Monica Watts: So good day, everyone. Thank you for joining us for today's Webinar. Build your trust in your educational software ecosystem. Monica Watts: We're going to be spending the next 45 min on a very important topic. Student data privacy. I am Monica Watts. I'll be your moderator for today's Webinar. I'm, the senior director of learning innovation for one LED tech. If you're not familiar with one at Tech, we are the world's leading member based nonprofit community. Monica Watts: We're a partnership of local education, agencies, state departments of LED, higher education, institutions, and LED tech suppliers or vendor partners. That you may refer to Monica Watts: our motto is altogether we power learner potential. So i'm really excited about our panelists today. Some amazing leaders in LED Tech and i'm going to introduce Monica Watts: you to them in just a minute before we dive into the content and introductions. Just a a few housekeeping things feel free to ask questions. There's a question box or put them in the chat. We have plenty of time allotted for those questions, and I also want to remind you that the conversation that we're having today is one that we have ongoing within the professional community Monica Watts: at one LED tech. So if this is something of interest, being a member in one LED tech and learning more about the trusted apps program as part of your student data privacy, practice, and how you can participate in this community. We invite you to go to trusted apps.org for more information. So now I want to introduce you to our amazing guest speakers today first from Scottsdale Unified school district, and Arizona is Dr. Michelle Watt Michelle's career has spanned
Monica Watts: both K. 12 and higher education. She's widely recognized as a respected LED Tech leader in Arizona as well as throughout the nation. So hello, Michelle! Michelle Watt: Hi! Happy to be here Monica Watts: now. I'd like to introduce you to Nathan Nathan Miller is the chief information officer from the Georgia Department of Education. Monica Watts: Nathan's career has focused on cyber security in his roles, both at the Lea level and Jeff. Davis, as well as at the State, and he's leadership is very pivotal in the Cyber Security Initiative at the Georgia DOE. Hi, Nathan. Nathan Miller: Thank you for having me appreciate the opportunity. Monica Watts: and Kevin Kevin is the data privacy officer at one LED Tech and Kevin brings years of experience working at Houston, Isd. On their app vetting framework, and the last several years at one LED tech principally responsible for for driving our app vetting program and working in collaboration with suppliers to that their privacy, policies, and terms against the one at tech Privacy Rubric. So
Monica Watts: again, just a a few notes for housekeeping purposes. We are recording this Webinar. We are going to share a link to that recording with all of you that have registered by email and again remind and encourage you to submit your questions through the Q. A. During the conversation. Monica Watts: So i'm going to provide a little bit of context into the challenge before we move on to the questions. And and I don't think this is anything that's new for any of you that are listening. We, on average, understand that there are over 1,400 LED tech products that are used in schools every month, some of those with specific targeted advertising. Monica Watts: obviously causing a challenge for our Las and our State agencies. In supporting all of these application requests, and also incorporating principles of interoperability into those applications in their in their digital ecosystem. So we're gonna talk today about that challenge and the partnerships that are available and solutions that are available as well. So I want to begin with my first question. Direct it to Michelle and Nathan, and
Monica Watts: tell us a little bit about your current role in your organization and how you're protecting student data privacy. Michelle Watt: Thank you. I am serving the 21,000 students in the Scottsdale unified school district. We have Pre. K. Through 12 students here, and as the the Chief Systems officer so leading the it department. Michelle Watt: I am fortunate to have joined the organization at a time when processes were already set up for vetting applications, signing data, governance agreements with our vendors. But Michelle Watt: there were some limitations of of what we could do and could, could, could control and could not. Any other Google organizations out there might might be aware of some of the changes that have just happened in the last couple of years.
Michelle Watt: But so there's always room for improvement, and Michelle Watt: some of that's around communication with our stakeholders, or just the process that we use to protect student data privacy. So happy to to be here, support what was already in place and continue making improvements, including partnering with one in tech. Monica Watts: Okay. and Megan Nathan Miller: so is the chief privacy officer, she privacy, the information security. But a a lot of my work involves around the privacy world
Nathan Miller: a lot of our State organizations, other State agencies, research organizations come to us for student data. So a large component of my job is in the legal room, working with Nathan Miller: those agencies to be sure that we're Nathan Miller: in compliance with Herpa and any other Federal regulations when we share that data working on legal agreements. Nathan Miller: but also driving the policy and driving our ethos as a State agency. For on behalf of our Las, when it comes to data privacy. Nathan Miller: we have a new as of about 2 weeks ago, a new training team data, literacy and privacy team that has moved over to my office. So we're in the process of getting that team trained up on data privacy. Nathan Miller: And we're gonna offer more more training directly to our districts on data problems. We've always point of them towards a. P. Tech, and the resources there.
Nathan Miller: and some other free resources around. But we as an agency. we're wanting to shore up the support that we're able to provide to our districts. And so that's Nathan Miller: one of the current projects we're working on. Now to Nathan Miller: be able to offer a lot more robust training directly to our and the last thing we've really worked with a core group of leaders from around the State Nathan Miller: to we've. We've refer to them affectionately as our task force.
Nathan Miller: but we use them basically as a sounding board to really get direct feedback from our districts and what their needs are. Nathan Miller: And these are all district level leaders. We have superintendents, we have technology leaders. We have instructional folks in there. Nathan Miller: It's a it's a really robust cross section of leadership across the State. Nathan Miller: and one of the things that we heard loud and clear from them was that Nathan Miller: they needed some more supports around data privacy. And that is how we begin our journey with one of Tech and I can go to more detail about that later. But
Nathan Miller: those are the primary 3 ways that we're Nathan Miller: supporting data privacy across the State of Georgia. Monica Watts: Great. So, Kevin, i'm going to direct this question to you. Tell us how you just how you would describe the current bar of privacy, and K. 12 as it stands, and and some of the challenges that are being faced. Monica Watts: You're muted. Kevin Lewis: That is a great question, Monica, I would say the the current bar for privacy. It it keeps getting higher and higher
Kevin Lewis: as more and more digital resources become available more and more. So teaching schools, districts. They they want to use them, they want to explore them, and with new technologies coming out, they want to use them. They want to explore them. Kevin Lewis: which makes it difficult to find sort of the the right solution, the right sort of framework or standard to get behind, because there are so many out there Kevin Lewis: into where it's becoming more of a I would, I would say, a roadblock. for all of the solutions are becoming more so over rule black, so that the bark continues to grow as we continue to try to put Kevin Lewis: solutions together. We're we're seeing that those solutions are becoming a part of the problem. So it's it's it's tough to navigate Kevin Lewis: with all of the different. I would say solutions that are out there.
Monica Watts: Michelle or Nathan anything Michelle Watt: you know I I feel like it's. Michelle Watt: I feel like it's a becoming a better and better time to be having this conversation, because the supports that we have from groups like when a tech or even just awareness among our vendors continues to improve. And that's because of Michelle Watt: the history that we have of people in K. 12, or the organizations that support us. Michelle Watt: saying, hey, this is what we need to our vendor partners, and them raising their own bar of what not not only their practices, but how transparent they are around their practices. If we don't know that they are safely using our data, then
Michelle Watt: that that becomes, it is perceived as a barrier to student data privacy, so incredibly Michelle Watt: more Michelle Watt: more supports for that and and also the higher expectations. So it's. It's really great when we reach out to a vendor and their responses. Oh, yes, we have people who can help you with that question, or we have reviewed the State or national data privacy agreement. And here's our response to that. So the work that work having already been done, has been Michelle Watt: very beneficial. Nathan Miller: I would add to that that one of the bigger challenges we see, especially in our at the Lea level, is the ease of access to a lot of online applications for our teachers and students Nathan Miller: and a lack of awareness, a lot of them just really, Don't, understand Nathan Miller: the implications of clicking to accept that terms of service Nathan Miller: or the implications of inputting potentially sensitive data into a system that they don't understand what those terms of service are. So the where it is P. Is big. Nathan Miller: we have some legal challenges.
Nathan Miller: and I talked to t privacy officers across the country. and they all have a a similar story to tell where the ability to adopt a statewide data privacy agreement Nathan Miller: that districts can Nathan Miller: require vendors to adhere to. Nathan Miller: A lot of State agencies are hesitant to do that just because of the legal implications of Nathan Miller: formally endorsing a data privacy agreement that they then turn over to the districts. Nathan Miller: and that's not something that you need to Georgia. But it's a
Nathan Miller: definitely a problem that we need to find a way to overcome Monica Watts: so nice. Nathan, going back to the awareness, reflecting on you do when they're clicking on that signing the terms of service. What advice would you have for those listening? Is it? Training is is a huge piece to this, I would imagine Nathan Miller: training as a core component and 2 Nathan Miller: a lot of the feedback that we got from districts when prior to our partnership with Nathan Miller: was, it was kind of twofold. They didn't have a way to put a procurement policy in place, because they didn't have a way to vet the applications. and 2, Nathan Miller: they didn't really have awareness of all of the applications that they're Nathan Miller: folks were using, because the teachers did not feel empowered Nathan Miller: there was no process in place by which they could request that applications be formally adopted by the district.
and so Nathan Miller: in a vacuum they would just kind of go out and do their own thing. Nathan Miller: so that conversation led to. We have adopted a set of. We call them our 20 first century technology standards. It was our first run Nathan Miller: at having some standards around this top of technology in place for the State of Georgia. But we put those standards in place, and then we immediately went out and Nathan Miller: started seeing what solutions were out there and settled on one in tech trusted apps. Nathan Miller: Did that answer the question? Monica Watts: That's great. We we actually have a question from an audience member for the panel. How do we sell it to our administration? Obviously the technical folks get it. But if upper level leadership, superintendent, level Cabinet doesn't get it. Then we're just spinning the wheels. And and i'm kind of reading this question, maybe coming from
Monica Watts: someone that's in the technical role. Monica Watts: Any advice for for them. Michelle Watt: I I and would advocate that you know your it. Leadership should be a part of that executive leadership team, Cabinet level. Have the ear of the executive leaders to help them 250 Michelle Watt: to understand the implications, because this is just one area of risk, and our leaders are used to balancing risk and determining where we can accept risk and where we can't. So Michelle Watt: in our approval process, you know, we we have a partnership between it and our teaching and learning group, and they are empowered to make a lot of those decisions. But where, if we come to
Michelle Watt: a resource that they they can't agree on, or there's not a clear path forward. Then that does get raised to our cabinet level. So on the one hand, our cabinet or executive leaders. Don't want to be in the weeds of all of these decisions, so we need a process to keep that moving along smoothly, but they are also impact. They know that some decisions are going to come to their level. So, because we need to, you know. Michelle Watt: have them weigh in on what risk they might be willing to accept as far to to further innovation or certain educational objectives. And and that really is, is their role. I I think that, having them involved in some of these conversations with groups like one in tech Michelle Watt: or or cousin, has resources, for that is is helpful, but presenting it as a a another type of voice is something that they are very familiar with. Okay.
Monica Watts: Thank you for that, Michelle. Monica Watts: So Monica Watts: this is a a question that that comes specifically from our experience, as as perhaps parents, stakeholders, or guardians during the pandemic and and the the lens that has focused on LED tech and school districts Monica Watts: as far as student data and information, so can tell us a little bit from your perspective. How has student information changed? For all stakeholders, parents and guardians? And and i'll start with Kevin. Kevin Lewis: Thank you. So I would say it has changed sort of drastically thinking back to
Kevin Lewis: way back when when I was a a young man, my boy. it's it, will. It was always the teacher was always pull out Japan to watch a paper and the type of information that you would put on that paper, you know. Top right hand corner. I don't know if that's universal. Kevin Lewis: but it it was always put your name. You know the name of the class, and it just some very, you know, little bit of information, and you were the only one that would see that your teacher would see it and depending on the grades you got on that assignment your parents may have, may not have seen it. Kevin Lewis: and and so it it it stays very in-house. It's really not much information. but it's changed now. So so drastically. Now it's you're pulling out a device you're logging in and you're giving more information Kevin Lewis: Then then you used to then. Well, then, I I I would. I would imagine most of us used to give, and it's
Kevin Lewis: now it's accessible to potentially a lot more. People can see that information. A lot more information is being given than we used to. And so I would say, from that perspective. Kevin Lewis: Parents now have to get more involved. It's no longer just looking at a piece of paper and seeing what you're doing, or what information, or how all of all of that information being shared, and what information being shared now it's Kevin Lewis: I have to go, and I have to look at Kevin Lewis: all of the different tools and things that you're touching, and and consider whether or not it's safe or not, whether it's you know okay for you to use, and it's so much more in-depth, much more time consuming than it than it used to be.
Monica Watts: Yup. Nathan Michelle anything to add. Nathan Miller: I would say that the ease of exchange of information has really impacted the way that or impacted the potential exposure of student data. Nathan Miller: Anyone who's been in a district over the last 10 years has just seen the explosion of Nathan Miller: just data shared in general, even from the sca level, we see that the demands on data. Nathan Miller: the demands on us to provide student data. Nathan Miller: It just grows year over year. So the the ease of exchange and the ease of Nathan Miller: like to Kevin's Point.
Nathan Miller: Yeah. Nathan Miller: Years past, when everything is pen and paper. Obviously you don't have that same risk. But now this a 10 min job for a teacher to spin up another application that they've selected and Nathan Miller: have their entire class roster in there. They may have date of birth in there, depending on the application Nathan Miller: and just the the technical barrier to sharing that information has become so low Nathan Miller: that this is something that we Nathan Miller: have to actively keep a handle on. Monica Watts: Yeah, I I think, Michelle. Monica Watts: perhaps talk a little bit about. I think we we've spoken about this. The game has changed. Where student information is like a currency.
Monica Watts: right? And as Kevin was saying, and they talk a little bit about that from from your district perspective. Michelle Watt: absolutely. We we know that our our community is trusting us with this information, and Nathan, as Nathan pointed out it. Michelle Watt: it interoperability is fantastic. We need it. But but we also need to be looking at well. Which data elements do we need in each platform to make it usable for our purposes. Michelle Watt: For example, date of birth might be essential, because the reports that are coming back to the teacher are normed based on the actual age of that student. But if that's not an essential data point, then that we should not be sharing it one way that we've gotten Michelle Watt: manage. Some of that is, if we can. You know
Michelle Watt: we do want to look at some of our information by population, by our special education or other demographic information. But if we can pull data from a system into our data warehouse, then we don't have to share that demographic information out with every one of those systems, we can pull that that data into our data warehouse and then do that analysis that is valuable and informative for our our teachers. So just considering things like that, and Michelle Watt: partnering with all of the different departments and and schools as they are looking to implement solutions to achieve their their goals being their partners, and and being the people who will ask those questions and push back on just because we can doesn't mean we should. Monica Watts: So Monica Watts: specific question came up recently the challenge that many of our lease face when approving applications for cte courses that are sometimes not approved for children Monica Watts: under 18. They're designed for students in older than 18 or or college level. I want to ask the panel. How do you manage the apps for Ct. Courses and that challenge. And and I'm gonna start with Michelle. Michelle Watt: Oh, that is a challenge. We.
Michelle Watt: you know we have our process. Where about where we're evaluating everything that comes through for either opening or blocking resources. And we've kind of actually carved our cte folks out of it and given them a little boutique support, because they have such unique needs. Michelle Watt: So it They're listening to industry folks about what our graduates need to come and know. And so they are looking at some of those resources. So Michelle Watt: it's about working with them to look at a variety of resources, and see if we can choose the best one that will that will satisfy the needs of their program and Michelle Watt: working with those vendor partners. We've not gotten to a point yet where we've had to get parental permission for a unique solution that we've implemented. But I have heard that that's a solution. Some school districts implement because we really do want to meet the goals of
Michelle Watt: square and technical education where these students are earning industry certifications and using industry type software. But we have to do that in a way that is safe and acknowledges that these are still high school students. Monica Watts: Okay, thank you. Monica Watts: So we were speaking earlier. Michelle was talking and Nathan about data minimization. Monica Watts: and this is a question for the panel. How should districts be approaching their vetting and data privacy when it comes to data, minimization and posture? And i'm going to start with Kevin. Kevin Lewis: This is so. This is probably one of my favorite terms here data minimization. along with purpose, limitations, and privacy by design. So I I've never understood. Why, like if I'm, if i'm a supplier.
Kevin Lewis: or in in some cases, schools, you know, if if Kevin Lewis: given the current landscape of the different legal Kevin Lewis: legal requirements and and things that all of the types of ways you can get in trouble with collecting so much data. It it's. I've never understood it. It. It's like riding in a car with the top down and the windows up. I mean it just doesn't make sense to me. Are you? Do you want the land, or do you not want the land in your hair. Kevin Lewis: which is not a problem for me either way? But you know it it just doesn't make sense, you know you can Kevin Lewis: so like if you If you were to walk in the parking lot and you saw my car. if you were, if you were a would be attacker, and you looked in the window of my vehicle. You wouldn't see anything there there won't be nothing that would incentivize you to break in. The most you can get is probably the card so. Kevin Lewis: or the the factory radio. This does not much to incentivize you to break the one or try to go through the efforts of getting into my car.
Kevin Lewis: I'm looking around. Okay. Kevin Lewis: So for my wife's car, this completely different story, you know. If you walked by her window, then you looked in. There you would find a treasure troll of information. You could live your life as her. There's everything you need is in there. There's the credit cards. There's the wallet there's checks. You'll find even the keys to the car itself Kevin Lewis: completely unlocked. So at a time of information is in there, which is a great incentive for someone to say, Look, oh, wow! You know, maybe I do want to take a chance and take that information, and and all of that is to say that the more information that you collect, the more Kevin Lewis: you know you look more valuable to those would be attackers. You look Kevin Lewis: it. It makes it easier for them to want to attack you. So I would say, practicing that data minimization, only collecting enough information to do to Kevin Lewis: for the functionality of the application itself is really what you want to focus on, and even for, even if you're a school, you know. Imagine if you're with all of these digital resources, if you have 20 or 30 different math tools.
Kevin Lewis: I probably shouldn't have used math, because now I have to give percentages, and that's not my strongest point. There, let's say I don't know Kevin Lewis: if you have 20 different map tools, 1% 17.6. I don't know there's there's a percentage there that you're You're making yourself more attractive to a would be attacker. The more data you collect, the more resources you allow, into your school Kevin Lewis: like If I was interviewing. If I was interviewing someone for a babysitting position, or even a contractor, and I just open my door and say, hey, everybody! Come back, every every contractor, If you call yourself a contract to come on in, let's all gather in and hope that none of you attack me, or do anything, or know someone who could attack you. So
Kevin Lewis: it's it's allowing the least amount of resources into your districts. Kevin Lewis: and and not having to bet so many. And I would say, that's the the the best way is data, minimization. Kevin Lewis: Practice that. Write it down, you know. Do what it you have to do to practice data, minimization. Get some more information on it, but it it's a great way to protect yourself. It it's a great way not to open yourself up to be that attractive card with all of the valuables in it. Kevin Lewis: and, be, you know, taken advantage of. So love this question data minimization is probably one of my favorite terms when talking about privacy. Monica Watts: Thank you, Kevin Nathan. Any perspective from the State for the
Nathan Miller: I actually revert back my my days as a CIO to district. You know we we use the Roster Server standard to do all our rostering or all of it that we possibly could. But Nathan Miller: the beautiful thing about the solution that we use is it? Let you pair down the data set to the least necessary amount of data. So Nathan Miller: I mean right down to. If it was just a specific course code that this application needed, we could do that, or if it was just a specific class, just one T: one class for one teacher. Nathan Miller: We could pair it down to just that data set and only the data elements, the individual data elements that were necessary Nathan Miller: for that application function. And I know a lot of solutions are Ma beginning to implement some obfuscation technology so that Nathan Miller: you can encrypt data fields, and i'm all at.
Nathan Miller: Instead of sending across the actual student, Id you can send a an encrypted version of that student. Id So there are a lot of technologies out there now Nathan Miller: that allow you to trim down that data set to the least necessary data set and number of data elements that Nathan Miller: not a highly encouraged, or we highly encourage districts to take advantage of Monica Watts: It's great. It's helpful. Michelle Watt: I do want to add one other thing that i'm really grateful, for. Our students have both Microsoft accounts and Google accounts, and our
Michelle Watt: our staff are increasing their awareness of student data privacy. But Don't always recognize that Michelle Watt: logging into a resource using Google Login is sharing some data, and it the amount of data that shared through that process may vary. So i'm grateful that in both of those platforms we have the ability to control which resources Michelle Watt: that is allowed to happen. That's a newer development in in Google, and without that it was eye opening to see all of the different places where where that had happened. So, having those kinds of protections in place also enables us to then make sure that we're
Michelle Watt: We're we know who we're sharing data with. Hey? Monica Watts: Good tip. Monica Watts: So for the panel. What advice would you give districts as to how they can impact meaningful change regarding raising the student data Privacy bar in K 12, Kevin Lewis: I'll i'll start with that one. I I would say, this is a a great, this is a great opportunity to, you know. Adopt the see something, say something, approach Kevin Lewis: it's it's always Kevin Lewis: so. The suppliers that are it? We have an opportunity to work with suppliers that Kevin Lewis: really don't know what they're doing. Those that
Kevin Lewis: are doing business as usual, because no one has said anything to them, and they end up on you. Do not use list doesn't help us at all. Being able to reach out to a contact and and or Kevin Lewis: anyone in that organization, and asking those meaningful questions, asking them things that you're not finding in the privacy. Policy has been very valuable for us as an organization, and it's I think it's served a lot of our members well Kevin Lewis: as well. Kevin Lewis: And and then also, I would say, even if you're a small district, you know, if you're a small district of 300, you know we and I just did it Well, I guess that's not a good. Kevin Lewis: That's not a good example, because I don't think that turned out to well from the United States to 300, but they they did. They states tried right. They tried they got. They got somewhere in in their efforts to to say something, and and I think that really does help because you do you really do become that silent hero
Kevin Lewis: of taking that extra time to send an email and and get some back and forth sort of communication with that supplier, and just getting them some information as to who their customer is and what they're actually looking for. Because you've done that work, and eventually another school that comes along will not have to do that work, and if we're all Kevin Lewis: in the moment seeing something and saying something that we're, we, the hope is that even with the unlimited amount of the resources out there Kevin Lewis: that we can't impact change. We can show our supplier community that Kevin Lewis: these are the things that schools are looking for. This is so it doesn't matter how small you are, or how large you are, as that collective voice. We can sort of help them get to where they they want to be, and I think that's the the best way to see something. Say something and do some Nathan Miller: as part of our adoption of the trusted Apps platform statewide in the State of Georgia. One of the things that we put in that 20 first century technology standards document Nathan Miller: was the need for districts to adopt a software procurement policy. It's specifically to put some guardrails in that policy and some really defined language around Nathan Miller: what they would and wouldn't Nathan Miller: allow vendors to do.
Nathan Miller: and so, when they have that in place. Nathan Miller: you know, that gives them the the footing that they need to stand on. If If a vendor is not doing their due diligence.
Nathan Miller: they have something they can show to that vendor. As far as this is the expectation. This is the bar you need to meet for you to do business with us and doing that across the State is really Nathan Miller: empower districts and a lot of our smaller districts they don't really feel like they have the cloud necessarily to to move the needle. especially with a lot of the larger vendors. Nathan Miller: And so this is kind of giving them a voice. In a way, they're part of a larger community. And when everybody saying the same thing, it carries a lot more weight. So adopting the software procurement policies and
Nathan Miller: using the trusted apps platform as that bar that they put every all their vendors up against is pretty really beneficial for our district. So we've got a lot of really positive feedback based on that, specifically since we've again this program. Michelle Watt: Yeah, I would say, there are a lot of different entry points for this, and even if a lot of things are already established, there are always areas for improvement. So the important thing is to continue to be surveying your your context and looking for those areas to do some of this work Michelle Watt: definitely. Partnering with teaching and learning is essential, and you know they're feeling the pressure also to support a wide variety of things. Michelle Watt: perhaps too large, of a variety of resources for learning in the classroom. And so whatever we can do together to guide people to those resources that Michelle Watt: have the appropriate privacy vetting the curricular alignment support from our teaching and learning staff, we're helping out in this cause and many others. So I would say, you know, find your your partners, and take them along with you. Your procurement partners, and teaching and learning partners, and and all of those folks, and see where there's there's room to make progress.
Monica Watts: So our last question Monica Watts: is timely with all the media attention with AI. Recently. What opportunities and challenges Monica Watts: do the emergence of technologies. Monica Watts: such as AI that collect analysis and location, tracking biometrics, Perhaps Monica Watts: what is being done to address these challenges. And and are they different from our our current state? Kevin Lewis: I would say, for these new technologies, and I I guess specifically a AI is that with Chat Gpt. It is really one of the hot topics right now, really should be jumping up the bit to get involved. Kevin Lewis: Think of it. A lot of these in a lot of these technologies, even a little bit, not technically in the infancy stage. They're starting to be used a lot more in education. Kevin Lewis: and and you should treat it Kevin Lewis: as such. You know you. You have the opportunity with the collective voice of everyone here, within one at Tech and all of its members and the community to guide these new technologies, guide these new organizations. Because if you can imagine, if you're a new startup. Or if you're a company, you want to get into a specific
Kevin Lewis: sector like in education. You're gonna do some sort of research you're gonna You're gonna want to try to find different use cases. You're gonna want to know who your customers are who those potential customers are, how this technology could potentially be used. And if you don't, if they don't have anyone in that research team, or anyone who Kevin Lewis: is doing the work that you do, the things that you see and go through and and talk through every day. Then they don't know what they don't know. Kevin Lewis: I would say in these beginning stages be, this is the time to reach out to those different technologies of different companies, and let them know who their customers are, and let them know what's acceptable, what's not acceptable because a lot I I I talked to hundreds and hundreds of suppliers, and Kevin Lewis: they want to do what's right. They want to be in the best position to do business with you. They just really don't know what they don't know. So if you tell them like, we need to know who wants to, we need to know that we need you to know that it's not acceptable to advertise ourselves. It's not acceptable for you to use your tool in this way, and a lot of
Kevin Lewis: schools just like us, no matter how small large you are, Aren't going to use you because of these things here, and then they start to think about that that goes back to their research teams and all these different things, and and they start to grow. They start to conform to whatever you you really into, where you want them to be. Kevin Lewis: And so I would say, this is a great opportunity for those technologies that that you are having doubts about, or a lot of fears about, like the different by metrics. And I've heard a lot of Kevin Lewis: tools with 5 meters for athletes to, you know, put it in their equipment and games so they can gain different types of analytics and things like that that that that that's the best time. Those ones that you are afraid of the most are the ones you should be talking to the most. Kevin Lewis: and clearing out a lot of those concerns and peers, because they do have great uses for them, and and they they do have great educational value if you use them correctly. And if you guide these companies that are trying to get into
Kevin Lewis: this this space. You know on how to responsibly mold their tools, thinking about privacy by design and things like that. So it's just a great opportunity to help them out. Monica Watts: Nathan or Michelle. Nathan Miller: I would say one of the important parts of this conversation is being aware of what your State laws are. Georgia does not have any laws regarding Nathan Miller: bio metrics, but I know that's becoming a hot topic. New York has a law in the book. Florida has law on the books. There's a lot of discussion among State legislatures around biometrics and AI. Nathan Miller: So stay on top of those conversations. If you have a voice within your legislative community. Be sure that you're actively plugged into those organizations. Whether that's
Nathan Miller: you're in a state that has teachers unions, or you're in a state that maybe have some vehicle by which you can communicate with your State Legislature. Nathan Miller: Be sure that you're staying on top of any walls under California has a consumer data privacy wall that Nathan Miller: it was initially intended to impact Nathan Miller: primarily social media applications. But the way the law reads is. it's a ban on applications that use algorithmic Nathan Miller: recommendations for Nathan Miller: miners. Nathan Miller: So the obviously the education implications, they are enormous, because how many of the applications that we use every day use algorithms Nathan Miller: for prescriptive Nathan Miller: top work with our students. So just being aware of that and trying to be a part of the conversation early on, if you have an avenue to do so. Nathan Miller: I would highly encourage you to do that, if possible. Monica Watts: great great advice.
Monica Watts: So we do have a question from the audience. Monica Watts: And the question is, what are some strategies that district staff, especially those involved in Pd. Professional development planning, can use to effectively educate teachers about data privacy. Have you seen any out of the box ideas that have helped create that culture of privacy through training? Michelle Watt: You know. I mean, that's a constant battle. So I would love to hear ideas as well. But I can tell you that Michelle Watt: one of the things that has helped in our district is that we are working to educate folks about their own privacy. And so we do things like cyber security, awareness, month, and and constantly helping people Michelle Watt: understand that concept broadly and generally also partnering with our teaching and learning staff, because I know you know, many of us have heard of the tpac model for for professional learning, where you integrate a technology, knowledge, pedagogy, knowledge and content knowledge together. So how can we, as we're teaching a teachers the best pedagogy practices or content knowledge for these tools also include some of that technology concept, like Michelle Watt: remembering to protect privacy. Those those are a couple of the the initial thoughts. And then
Michelle Watt: you implementing the trusted apps Dashboard has been really beneficial for us, because you teachers are used to looking at charts that have green and red and yellow, and what all that means. So, being able to show a snapshot of hey? Michelle Watt: And looking at the publicly available information about this organization or this platform that you're interested in. Here are the colors associated with that around data privacy like we can dig deeper to see Michelle Watt: what they'll actually agree to. But this is how what is there, or what might be missing around what they say about how they use student data privacy, and that has been very effective. Monica Watts: So I want to thank our panelists for their time, their insightful answers. I want to also encourage you to learn more about the one a tech community. The trusted apps Monica Watts: program as Michelle mentioned, and Nathan. The work that we've been doing around data, privacy and vetting applications is going on over 9 years congratulations to Kevin and all the hard work that he and the team do in vetting applications, collaborating with our LED tech supplier Monica Watts: partners in making changes real changes for the betterment of the a tech community. When it comes to protecting student data privacy. As Kevin mentioned.
Monica Watts: it takes a collaboration and partnership. So if you're interested in learning more about that. Encourage you to go to trusted apps.org. And again, I want to thank all of our panelists great conversation, and appreciate your time today from from the audience. Thank you.
2023-04-25