Maintaining student privacy is a must with our digital learning resources. Working in a 1:1 environment, where every student is issued a school device, we can avoid 'shared' classes, where privacy can be compromised.
Our students frequently use online digital resources such as Seesaw, Freckle, Google Classroom, and EPIC. Each of these resource allows the ability students to use a 'Class Code'. Below, I have a little description of how a class code is used with each.
Depending on the resource, it can be a significant privacy breach if students can easily log in to their peers' accounts. It is often best practice to avoid using a 'class code' for student accounts.
Freckle
Classes and rosters are synced daily with Infinite Campus. It is permissible for a teacher to manually build their own 'class' with rostered students, but not necessary.
A Class Code is available for a teacher-created class. All students can log into their account using ClassLink, making the class code unnecessary. Freckle does not allow a teacher to reset a Class Code. Once a Class Code has been compromised, there is no other alternative than to delete the class.
If a teacher-created class is deleted, it will not affect student accounts or their work. For our District, the Class Code never needs to be shared out. Freckle is available through ClassLink with no separate sign-in necessary. It is recommended to use use ClassLink instead of the website or application.
If a Class Code was shared out, it is recommended to remove, or delete, that class. As long as the students listed somewhere in one of the "Managed by ClassLink" classes, no student data will be deleted. It is permissible for a teacher to create a class in Freckle, but the Class Code should not be shared out.
Seesaw
For our District, in the Class Settings, the Student sign in mode should always be set to '1:1 Devices'. If it is set to 'Shared Devices', it should be changed right away. However, doing so will require students in that class to sign back in.
 | For younger students, Home Learning Codes are available to sign in through the Seesaw iPad App. Older students may either use the Home Learning Code OR their school Google credentials to log in. |
Beginning with the 21-22 school year, Seesaw classes and accounts will be synced with our student information system, Infinite Campus. It will be available then through ClassLink, so no separate sign-in will be necessary.
Google Classroom
Google Classroom is a basic learning management system. Here, the Class Code is for enrollment purposes only. It does not impact students' privacy. Their login is with a unique username and password.
Google Classroom is age appropriate for middle and high school students, and at an introductory level for third and fourth grade students, where they are first introduced to using email.
EPIC
This is a popular digital ELA resource for our younger learners. The free version only only allows for a shared Class Code. Students and teachers can log in on the website at this link or use the iPad App.
 | EPIC School can only be used between 7:00am and 4:00pm, and presumes that there will be some level of adult supervision. With the Class Code, any student 'can' log in as any other student, so good supervision is a must. Without good supervision, it would be best to avoid using this resource. |
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Advertisements and In-App Purchases are generally a deal-breaker for selecting digital resources. It is best practice to avoid apps that have these. Also, because we need to be compliant by COPPA, FERPA, and SOPIPA, we need to check to resources' privacy policy for a statement that explicitly states that account data will not be shared with outside third parties.
