Digital Smarts - Education Apps - Many Create Privacy Issues

When digital learning apps are marketed directly to teachers, sometimes even as freebies, there can be unintended consequences. While novel educational apps that record and analyze students’ online activities to personalize their lessons can spur student engagement, these new tools also let the digital education service collect students’ information. There is no way to track how they are using this information or if they are reporting to the school what is being collected. This kind of issue falls under the purview of district chief technology officers and they are under fire to come up with a solution. Although having the flexibility to try the latest technology gives teachers tools to help them differentiate learning as well as keep it current and engaging, it also means that districts have to adopt some kind of standard for how apps are vetted and used. It is a tricky line to walk, but hopefully bureaucracy will not trump innovation.