With the 2019-20 school year getting underway this month, students at all levels are being reminded of the need to protect their personal information when using social media.
Susan Roy is the treasurer and the freedom of information (FOIP) coordinator with Chinook’s Edge School Division. She says teachers and staff will be working hard this school year to ensure student information privacy is maintained and protected, including when it comes to accepting and using apps.
“That is an area of concern for FOIP coordinators across the province,” Roy told the Gazette. “There are so many apps and you are hearing stories in the media all the time about apps that are storing personal information in other countries and held by folks that may not have the best intentions.
“We in Chinook’s Edge are certainly looking at how we manage all the various apps, and how we decide whether it is an appropriate app to be used in our classrooms and then teaching kids to not put personal information into those apps that could be owned by whomever.
“With many people, they go online and they see an app and they click on accepting the terms and conditions, but how many people actually read them? The size of those terms and conditions are so intimidating that many people just accept them but not realizing that their personal information is now owned by somebody.”
An app is the term for a software application that runs on a website or a mobile device.
Canada’s privacy authorities recently released a series of activity sheets designed to help teach students about privacy issues and the need to put data security first, including when it comes to apps.
Schools are being encouraged to make use of the sheets, the release of which follows a series of lesson plans issued by the provincial Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, along with federal, provincial and territorial counterparts.
“Privacy education is a topic where everyone seems to be on the same page,” commissioner Jill Clayton in a press release. “Students require knowledge about privacy principles and privacy rights to help them safely navigate their digital world.”
Some of the privacy sheets are for students in the younger grades, and include the following (quoted from the release):
• Privacy Snakes and Ladders is a twist on the classic children’s game that helps players learn how to make smart privacy choices by climbing up a ladder when they make a good decision or sliding down a snake because they have shared a password with a friend, for example.
• Connect the Dots has kids complete the picture of a family with a checklist of rules they can use at home to practise good online privacy.
• Learning About Passwords challenges kids to create their own strong, eight-character password by filling in the blanks. It also asks them to draw a lock on a tablet, representing how a password protects an electronic device.
• Word Search introduces children to privacy vocabulary by having them comb through a puzzle to find words such as “post,” “click” and “footprint.”
Other lesson sheets are for grades 6 to 12, and include the following:
• Kids’ Privacy Sweep Lesson Plan allows students to gain an appreciation of what personal information is in the context of privacy laws, become aware of how and why websites and apps collect personal information, and better understand privacy policies to make informed choices about the websites they visit and the apps they use.
• Know the Deal is a lesson on the value of privacy and introduces students to the concept of pseudonymity, the right of privacy as a fundamental human right, and how online activities leave traces that can contain personal information.
• Getting the Toothpaste Back Into the Tube is designed to help students learn key principles relating to online privacy in the context of digital literacy and related subject areas.
•The Privacy Rights of Children and Teens lesson teaches students about legal and consumer rights with regards to personal information, helping students evaluate how well the online platforms and services they use live up to those rights, and for students to learn how to exercise privacy rights.
“The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta works independently of government to uphold the access and privacy rights of all Albertans,” Clayton said.
Meanwhile, with classes set to resume in Chinook’s Edge School Division, teachers and other staff members are being asked to complete the superintendent’s survey.
Conducted every three years, this year’s survey asks respondents to provide comments on three questions:
• As you think about making Chinook’s Edge School Division the best it can possibly be, what would you like to see continued?
• What would you like to see us consider as we move forward as a division?
• What would you like to see us take action upon as soon as possible?
Superintendent Kurt Sacher said Tuesday that every response will be reviewed and officials will “respond to themes and trends appropriately over time.”
There are more than 11,000 students in Chinook’s Edge.
