Part I - The Problem (4 min read)
It's time to give this discussion the proper focus and attention it deserves within the scope of Higher Education.
So let’s talk about an “Invasion of Privacy”. One area most of us can agree on is we don’t want it… but what is it exactly?
For the purposes here, the important aspect of this complex topic is that “invasion of privacy” has something to do with someone gaining access to another person’s private information without their permission, or when a reasonable expectation of what is private, is violated.
The problem: there is a lack of awareness of the data that is being collected; even more so, there is a lack of understanding of the data we are giving away and for what purposes.
This is made plainly obvious from a EDUCAUSE poll in 2020, in which only 22% of students agreed or strongly agreed with “I understand how my institution uses my personal data.” From the same poll, not even half could agree or strongly agree that “I trust my institution to use my personal data ethically and responsibly.” Those results should be shocking.
To be clear, this is not a problem that institutions need to think about and solve for the future. This is a problem that every institution already has! And - it's probably more serious than you think.
Here are some data use cases that are happening and have been occurring on campuses everywhere since these systems were put in place:
Are you starting to get it?
To give an idea of the overall landscape, below is a list of vendors and additional categories beautifully produced by encoura and Eduventures Research. Make special note of the "Data & Privacy Governance Solutions" category that keeps track of all the places student/visitor/faculty/staff data is being stored...
Here is the reality - any time you interact with any technical system (University/College or otherwise), you should know that data is being collected. That is not only the norm but is a foundational requirement for the operation of systems. To be precise, that is not a call for the removal of these valuable systems.
The question is not “is my data being collected?” - It is, rather, who has access to it? How is it being applied? Who is ensuring it is not being abused or misused?
These are questions that every University needs to take seriously. As in, seriously evaluating their processes and governance structures given the lack of trust from students.
If these questions can be clearly answered and those answers are made transparent to students, we might find that students will actually trust the systems at work to enable their experience and success. Even more so, we might find those systems now do a better job of enabling students and their success.
At Degree Analytics, we recognize how much of a gap exists, and continues to grow, between privacy and the pursuit of a better campus and student experience.
We believe that data can, and ought to be, used for the purpose of student success. We also recognize that protections and governance are needed to advance these technologies, their use cases, and to create trust with students, faculty, and staff.
We are starting an initiative to create an open-source bundle of materials to help jumpstart data governance at institutions of any size. Simply, the goal and purpose are to create best practices that will allow institutions to put this necessary governance in place. However, we cannot do that alone.
This is an open invitation to those in Higher Education and those who are experts in privacy to help establish generalized and repeatable processes.
If you are interested in participating in any manner, please fill out this contact form, and we’ll reach out to you: degreeanalytics.com/privacy-and-data-governance