[edm-announce] Fwd: White House Blog Post on Ed-Tech, Innovation & Privacy

From: Tiffany Barnes <tiffany.barnes@xxxxxxxxx>
To: edm-announce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 01:00:11 -0400
FYI


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ghosh, Dipayan <Dipayan_P_Ghosh@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, Oct 14, 2014 at 11:44 AM
Subject: White House Blog Post on Ed-Tech, Innovation & Privacy
To: "Ghosh, Dipayan" <Dipayan_P_Ghosh@xxxxxxxxxxxx>


 Colleagues,



I thought you may be interested in the below, which was posted to the White
House blog last week.  Look forward to your thoughts.



All the best,

Dipayan





<><><><><>



*Dipayan Ghosh, Ph.D.*

National Economic Council  |  OSTP

Executive Office of the President  |  The White House

Direct: 202/456-8304  |  Alt: 202/456-1328

dghosh@xxxxxxxxxxxx







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Promoting Innovation and Protecting Privacy in the Classroom

Though often invisible, big data technologies are a part of our lives, and
will be even more so in the coming years. Earlier this year, Counselor to
the President John Podesta and members of the OSTP team authored a report
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/technology/big-data-review> to the
President with a clear message: these technologies hold great promise, but
those benefits might go unrealized if we don’t get the policy right.
Nowhere is that truer than in education, where we have the chance to
transform teaching and learning through data, thereby improving individual
outcomes and our national competitiveness. But when we do, we have to make
sure we are protecting students’ privacy.



Student data can help personalize a single student’s learning experience to
deliver better outcomes across populations. For instance, a mobile
application that teaches algebra can pinpoint not only where one student is
struggling, but also where the app’s own content could use improvement by
assessing the performance of thousands of users. But that data is also
sensitive; it will be important that it remains under student and parent
control to the extent possible, and not used for purposes inconsistent with
the educational mission.

That is why, as we carry forward the Big Data Report’s mandate to consider
the intersection of big data, education, and privacy, we are also looking
beyond Washington to some of the exciting efforts by the public on this
issue. Earlier this year, the Aspen Institute, working with organizations
like the MacArthur Foundation and Mozilla, released a national report
highlighting the importance of making personalized learning opportunities
in trusted environments available to all students. And earlier this week,
the Future of Privacy Forum and the Software & Information Industry
Association announced a new student privacy pledge, which includes critical
elements like limiting data collection to strictly educational purposes,
and banning the sale of that data to third parties. This builds upon
progress by the Internet Keep Safe Coalition and the Data Quality Campaign
to protect students while enabling educational innovation.

Personalized, digital learning need not come at the expense of privacy
protections, and steps like these are an important start toward creating
the confidence students, teachers, and parents need to take the greatest
advantage of these new tools.

This is not a new issue — indeed, several Federal laws exist already to
protect students — but it is one that is taking on new urgency. That’s why
the Department of Education have prepared guidance
<http://ptac.ed.gov/sites/default/files/Student%20Privacy%20and%20Online%20Educational%20Services%20(February%202014).pdf>
and
the Federal Trade Commission are maintaining up-to-date materials
<http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/0493-Complying-with-COPPA-Frequently-Asked-Questions>
to
help educators and ed-tech companies safeguard student privacy.



For our part, we look forward to continuing to engage with stakeholders in
the education, technology, civil society, and public policy space as we
continue to advance this important frontier in privacy in the digital age.

*http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/10/09/promoting-innovation-and-protecting-privacy-classroom
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/10/09/promoting-innovation-and-protecting-privacy-classroom>*

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[edm-announce] Fwd: White House Blog Post on Ed-Tech, Innovation & Privacy

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