Privacy and security

We abide by the strictest Canadian laws in terms of privacy. We only request access to data that is needed to use the tools on Ocean School.

This privacy and security policy is specific to the Google integration of our web application.

For more information on the National Film Board of Canada’s privacy policies and terms of use, please visit https://help.nfb.ca/important-notices/#privacy.

The following additional terms also apply to users to the Ocean School experience.

In the case of discrepancy between the Privacy Policy and the terms below, the terms below prevail.

What information does Ocean School collect?

Ocean School does not store personal information about students. A student joins a class using an email address and a password they create. Their profile does not include a biography or location. A student’s progress on the platform is only visible to their teacher.

If I link my Google account, what can Ocean School access?

When you use Google to sign in to your account, Ocean School requests permission to change files in your Google Drive. This allows us to create shared documents for you.

Please find below the specific details of the data that Ocean School may access depending on the type of account that you created and linked to Google.

Here is what we may access:

1. If you are signed in as a learner (not an educator), we do not access any of your personal data.

Ocean School creates a folder called "Ocean School" at the root of your Google Drive. When you click “Go to activity” on the Ocean School platform, the activity document is saved in your Ocean School folder. You can delete these files whenever you want.

If you don’t do anything on Ocean School after you link your account, we will not access anything. We only access your Drive when you open an activity from the Ocean School platform.

2. If you create an account as an educator, we do not access anything as long as you don't create a class on the platform.

When you create a class, we will collect and store the following information on our servers:

• • The unique code of the class

  • The class identifier

  • The name of the class

  • The list of student emails in that class

Your students’ work will be stored inside your Classroom folder in Google Drive. Their work is never stored on an NFB server.

For information about Google Classroom’s privacy and security policies, please visit the Google for Education Privacy & Security Center.

How can I remove Ocean School’s access to my Google account?

To completely remove Ocean School’s access to your Google account, go to https://myaccount.google.com/permissions?pli=1.

Click "Remove access" for Ocean School.

This will block any access to your Drive or your Google Classroom.

Can the information that the NFB collects about students be linked to a specific teacher, school and location?

When a teacher creates a class, we create a class roster using the list of students' email addresses. We do not collect any other identifying information about students, and cannot link a student to a particular school or location. The only exception would be if a teacher decides to name the class with those information it would be "collected" but treated as any other class name.

Do students need to provide an email address?

Yes, students will require an email address to use Ocean School.

The email address enables us to:

• share a teacher’s unique class url with students

• create groups of students (Crews) to explore Ocean School together

• create students' accounts for accessing Ocean School

• access Google Classroom (if requested)