If a lack of data privacy in apps aimed at K-12 students has you cowering under the covers, , a nonprofit organization that works with schools on education technology, has just the Halloween tribute for you.
The organization asked whose privacy policies seemed particularly ghoulish.
Then, Stacy Hawthorne, Learn21鈥檚 chief academic officer, took a close look at each of their privacy policies, flagging some of the most popular apps that, in her view, had especially frightening privacy problems. She鈥檚 now rolling them out, one by one, on during October, which Learn21 has dubbed 鈥淪cary App Month.鈥�
And despite the cute graphics of black bats and full moons accompanying each review, Hawthorne sees this as serious business. School districts accessed an average of 2,591 distinct ed-tech tools during the 2022-23 school year, .
鈥淭here鈥檚 no way that somebody [in each district] vetted 2,500 privacy policies,鈥� Hawthorne said. 鈥淭hese are teachers saying 鈥榦h, I鈥檓 going to drop this app in.鈥� So we鈥檙e reading these privacy policies and saying 鈥榟ey, here鈥檚 something that鈥檚 scary! Do you know this if you use this app?鈥欌��
But Roy King, the executive director of XtraMath, a math fluency platform Learn21 highlighted, wishes that the organization had reached out for an explanation before deeming his app 鈥渟cary.鈥�
鈥淚 have no problem picking on companies that share personal info,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey should be called out for it. But we鈥檙e in a different space.鈥� (See below for Learn21鈥檚 critique of Xtra-Math and King鈥檚 response.)
Hawthorne explained the impetus behind the campaign and the organization鈥檚 methodology for choosing apps in a post on LinkedIn and a mass email to people who had signed up to be notified about Scary Apps. She wrote:
Scary apps is our student privacy awareness campaign. Our team reads each of the privacy policies that we post. If, in our judgment, we believe there鈥檚 anything in the privacy policy that would give us pause before using an app with students, the app is eligible for Scary Apps. If we choose to post an app, we generally quote from the privacy policy to be as accurate as possible. In some cases, it鈥檚 difficult to do that in a short and spooky way to fit the format of Scary Apps.
The goal of Scary Apps is for districts to have internal conversations and make their own well informed decisions about which apps are best for their students. Some of the apps we post are ones that we use everyday, but we鈥檙e adults. There鈥檚 another level of responsibility that comes from making decisions about which apps to require students to use.
We鈥檝e had folks, including app owners, question our methodology. Since we believe that the best privacy policies are transparent, we wanted to share our methodology with you publicly. There is no financial motive for Scary Apps. In fact, we鈥檝e put in extra hours to make this happen since our team was already working on other projects. We believe in education and providing educators with the knowledge they need to protect their students. We hope you鈥檝e enjoyed Scary Apps and, more than anything, we hope that Scary Apps sparked a conversation or two in your district.
Here鈥檚 a look at some of the apps Learn21 has been highlighting during 鈥淪cary鈥� App Month. 澳门跑狗论坛 reached out to each company and included their response to Learn21鈥檚 critique:
XtraMath
This app is designed to 鈥渋mprove math fact fluency but the privacy policy specifically states that it鈥檚 not intended for use by students under 13" and therefore subject to certain privacy laws, according to the Learn21 critique. That鈥檚 puzzling, Hawthorne wrote, given that 鈥渕ath fluency typically develops between kindergarten and 4th grade, where students are under age 13.鈥�
The response: XtraMath is, for its part, troubled by Learn21鈥檚 reading of its privacy policy. It鈥檚 clear that a parent or teacher can create accounts for students under the age of 13, King explained. The app doesn鈥檛 share data with third parties, or advertise. It complies with all privacy laws. And it鈥檚 a nonprofit, King said.
SlidesCarnival
This presentation app is a 鈥渃reative fave鈥� but it could 鈥渆nd up being more of a trick than a treat for K-12,鈥� says the Learn21 app critique. "[Its] privacy policy allows personal info to be used for targeted marketing and it can鈥檛 guarantee that a user鈥檚 data will remain in the United States. They do require parental consent for anyone under 16 but they don鈥檛 appear to track consent.鈥�
Response: SlidesCarnival is owned by Canva, but it鈥檚 a separate platform meant for the general public, and can be used without providing personal information. The company encourages teachers and students to choose Canva for Education instead, which has many free features and is specifically designed for classrooms.
American Heritage Dictionary
鈥淭he word of the day is 鈥榝rightful鈥� if you create an account on ahdictionary.com,鈥� the Learn21 critique says. 鈥淭hey use personal information to create targeted ads and will share your information with third parties.鈥�
Response: 澳门跑狗论坛 did not receive a response.
To be clear, Hawthorne and Learn21 aren鈥檛 necessarily saying that these apps don鈥檛 have merit. In fact, they describe some on the list as favorites. They鈥檙e simply trying to flag privacy problems.
In some cases, Hawthorne has explained how to use an otherwise scary app safely. For instance, Learn21 admits to being 鈥渉uge fans鈥� of the graphic design app Canva and notes that the company has signed on to the National Data Privacy Agreement. But Canva allows students to share what they鈥檝e created with people鈥攊ncluding adults鈥攐utside the school.
In fact, one student shared their work with an adult outside the school who might have had 鈥渕alicious intent and their subsequent communications resulted in police involvement,鈥� Hawthorne said. But districts can avoid this problem by emailing edu-experts@canva.com and asking to have external sharing disabled.
Scary Apps has been so popular that Hawthorne is considering bringing it back next October鈥攁nd maybe finding other monthly themes to highlight problematic or useful ed tech.
The only downside for Hawthorne, a former teacher, principal, and ed-tech director? Just how much she personally has been identified with the project.
鈥淚鈥檝e done really meaningful work in education and I鈥檓 forever going to go down as the Scary Apps Lady,鈥� she joked.
