Dive Brief:
- Massive open online course providers have differing opinions about whether people who take their courses are legally entitled to privacy protections under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports.
- The data in MOOCs is seldom protected by FERPA because MOOCs are rarely paid for with federally funded student aid, according to the chief privacy officer for the U.S. Department of Education, Kathleen Styles.
- Coursera and edX, the most well-known MOOC providers, disagree on whether FERPA applies to their students.
Dive Insight:
This is a potentially sensitive topic because of the amount of data that MOOC providers can and do collect. Basically, every keystroke and mouse click can be recorded, and MOOC students typically submit addresses, birth dates, and other personal information when they register for a course, or personal information can be revealed in discussion forums. EdX’s general counsel says FERPA does apply to the data collected from MOOC students, and while Coursera says FERPA doesn’t apply, it says it follows the principles of the law anyway. The University of Pennsylvania has the same position.