Useful tip:
In order to be safe, do not change default course settings in Moodle: make sure to have an enrollment key and do not allow anonymous access to your site. |
Site settings in Moodle
By default, all Moodle sites are set to be secure and password protected. However, individual instructors/designers can choose to "open" their sites for public access (which is usually done if Moodle sites are used for simple content management). If you are a Moodle course designer, you need to be aware about implications of such decision. Review carefully information below.
Student privacy: The Law
Student data at the University of Minnesota is governed by FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act). Among other things, this law enables students to suppress some or all of their directory information, such as their internet IDs and e-mail addresses. Students who do so present a unique challenge to teachers who make use of digital technology in their courses. For example, Moodle allows a variety of interactions that may reveal student names and internet IDs. In threaded discussions, chats, and other interactive functions, student participation may reveal possibly suppressed information. We offer the following recommendations to insure FERPA compliance:
For regular academic sites, that are made accessible only to the enrolled students:
- Please include a statement on your syllabus such as the following:
"In this class, our use of technology will sometimes make students' names and U of M Internet IDs visible within the course website, but only to other students in the same class. Since we are using a secure, password-protected course website, this will not increase the risk of identity theft or spamming for anyone in the class. If you have concerns about the visibility of your Internet ID, please contact me for further information."
For sites that are open to the world and can be accessed by anyone:
- Please include a statement on your syllabus such as the following:
"In this class, our use of technology will make students' names and U of M Internet IDs visible within the course website. This particular website is not secure, and it can be accessed by anyone. If you have concerns about the visibility of your Internet ID, please contact me for further information."
Bottom line
Instructors may require as a condition of participation in a course that students make themselves and their work visible to other students, to visiting guests, and/or to the entire world. If instructors do this, students must be informed of this condition of participation in the course, and tacit consent via continued participation in the course is sufficient. Ideally, instructors will protect student privacy except where they judge exposure essential to the course, and then they will expose student data only to the degree necessary. When they do elect to open the learning environment, instructors should provide some details as to what is visible and to whom, in order that students may make an informed decision. They should also provide some alternative accommodation in the very rare cases where students have a genuine need for protection.
Policy for site requests
For student privacy and FERPA reasons, we must be able to verify course instructors in the class schedule before associating student data with a course site. Verification will fail if there is no instructor of record or you are not the listed instructor of record. Our policy is as follows:
-
If you are not listed in the class schedule as the instructor, or if you have requested a course site for someone else (e.g. you are a TA) and have not included the primary instructor on the site request form, we will create the site so you can begin to work on it, but we will not fetch the classlist of registered students:
- If you are the one who will be teaching the course - ask your department to make sure you are listed in Peoplesoft as the instructor of record. Once this is done, let us know, and we will fetch the classlist of registered students into your site.
- If you have requested a course site for someone else (e.g. you are a TA) and have not included the primary instructor on the site request form, ask the instructor of record to email us the approval to fetch the students.
|
