This project explores technology adoption practices and interactions and the digital data literacy of education technology adoption decision makers in California K-12 public school districts. Data profiles constructed from the comingling of data from many sources (school, home, mobile technology) can follow the individual through his or her lifetime. Although there is an increasing understanding in education about digital literacy, there is a general lack of understanding about digital data literacy, or the ease and potential of comingling of data exchanged online, despite its purpose or use. Current regulations such as the Familly Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) may provide inadequate protections for future inference or predictive uses. The goal of this project is to explore the extent to which school technology decision-makers consider youth privacy and the long-term use and dissemination of children's digital information.
Using a sample of California school districts, this project investigates educational technology procurement strategies and processes. Research methods include in-depth interviews and a preliminary survey to examine the digital data literacy of educational technology decision makers in K-12, and whether, how, issues of youth and family privacy are addressed by education technology adoption decision makers. The project will also involve a formal review of privacy literature involving several relevant disciplines and investigations of the marketing processes involved in educational technology procurement. Understanding the complexity and impact of educational technology adoption is essential. This project advances the discussion of privacy across commercial, public policy, and education interests. Students will be involved in all phases of the research.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
