Peeling Back the Student Privacy Pledge

Education software is a multi-billion dollar industry that is rapidly growing. The federal government has encouraged this growth through a series of initiatives that reward schools for tracking and aggregating student data. Amid this increasingly digitized education landscape, parents and educators have begun to raise concerns about the scope and security of student data collection. Industry players, rather than policymakers, have so far led efforts to protect student data. Central to these efforts is the Student Privacy Pledge, a set of standards that providers of digital education services have voluntarily adopted. By many accounts, the Pledge has been a success. Since its introduction in 2014, over 300 companies have signed on, indicating widespread commitment to the Pledge’s seemingly broad protections for student privacy. This industry participation is encouraging, but the Pledge does not contain any meaningful oversight or enforcement provisions. This Article analyzes whether signatory companies are actually complying with the Pledge rather than just paying lip service to its goals. By looking to the privacy policies and terms of service of a sample of the Pledge’s signatories, I conclude that noncompliance may be a significant and prevalent issue. Consumers of education software have some power to hold signatories accountable, but their oversight abilities are limited. This Article argues that the federal government, specifically the Federal Trade Commission, is best positioned to enforce compliance with the Pledge and should hold Pledge signatories to their promises

Temperature or pressure controller

Silicon chip thermal sensor coupled into a solid state power source controls temperature or pressure in combustion research. The silicon chip sensing element is embedded in a ceramic support for insulation, and connected to a high resistance bridge which operates the solid state power amplifiers

Peeling Back the Student Privacy Pledge

Education software is a multi-billion dollar industry that is rapidly growing. The federal government has encouraged this growth through a series of initiatives that reward schools for tracking and aggregating student data. Amid this increasingly digitized education landscape, parents and educators have begun to raise concerns about the scope and security of student data collection. Industry players, rather than policymakers, have so far led efforts to protect student data. Central to these efforts is the Student Privacy Pledge, a set of standards that providers of digital education services have voluntarily adopted. By many accounts, the Pledge has been a success. Since its introduction in 2014, over 300 companies have signed on, indicating widespread commitment to the Pledge’s seemingly broad protections for student privacy. This industry participation is encouraging, but the Pledge does not contain any meaningful oversight or enforcement provisions. This Article analyzes whether signatory companies are actually complying with the Pledge rather than just paying lip service to its goals. By looking to the privacy policies and terms of service of a sample of the Pledge’s signatories, I conclude that noncompliance may be a significant and prevalent issue. Consumers of education software have some power to hold signatories accountable, but their oversight abilities are limited. This Article argues that the federal government, specifically the Federal Trade Commission, is best positioned to enforce compliance with the Pledge and should hold Pledge signatories to their promises

Variable-pulse switching circuit accurately controls solenoid-valve actuations

Solid state circuit generating adjustable square wave pulses of sufficient power operates a 28 volt dc solenoid valve at precise time intervals. This circuit is used for precise time control of fluid flow in combustion experiments

Making Your Voice Clear In Academic Writing

Lecturers often tell students that they do not want to know their opinion. But when the student hands a piece of work in, the lecturers say things such as: you haven’t answered the question, you’ve only summarised facts, what are you trying to say? etc. We need to make a distinction between a student’s uniformed, unsubstantiated opinion and the conclusions that they themselves have come to from their reading and research, what we can call their voice. This must be made clear in their writing

Rhetorical Functions in Academic Writing: Defining

Rhetorical functions in academic writing: Definin

Investigation of the perceived usefulness of a StudyNet group discussion facility by international students

Postgraduate international students at UK institutions of higher education often find difficulty dealing with seminar-type discussions. An attempt was made to help students with this by utilising the group discussion facility of StudyNet. However, as most of the students were from East Asia, where education is often considered as essentially a passive process rather than something they have to do for themselves, it was felt necessary to investigate this to see how seriously they took such an activity. A questionnaire was therefore given to the students and the results analysed. Despite some criticisms, the students were generally found to understand the purpose of the activity and think it beneficial. Thus, overall, when activities are clearly seen to be related to the learning outcomes and integrated into the course, they can be used with confidence with East Asian students.Peer reviewe

Economic Geology of the Moon: Some Considerations

Supporting any but the smallest lunar facility will require indigenous resources due to the extremely high cost of bringing material from Earth. The Moon has also attracted interest as a resource base to help support near-Earth space activities, because of the potential lower cost once the necessary infrastructure has been amortized. Obviously, initial lunar products will be high-volume, bulk commodities, as they are the only ones for which the economics of lunar production are conceivably attractive. Certain rarer elements, such as the halogens, C, and H, would also be extremely useful (for propellant, life support, and/or reagents), and indeed local sources of such elements would vastly improve the economics of lunar resource extraction. The economic geology of the Moon is discussed

A new country record for Chrysina diversa (Ohaus, 1912) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae) in Central America

Chrysina diversa (Ohaus, 1912) is recorded for the first time from Belize. Detailed information on its capture in that country is presented.Chrysina diversa (Ohaus, 1912) est signalée pour la première fois de Belize. Des informations détaillées sur sa capture dans cette pays sont présentées ici