Today's youth must deal with friend management 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through smartphones and such social networking sites as Facebook. Technology in the classroom can be valuable, but not without challenges. The key is well-thought-out policies. While school districts can't completely control how students use their…

In this column the authors discuss barriers to worldwide open access to peer-reviewed journal articles online and how they might be addressed by literacy scholars. They highlight economic and ethical problems associated with the current subscription-based system for distributing articles (which sometimes works against the ideals of research and…

In late 1987, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White circulated a draft opinion to his colleagues in a case about whether high school journalists had the right to be free of interference from school administrators. His opinion in the case, "Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier," sided with Missouri administrators who some four years…

As the coauthor (with Susan Dean) of a formally for-profit and now open (i.e., free on the web) textbook, "Collaborative Statistics," this author has received many questions about open educational resources (OER), which can be summarized as follows: (1) What are OER?; (2) Why do you support, actively promote, and speak about OER?; (3) If a book is…

In the United States and much of the world, the current framework of intellectual property laws revolves around protecting others from tampering with an author's work. The copyright holder decides who can use it, who can change it, and who can share. There is a growing school of thought, though, that holds that intellectual creations should be…

The last decade has seen many exciting innovations in education. Educators have developed new instructional models that accelerate and deepen student learning by tailoring instruction to each student's individual needs, skills, and interests. In recent years nearly every state in the nation has responded by considering new student data privacy…

Why is Information Privacy the focus of the January-February 2013 issue of "EDUCAUSE Review" and "EDUCAUSE Review Online"? Results from the 2012 annual survey of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) indicate that "meeting regulatory compliance requirements continues to be the top perceived driver…

Every state can create secure, robust linkages between early childhood and K-12 data systems, and effectively use the information from these linkages to implement initiatives to support programs and children, answer key policy questions, and be transparent about how the state's early childhood investments prepare students for success in school and…

This publication provides an overview of the current federal opportunities to help states advance their data-related activities. Although not exhaustive, this list provides a starting point for federal policymakers to support states' work in this area.

This handbook was produced as a resource for students and parents to explain the policies, rules, and regulations governing all students in the Wake County Public School System. Numbers that appear in some portions of the handbook refer to specific Board of Education policies. In some instances the entire policy is cited; at other times, only the…

Today, corporate users are not the only ones rapidly embracing mobile tablets for daily use--this transition has spilled over into the education sector. Schools have begun incorporating mobile devices such as iPads and other tablets into their curriculum. While this trend brings new and exciting educational opportunities, administrators and…

Every U.S. state and the District of Columbia has a law on the books that protects a library borrower's privacy, both an ethical and legal obligation of the library. In addition, FERPA further restricts access to users' records. Getting the message across to staff can be a challenge, especially if you employ students or volunteers who may not…

There is an increasing focus at the state and federal levels on linking data across the P-20/Workforce spectrum to help inform policies and practices. This primer is intended to provide policymakers with: (1) An overview of the status of states vis-a-vis the linking of postsecondary data to K-12 and workforce data; (2) A subset of questions…

Lecture capture technology has advanced to a point where implementing a solution can be disarmingly simple. But it is important for faculty and administrators not to be lulled into a false sense of security--recording faculty and guest lectures still comes with its share of legal issues covering copyright, intellectual property rights,…

Whenever thousands of users need to connect seamlessly to a vast number of online resources, identity management (IDM) becomes a critical capability. Although several products on the market can deliver a robust identity management solution, there is no one-size-fits-all. Identity management requires business processes and a supporting…