Last week (August 31), the Digital Futures Commission released the results of a study into the use of some popular digital learning tools in education.
The report found that “both Google Classroom and ClassDojo operate under opaque privacy policies and legal provisions that are incompatible with data protection laws and could lead to the commercial exploitation of children’s educational data.”
The research comes as European governments seek to restrict the use of Big Tech in educational institutions, with some regions in Denmark and Germany already banning the use of Google products in schools.
With the ongoing debates surrounding technology and student data, the French Data Protection Agency (CNIL) has been working closely with a number of EdTech projects. After a successful round in which digital health innovators were supported by a regulatory sandbox, the CNIL is currently in the middle of a similar initiative for EdTech.
Related: Rules of the French Data Protection Agency against the use of Google Analytics
With France going back to school this fall, the digitally connected nature of the modern learning environment means the legal and regulatory issues surrounding the use of EdTech are more complex than ever.
Linking online and physical learning
As in many countries, pandemic-related lockdowns accelerated the digitization of education in France.
On the one hand, the way people use online portals and learning management systems (LMS) has changed to reflect a digital-first approach to education. On the other hand, new tools for distance learning have been normalized and a hybrid approach to teaching is becoming increasingly possible and popular.
Many projects selected for CNIL support exist to bridge physical and online learning. For example, the competence development platform Daylindo supports companies in setting up and preparing the educational framework implemented through practical training.
Daylindo was designed to better integrate digital processes into face-to-face training, ensuring that the interface to the digital systems required for skill tracking and assessment does not impede the flow of learning. A mobile app ensures that digital assessment and monitoring can also be seamlessly integrated into skills development in the field.
While Daylindo brings together learners, tutors and company leaders in school education, another company supported by the CNIL helps to involve parents with a range of digital tools. Developed by French EdTech Klassroom, the Klassly app allows students’ families to be more involved in their children’s school life.
Teachers can use the platform to share content with students’ families. Photos, events, updates and messages can easily be sent to all parents and carers at once, but the app also offers a structured channel for one-on-one communication and a scheduling feature for arranging face-to-face meetings.
Protection of learners’ privacy
Of course, the CNIL’s main interest in EdTech is to ensure that the field develops in compliance with European Union data protection laws. As such, it also supports innovations in data management that have applications far beyond education.
Sandbox participant Astrachain, for example, offers a cloud solution for sensitive data that addresses the growing dependence of institutions on cloud service providers and externally managed servers.
The company’s flagship product, SPLiT, splits data into small, encrypted chunks before being distributed across multiple Omnicloud servers. By using blockchain-based cryptography and reducing companies’ dependency on a single cloud host, the approach guarantees the strongest data protection and ensures that even cloud providers cannot read sensitive data.
Still a young startup, Astrachain has announced its intention to deploy its solution to the healthcare and education sectors and will benefit from the advice of the CNIL on ensuring compliance with data protection laws, most notably the EU-wide General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR ), benefit.
The involvement of CNIL will likely help establish Astrachain solutions as GDPR compliant – solutions much needed given the current incommensurability between the GDPR and the US CLOUD Act.
Since 2018, the CLOUD Act has empowered American law enforcement agencies to seize data in Europe if it’s hosted on American services like AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. This poses a challenge for EU organizations using such cloud providers, as requests from US law enforcement agencies do not necessarily meet GDPR requirements.
With the growth of digital-first education, including hybrid and distance learning environments, privacy issues are of increasing concern to educational institutions.
As the CNIL sandbox acknowledges, to get the most out of digital technology, educators also need tools that ensure strong privacy and create a safe learning environment for all.
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See more in: Astrachain, CNIL, Connected Economy, Daylindo, Education, EMEA, Special News, France, GDPR, Classroom, News, Regulations
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