Digital Citizenship Resource Platform
- Common Sense Education, Digital Citizenship
Student Privacy 101: Contextual Privacy
This short training introduces contextual privacy and how educators can protect the privacy of students with unique privacy needs.
Resources
- Helen Nissenbaum, Privacy in Context
- US Dept. of Education, Early Childhood Homelessness State Profiles
- US News, Disconnected and Disadvantaged: Schools Race to Give Students Access
- Desiree Fields, Data, Privacy, and Identity (Design Changes for Cards)
Vulnerable Students: Students Experiencing Homelessness
In this module, Patricia Julianelle, Senior Strategist for Program Advancement and Legal Affairs at SchoolHouse Connection discusses unique privacy concerns of students experiencing homelessness and best practices and legal obligations for protecting the privacy of students who are experiencing homelessness.
Resources
- SchoolHouse Connection, Tips for Teachers & Staff: How to Support Students Experiencing Homelessness
- National Center for Homeless Education, The McKinney-Vento Definition of Homeless
Student Privacy 101: What Are Your School’s Policies?
This short training explores the importance of local policies that protect student privacy and when they should be consulted.
Resources
- FPF and ConnectSafely, Educator’s Guide to Student Privacy
- FPF, Social (Media) Distancing: Online Learning During a Pandemic
- Louisiana Department of Education, Louisiana’s Data Governance and Student Privacy Guidebook
- International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and Project Unicorn, A Practical Guide to Better Edtech Buying for Educators
Adopting EdTech: FERPA and COPPA
This short training explores how federal student privacy laws FERPA and COPPA apply to edtech adoption.
Resources
- FPF, Student Data: Trust, Transparency, and the Role of Consent
- Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), Protecting Student Privacy While Using Online Educational Services: Model Terms of Service
- Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), Protecting Student Privacy While Using Online Educational Services: Requirements and Best Practices
- California IT in Education (CITE), Sample Template: Web-Based Application Parental Consent Form
Adopting EdTech: Privacy Vetting
This short training explores the student privacy responsibilities of educators when adopting edtech platforms, products, and services, including requirements under federal student privacy laws FERPA and COPPA.
Resources
- FPF, Why Protect Student Data
- F3, Ask Before You App
- Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), Protecting Student Privacy While Using Online Educational Services: Model Terms of Service
- Common Sense Privacy Program
- FPF and ConnectSafely, Educator’s Guide to Student Privacy
- FPF, Student Privacy Pledge
- Ventura County Office of Education, Teacher Flowchart: Student Data Privacy Check List
Data Security: Improving Your Cyberhygiene
This short training provides a number of practical tips, strategies, and best practices you can take to improve your data security and safety.
Download the activity and guide key
Resources
- Lorrie Cranor, Security Blanket
- Utah State Board of Education, Lastpass Install Tutorial
- Easy Tips for Keeping Student Data Safe When Taking Your Work Home breaks down basic security steps for securing your “classroom on the cloud.”
- Cybersecurity Considerations in a COVID-19 World covers precautions to avoid scams, protection of district equipment and data, online learning security basics, and questions to consider when leveraging video-enabled teleconferencing
- Cyberattacks Leverage Fear of Coronavirus: How Educators Can Prepare and Respond
- 3 Easy Ways for Educators to Keep Online Accounts Secure discusses the importance of enabling two-factor authentication and passphrases.
- 3 Easy Steps for Educators to Make a Secure Passphrase underscores the importance of using passphrases rather than passwords and provides easy to follow tips on creating memorable passphrases.
- Sniffers and Snoopers and Hackers, Oh My! Protecting Yourself from the Risks of Public Wi-Fi provides teachers with quick tips on how to safely connect to public Wi-Fi.
- Wisconsin’s Student Data Privacy Training modules provides teachers tools to better manage, share and protect student data.
Special Topics: Monitoring Students
This short training discusses best practices for monitoring students, and what the consequences could be if not approached with privacy best practices in mind.
Download the activity and guide key
Resources
- ACLU, Algorithmic Equity Toolkit
- FPF, School Safety and Student Privacy Video
Special Topics: Student Surveys
This short training discusses administering student surveys including legal requirements when it comes to consent and best practices.
Download the activity and guide key
Resources
Teaching Privacy to Your Students
This short training includes why students need to learn about privacy, key topics to cover, and provides linked lesson plans, activities, and other resources that educators can adapt for their classroom.
Resources
- STE’s Digital Citizenship course for K-12 teachers
- Common Sense Media’s Digital Citizenship lesson plans for K-12 teachers
- Digital Citizenship+ Resource Platform, which includes lesson plans and activities
- My Privacy UK, funded by the United Kingdom’s privacy agency, with lessons, videos, and activities for children
- Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s Peer Privacy Protector Project (PPPP), created for Canadian students, but useful and relevant information for American students as well
- Fordham CLIP’s Privacy Educators Program includes lesson plans and visual aids for teachers
- International Computer Science Institute and the University of California-Berkeley’s Teaching Privacy Project
- MIT Media Lab, AI + Ethics Curriculum for Middle School
- Google for Education’s Digital Citizenship and Safety course for teachers and Be Internet Awesome lessons and activities for students
Teaching Security to Your Students
This short training includes why students need to learn about cybersecurity, key topics to cover, and provides linked lesson plans, activities, and other resources that educators can adapt for their classroom.
Resources
- Common Sense Education, K–12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum
- International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Digital Citizenship Course for K-12 teachers
- Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society (BKC), Digital Citizenship+ Resource Platform
- Fordham Center on Law and Information Policy (CLIP), Privacy Educators Program
- London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), My Privacy UK
- Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), Peer Privacy Protector Project (PPPP)
- International Computer Science Institute and the University of California-Berkeley, Teaching Privacy Project
- Google for Education, Digital Citizenship and Safety
- Google for Education, Be Internet Awesome
Communicating with Parents: Your Privacy Partners
This short training discusses how to build trust and transparency with parents through communication and details how to communicate the benefits of using student data to help students succeed.
Resources
- The New York Times, ‘‘It Was Just Too Much’: How Remote Learning Is Breaking Parents
- Foundation for Excellence in Education, Student Data Privacy Communications Toolkit (2016)
- The Philadelphia Inquirer, North Penn school engages parents and students through social media
- Monroe County Community School Corporation, Parent TechTalk Series
- Common Sense Media, Power Up Your Parent Communication
- FPF, Student Privacy Compass Parent Page
Advocating for Privacy
This short training provides guidance for how you can advocate for a culture of privacy at your school.
Resources
- The New York Times, Will This Be a Lost Year for America’s Children?
- FPF, How to Protect Student Data
Privacy & Pandemics: Measuring Student Engagement and Performance Online
This short training explores how some of the privacy implications of collecting and using data about student engagement and performance online as part of remote learning, and provides best practices.
Resources
- Carnegie Mellon University, Privacy Illustrated
- FPF, Online Learning Best Practices for Schools and Educators
Privacy & Pandemics: Video Classrooms
This short training explores how FERPA applies to remote learning via online video, whether classes can be recorded, and how to best protect student privacy while using video for remote learning.
Resources
- FPF, Fagen Friedman & Fulfrost LLP (F3), and California IT in Education (CITE), Classrooms in the Cloud Webinar (Slides)
- Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), Video Conferencing Tools in the Age of Remote Learning: Privacy Considerations for New Technologies
- U.S. Department of Education, FERPA and Virtual Learning
Privacy & Pandemics: Checking-In on Student Social-Emotional Wellbeing
This short training discusses how to approach student’s social-emotional wellbeing as they return to school this fall including applicable laws and best practices when administering a mental health screener.
Privacy & Pandemics: Helping Students Protect Their Privacy During Online Learning
This short training discusses what to teach students so they can better protect their privacy during distance learning.
Resources
- FPF, Why Protect Student Data?
- FPF, Improving Your Cyberhygiene
- Common Sense Education, Digital Citizenship
- Berkman Klein Center, Digital Citizenship Resource Platform
Privacy & Pandemics: Private Conversations with Students
This short training discusses how teachers should approach and avoid obstacles in having private conversations with students during online learning.