Do You Know Where Your Students Are? Digital Supervision and Digital Privacy in Schools
Lorayne Robertson, Laurie Corrigan
More students are now online at school because of several factors such as the increasing affordability of mobile devices; the rapid proliferation of low-cost or free educational applications; and because internet access is more widely available. When students are learning online, however, their personal information needs to be protected. Student supervision in the past focused on physical presence, but it must evolve now to include students in digital settings. Updated legislative policy alone cannot eliminate risks to digital privacy. Students, teachers, and parents need to become more aware of the privacy risks and all should build digital citizenship skills. The research presented in this paper is policy analysis that examines the availability and direction of digital supervision policies in Canada and the U.S. and then compares the findings to international policies and directions. The authors find key differences in policy approaches designed to supervise students online and protect their digital privacy. Based on this policy analysis, the authors recommend that more collaborative efforts are needed to protect students’ digital privacy and manage their online risks. Full Text
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