Privacy and Trust in Online Education Communities: Beyond FERPA

Technology does not stand still. The dynamic evolution of distance education continues to incorporate the latest technological advances on its quest to reach more and more learners across the globe. There was a time when writing was a new technology; today, educators can collaborate with learners through real time idea-sharing written discourse, audio-visual discussion threads, and videoconferencing; track learners’ movements, patterns and activity within an online learning platform; and facilitate online tests that are proctored via biometric identity authentication.  Educational relationships online take data sharing to a whole new level, on a variety of platforms and devices. But what, exactly, are participants in the average learning environment sharing – and do they know?

Information privacy, including institutional requirements under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), is an important consideration when implementing online courses. Privacy also is potentially a key aspect of establishing learner trust in a distance learning environment. Some studies indicated that privacy concerns can negatively affect the building of trust within an online community. If (a) an instructor or instructional designer does not design a learning environment with privacy and data security issues as significant considerations, and (b) an instructor does not address privacy issues during the delivery of an online course, the result can be an erosion of trust that creates a barrier to productive learner engagement and to the successful completion of the online course.

Historically, e-learning opportunities have focused on the design and delivery of course content without significant consideration given to privacy concerns (El-Khatib, Korba, Xu, &Yee, 2003). Given the ever-increasing volume of student information that resides online, this historical lack of attention to privacy is unsustainable. As learners and instructors become more aware of the risks relating to the disclosure of student information, providers of distance education courses will need more guidance in addressing these privacy risks. Today’s web-based software and other tools provide the opportunity for innovation and enhanced learning environments that involve student-driven interactions (Diaz, Golas, & Gautch, 2010); but with these new tools comes a heightened privacy concern that institutions and instructors who design and implement courses online need to address.

Many factors influence student trust in an online learning environment, and privacy issues are among them. (Wang, 2014). Anwar and Greer indicated that earning student trust in online learning environments is key to the success of online learning and that privacy is equally important (2012). According to Anwar and Greer (2012), “Privacy and trust are equally desirable in a learning environment. Privacy promotes safe learning, while trust promotes collaboration and healthy competition, and thereby, knowledge dissemination.” (p. 62).

As applied to distance education, privacy laws are nascent and hardly able to keep up with the evolving technologies that instructors and students employ. Additional research is needed to support a framework within which to address privacy under FERPA and other privacy regulations – and to contribute to an environment of trust – in online distance courses and communities.

References

Anwar, M.; Greer, J., Facilitating Trust in Privacy-Preserving E-Learning Environments. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, v5 n1 p62-73 Jan-Mar 2012.

Diaz, V., Golas, J., & Gautch, S. (n.d.). Computer-based learning environments. SpringerReference. doi:10.1007/springerreference_302375

El-Khatib, K., Korba, L., Xu, Y., & Yee, G. (2003). Privacy and Security in E-Learning. International Journal of Distance Education Technologies, 1(4), 1-19. doi:10.4018/jdet.2003100101

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g et seq. (1974).

Wang, Y. D. (2014). Building student trust in online learning environments. Distance Education, 35(3), 345-359. doi:10.1080/01587919.2015.955267