Etudes, Inc. is committed to protecting the privacy of all students using our Learning Management System. This Privacy Statement describes what information is collected on the Etudes servers, how the information is protected, who has access to the information, and how the information might be used. The statement is in accordance with the U.S. Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA).
When students enroll in a course that uses Etudes, username and password are generated by the client institution’s administrative software for each student. The assigned password is a default password. Students are to change their password after the initial log in. Student log in information will be linked to his/her campus student id. The first and last name are visible to the instructor and students in many areas of Etudes, such as the Discussion Board, Chat Room, Members Listing, etc. Instructors also see student id’s in certain areas of Etudes for disambiguation of names when more than one student in a class has the same name.
The username is only visible by system administrators and technical support personnel.
Since Etudes is password-protected, the only students who have access to a course are those who are officially enrolled in the course. However, as Etudes identifies students with the name, as per Registrar’s Data, they will not see their classmates’ student id’s or usernames.
Students have the ability to change their passwords whenever they choose in Etudes. Also, students have access to past courses until the courses are either deleted off the server, or the instructor disables access, which is standard practice at the end of each term.
After students log into Etudes and access their course, much of their activity will be tracked. For example, instructors can see how many times students entered the class, when they last visited the class, how many modules they completed, if they accepted the syllabus, etc.
The work that students submit to Etudes will remain in the course until the course is deleted from the server. The server is hosted and maintained by Etudes, Inc. Etudes performs daily data backups. Additionally Etudes regularly monitors the system unauthorized activity.
Limited access to courses will be granted from time-to-time to other individuals, such as visitors, guest speakers or course evaluators. In either instance, it is the instructors’ responsibility to give students advanced notice. Guest speakers will have access to the course until the instructor removes the speaker or evaluator from the course.
Students should not post private information, such as phone numbers, into Discussions or Chat Room. Additionally to ensure student privacy, students are to follow the policies below:
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Students are to never allow anyone to log in using their username and password. After logging in, students are not to give anyone access to their course. The system authenticates each student as an enrolled student in an Etudes course through a secure log in process. Each password is encrypted by Etudes, and the log in page is secured by SSL technology. However, in order to maintain the integrity of student privacy, and academic integrity, students must ensure that all work completed in their courses are completed by themselves. Academic Honesty Policies are established and enforced at the campus level, not Etudes.
- All students are advised to change their initial password.
- Each time students finish using Etudes, students are to click the “Log out” button, and exit out of the web browser. Closing the web browser is especially important if students share a computer or are using a computer in a lab.
Instructors may seek student permission to post examples of exemplary course work in future course. If so, the instructor will delete the students’ name from the examples.
No information in Etudes or answers to online surveys will be used for anything other than client college purposes. No information will be sold to, or shared with, third-party entities.
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Depending upon changes in technology and institutional policies of our member client institutions, Etudes, Inc. reserves the right update and revise this Etudes Privacy Statement.