I am reviewing some recent books and chapters I have written as I prepare my next book. As I review, I am have AI blog posts. This is an example.
The modern school is fundamentally dependent on digital technology for nearly every aspect of its operation, from instruction to administration. Today, the conversation about information technology (IT) in schools almost always refers to computers and digital electronic devices used to access and create information, which is typically stored digitally and electronically on “the cloud”. While this shift provides many benefits, it introduces profound ethical and privacy considerations, especially concerning cloud-based educational platforms and the vast data they collect.
The Rise of Cloud-Based Educational Systems
The dominance of cloud-based computing and one-to-one computing since about 2010 has fundamentally reshaped the school IT landscape. This transition means that schools make significant use of Software as a Service (SaaS) tools for productivity, education, and business services. Instead of using physical servers located on campus, schools rely on virtual spaces accessed via the internet for essential functions.
Two major categories of these essential cloud-based platforms include:
- Productivity and Learning Tools (e.g., Google Workspaces): This platform, which includes productivity tools, file storage, email, and calendaring, is provided to educational institutions, often at no cost for the basic level of service. It has changed the educational technology landscape. The familiarity of this platform for teachers and students is high, as many educators have consumer accounts.
- Student Information Systems (SIS): The SIS is an essential IT system, defined as a database designed to collect, store, and report information associated with students’ school experiences. This database contains multiple tables related to attendance, course enrollments, academic performance, health, discipline, and other records. Since many SIS are cloud-based, parents can often access their children’s records on the same system.
Because these essential systems are based in the cloud, IT professionals must ensure that the networks connecting to them are robust, reliable, and secure. Cloud-based systems offer significant benefits, including enhanced security (as providers employ security professionals), scalability, redundancy, and minimized capital expenses compared to maintaining physical servers.
The Role of the Data Specialist
Schools store and manage vast amounts of data in sophisticated databases. The increasing demand for data-driven practices and accountability, coupled with rising regulatory agency demands, has necessitated the creation of the role of the Data Specialist.
Data specialists are IT professionals whose expertise is necessary to prepare and run queries of the database to answer questions regarding correlations and performance. Their primary function involves managing the significant volume of information housed in sophisticated databases, which includes:
- Demographic data.
- Health records.
- Behavioral data.
- Academic records.
Data specialists often create scripts that produce tabular and graphic reports used to support decisions made by school administrators and teachers. They also play a crucial role in ensuring the school complies with data reporting requirements for external agencies, such as regulatory bodies. In essence, these professionals represent one of the school’s first ventures into the field of educational data analytics.
Legal Compliance and the Ethical Responsibility of IT
The sheer volume of sensitive information about children—users who are legally designated as a population deserving of special protections—means that IT systems in schools are governed by significant federal laws. IT professionals must be aware of these laws and their rationale.
In relation to data stored on cloud-based systems, FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) is intended to safeguard sensitive information about children in schools, detailing who is allowed access and under what conditions. Compliance requires IT professionals to keep anything they observe in data systems, classrooms, or schools strictly confidential, as they have unusual access to protected data.
The Technoethical Audit of Educational Platforms
The transition to cloud platforms, particularly those provided by major technology companies, raises serious ethical questions regarding student data and privacy.
A technoethical audit conducted on Google Workspaces for Education highlighted this specific concern. The scholars who conducted the audit noted that there has been scant criticism of Google in educational technology literature, despite its ubiquity via Chromebooks, browsers, and apps.
The audit sought to answer questions about the ethics of the platform’s design, unintended consequences, and the limitations educators accept when using it. These questions focus on:
- What Google is taking from students (e.g., personal data).
- How it is targeting them (e.g., advertising, product familiarity).
- Where it is directing them (e.g., search and recommendation algorithms).
Ultimately, the audit concluded that schools must be vigilant and that “Schools should not be places where educational technology titans exploit students, test new products, or reimagine education through their own techno-corporate ideals of personalization, efficiency, and profits” (Krutka, Smits & Willhelm, 2021). This finding underscores the core responsibility of school IT managers and leaders: to ensure that the necessary integration of technology is not achieved at the cost of students’ privacy or long-term interests.
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Successfully managing cloud-based educational platforms and student data is like entrusting the most sensitive family heirlooms to a sophisticated, secure vault, but then having to constantly audit the vault’s operators and mechanisms. The school must ensure the vault is functional and scalable, but above all, that its contents (the students’ data) are used only for educational good and never for external exploitation or profit.
Reference
Krutka, D. G., Smits, R. M., & Willhelm, T. A. (2021). Don’t be evil: Should we use Google in schools?. TechTrends, 65(4), 421-431.