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University of Missouri-Columbia University of Missouri  

Educational Technologies at Missouri
A division of the Office of the Provost

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

Overview

“The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a Federal law designed to protect the privacy of a student's education records. The law applies to all schools which receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education." Taken from the Family Compliance Office Homepage (http://www.ed.gov/offices/OM/ferpa.html), November 29, 2001

What Educators Should Know about FERPA

Because of the wording of the act, which originated in 1974 and did not envision the internet, all computer files and records in courses using Blackboard or other online components are considered educational records protected by the act. Also, since FERPA does not allow disclosure of student enrollment in a given course, faculty may not allow those without a legitimate education interest in a student access to any online component of a course containing personally identifiable information.

In practice this means students have the right to expect any material they submit online in a course, as well as their names and other identifying information, will not be viewable by guests or other individuals permitted access to the course. However, students may give explicit, written, signed consent to allow this. (Verbal consent or email is insufficient; Missouri does not yet recognize digital signatures.)

Additionally, students who have selected to have their directory information (information that the University can normally release) restricted may ask their name be withheld from other members of the course. Legally and ethically, such requests must be taken seriously and honored. (While some students restrict information without understanding the implications, there are instances of MU students who have had their information restricted due to harassment and/or stalking - including online stalking.)

The online resources listed below also offer excellent information about different aspects of FERPA.

Resources for More Information

Common-Sense Considerations and Tips from Lessons Learned

Be aware if any of your students exhibit specific concerns about FERPA issues.

  • Discuss specific concerns with the student; find out which portions of your course are causing concerns and why.
  • If you cannot readily fulfill the student's expectations, look for a compromise solution.
  • Contact the Learning Technologies Team (blackboard@missouri.edu). They may be able to suggest additional ideas or create a new work-around solution.

Instructors need to familiarize themselves with those features that allow conditional release of materials within a course.

  • From the technical viewpoint, the main problem in relation to both copyright and FERPA is in controlling access to materials. While Blackboard requires users to authenticate to the system, some instructors allow some form of guest access to their courses. Guests, however, should not be able to access copyrighted materials or enrolled student information. There are various tools in Blackboard to restrict access to any item in the system.
  • FERPA requirements are largely fulfilled in Blackboard if all areas in which students' work, names, or IDs might be visible are restricted to prevent guest access. This means that Communication tools, Student Homepage tools, and Blackboard Groups should all be restricted. The mechanics of restricting pages is covered in depth in the accompanying handout: "FERPA Considerations in Blackboard."
  • Some tools may be hosted on off-campus servers (such as CPS Online, iTunes University, or publisher-provided tools) approved by DoIT. Grade data should generally not be stored on such sites. Different restrictions may apply on a site-by-site basis.

Be aware of specific concerns about FERPA issues when students use social networking software.

  • While some social networking tools may be effective, they are not officially approved or protected by MU. Thus, instructors should not display any student information or work identifying students without signed, written permission. Since student use is voluntary, having alternative assignments may be necessary. These resources look at how social networking might impact privacy and intellectual property issues.
  • Thoughts on Facebook by Tracy Mitrano, April 2006 - http://www.cit.cornell.edu/policy/memos/facebook.html
  • Privacy, Security, and Social Networking APIs, Dr. Dobb’s Portal: The World of Software Development, February 04, 2008 - http://www.ddj.com/security/206103547
  • Teens, Privacy and Online Social Networks: How teens manage their online identities and personal information in the age of MySpace, Reports: Family, Friends & Community, Per Internet & American Life Project, April 18, 2007 - http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/211/report_display.asp