A year ago I had the honor to participate in a panel at SXSWedu called “Whose Data is it Anyway”, it was an engaging conversation in which we addressed, head on the issue of student ownership of data. The tension in the debate between acknowledging student ownership and privacy was interesting in that there are still many parties that do not recognize the need for bringing students and parents into the conversation.
Last week EdSurge hosted a panel on this very same topic. The panel included diverse voices from the EdTech, legal and education fields. They discussed how Edtech leaders should address privacy issues while still advancing opportunities. And while the debate is complex and worthy of a much bigger time slot than a podcast the panelists raised good points such as – how are investors, entrepreneurs and educators responding to privacy and security concerns, do companies need to comply with all the demands of privacy critics or should they decide how much they can comply with? Finally, can all stakeholders somehow reach an understanding and a midpoint in which we can agree that concerns are being addressed.
I still feel we need to get student voice included in the conversation and I think these panels would have greater depth as it would make us aware of privacy “blind spots” we cannot see unless we bring other participants into the conversation.
You can listen to the EdSurge podcast here
