Teachers, trainers, camp counselors, tutors, and anyone working with children have access to thousands of online learning tools. The problem is that not all of them were designed with child privacy in mind … or are aware of the legal consequences their users may have to be accountable for.
Before introducing a new app, website, or AI tool, there are two major laws to keep in mind.
COPPA: Children Under 13
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) regulates how websites and apps collect information from children under 13.
Things that can cause legal concerns include:
- Requiring students to create their own accounts
- Collecting names, email addresses, or photos
- Tracking user behavior
- Collecting location information
- Allowing public profiles
Many educational tools address these requirements, but a lot of children-focused online tools do not. If students can use a site without creating accounts, that’s often the simplest option.
FERPA: Student Educational Records
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects children’s education records.
This means schools must be careful about sharing data such as grades, assessment results, progress reports, behavior records, and other student information with third-party services outside of the organization.
A tool may be perfectly acceptable under COPPA but still create FERPA concerns if any student performance data is being shared with a different company or even worse, if any of this data is also publicly available online.
Features to Watch Closely
Before rolling out any tool, check whether you can disable:
- Public student profiles
- Unmonitored interactions between other users
- Public sharing of student work without permission
- Location services
- Student-to-student communication (chat and direct messaging)
- Lack of monitoring tools such as chat logs, including chatbots
- AI features that collect student data
Not every platform allows these settings to be locked down. If they can’t be disabled, consider using a different tool.
Permission Slips Still Matter
Many schools require parent permission before publishing student photos, videos, social media content, livestreams, or recordings. Always check your organization’s policies before posting student content publicly. Some organizations have these in their Acceptable Use Policies (AUP), but don’t assume that they do.
It can’t hurt though to make a permission slip to send home in order to avoid headaches later.
Keep It Simple
Whenever possible, choose tools that don’t require student accounts at all. If accounts are necessary, look for Single Sign-On (SSO) options such as “Sign in with Google” through your school’s managed accounts. This reduces passwords, simplifies administration, and gives schools more control over student access. It also links the tool to their school email address which is monitored better than personal accounts.
The best educational technology isn’t always the one with the most features. Sometimes it’s the one that collects the least student information and creates the fewest privacy headaches.
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