Data Protection and Safety

Before starting!

Before participating in the synchronous sessions we are asking for your consent to collect data during the workshops for learning and/or for research purposes. This data includes recordings of your discussions, reflections and the digital mindmaps or infographics that you produce. Your participation is completely anonymous and any information you provide cannot be traced to you personally. Please read and sign the Registration & Informed Consent Form to indicate if you give your consent. Once you complete the form you will be given access to the link for the synchronous session regardless of whether you agree or not to take part in the research.

Understanding

Self-paced learning - [Asynchronous Activity - 30 minutes]

We will start by initially exploring the issue of Data Protection and Safety in relation to how children's data is collected and shared and by whom. We will then go on to look at Data Protection and Safety within an primary and secondary school context.

According to a report by the Children’s Commissioner (2018) children’s data is routinely shared and collected online through social media updates on parents’ profiles; through children’s smartphone and tablets; through web-browsing and search engines. At home data can be shared through smart speakers, connected toys and connected baby cameras. Also, data is also collected outside the home through location tracking watches, school databases, classroom apps, biometric data in schools, retail loyalty schemes, travel passes, and medical records such as the Personal Child Health Record and GP records.

Similarly, Livingstone et al. (2018) identify three types of data:

• ‘Data given’ – the data contributed by individuals (about themselves or about others), usually knowingly though not necessarily intentionally, during their participation online.

• ‘Data traces’ – the data left, mostly unknowingly – by participation online and captured via data-tracking technologies such as cookies, web beacons or device/browser fingerprinting, location data and other metadata.

• ‘Inferred data’ – the data derived from analysing data given and data traces, often by algorithms (also referred to as ‘profiling’), possibly combined with other data sources”.

Within an educational context data collection is seen to be important for schools, educators and students. According to the Department for Education (DfE) in England ‘data plays a key role in our modern education system by providing opportunities to monitor effectively the progress of learners, enabling robust evaluation of methods, promoting evidence-based practice, and providing opportunities for huge efficiency improvements in school operations.’ (DfE, 2018:6). The term 'personal data ecosystem' is a term used by the DfE to describe and capture all the place personal data is stored and used within a school.

In order to explore the topic further please complete the following tasks:

Activity 1 - Read the Infographic and the report

Explore this infographic that maps the key points at which children data is collected and focus particularly on the tabs ‘school databases’, ‘biometric data in schools’ and ‘study and behaviour apps’. Then look at the more detailed report by the Children's Commissioner (2018) which you can find here .

Note: The references included above are available in the Further Learning section.

Exploring & Reflecting

Self-paced learning - [Asynchronous Activity - 30 minutes]

Activity 1 - Watch and reflect.

Watch this video of Prof Sonia Livingstone and Dr Mariya Stoilova talking about their project 'Children's Data and Privacy Online: Growing up in a digital age' and explaining why enhancing students' data literacies is important.

Activity 2 - Answer and reflect.

Have you considered how big your digital footprint is?

Take this quiz to find out whether you are giving away more than you think online. It is not only individuals who have a digital footprint, schools also have one. How big is your school's digital footprint? What kind of data is shared across the various digital platforms your school uses?

Activity 3 - Answer and Reflect.

Terms and Conditions: What have you really agreed to?

It’s one of the biggest lies on the internet and many of us are guilty of telling it: 'I have read and agreed to the terms and conditions'.

Take this quiz to find out what data you might be giving away. Consider how this may apply to the tools and apps you use for your teaching and also social media or gaming tools and apps that yourself as well as your students might use outside school.

Activity 4 - Read and reflect

Look at this example of a school's data ecosystem. How does this resemble or differ from what takes place at your school?

Safeguarding and data protection

Now that you have considered some issues regarding data protection and safety can you think of instances when data sharing might be important for safeguarding? For example, can you think of cases when you had to share personal information about children with relevant authorities for the purposes of safeguarding?

Please see this DfE (2018) “myth-busting” table for addressing common misconceptions about information sharing for safeguarding purposes.

Now you are ready to engage with the Design for Learning activity!

Design for Learning

Collaborative learning - [Synchronous Activity - 90 minutes]

Activity 5 - Create and Reflect.

Creating your own data ecosystem for your class

For this activity, you will compile a mindmap or infographic to capture the data ecosystem for your class based on the digital platforms and tools that you use in your classroom or more broadly at your school. After a brief presentation by the trainers explaining the activity, you'll collaborate with peers in order to discuss and map out the data ecosystem for your class considering the questions below (40 min). What are the similarities and differences across the various schools? Then you will work collaboratively to capture and ideal data ecosystem (45 min).

1. Where does your data come from?

2. What kind of personal data are collected within the platforms and tools that you use?

3. Does any personal data flow from those platforms and tools onto anywhere else?

4. How does the digital tool or platform ensure the security of the personal data held?

5. Do you use any other tools/software with your students that the school might not be aware of? (e.g. subject specific apps?)

6. Where is the collected data stored?

7. Who is the data shared with? Is the data transferred to third parties?

8. Is there a Data Protection Officer at your school?

9. Are there relevant data protection policies available?

10. How do you communicate these to parents and pupils?

For the mindmap or infographic, you can either use tools like MINDMEISTER, MINDOMO or CANVA or design your own in a paper, take a picture and share!