[elearning] Privacy fears over student register

[Cameron Bell]

Quite right Roland. I was unaware of the larger pic you have raised but 
I have it on good authority that any security within Ultranet was only 
raised almost as an afterthought. The implications were barely 
considered. Before we look at specifics, you only need consider the 
age-old security versus usability problem. Ultranet could be very very 
secure but no-one will use it, or it could be very easy to use, but have 
nothing in the way of privacy/security protection.
Of course the flip side is that as a teacher, if you can access a kids 
previous assessments, you have a much better idea of what to set them. I 
wonder how a Heart Surgeon would feel if the referring Doctor didn't 
pass on the patients medical record - due to privacy concerns, so he 
needed to repeat all the tests before he can get started. I have yet to 
work in a school where I could get an idea of what level my new students 
were achieving at unless I bumped into their previous teacher. I have 
never had any formal previous assessments available to me. ASFAIK the 
only time this happens is in the Gr 6 to Yr 7 transition.
I suppose one part of it may be the desire to give a kid a "fresh start" 
without any bias, which is usually more based around "effort" and " 
behavior" rather than academic achievement. A purely skills based 
assessment would be very helpful most of the time.
There are some positives to be had (IMHO) but there are the dangers that 
must be quite rightly recognised and addressed. I suppose we need to 
have an idea of the product and procedures before we have a better idea 
of any weaknesses. I hope trial schools take this very seriously.
Cheers
Cameron

Roland Gesthuizen wrote:
> As you know, I am an passionate advocate for schools to make good use 
> of learning technologies in the classroom and ICT to assist the school 
> administration.
>
> Last week, I briefly discussed with a departmental Ultranet 
> representative, some of my concerns about the privacy issues regarding 
> the construction of the student registry. Perhaps this was an unfair 
> question but I was surprised that nobody had been briefed in detail 
> about this. On previous occasions, I have tried to raise this with the 
> AEU but the emails seem to have spiraled off and into the ether. 
> Perhaps the mandated  requirement that all state school leaders adopt 
> Ultranet as a performance goal, it's deep embedding into our schools 
> and bundling with several different initiatives has confused things.
>
> I harbor some genuine fears that this student registry could put 
> students' privacy at risk.
>
> You can read the full Herald Sun newspaper story about the pending 
> legislation or the attached printable version:
>     http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23661243-2862,00.html
>
> Despite the wishes of former governments, the Australia card was 
> rejected on very much the same issues and more recently an updated 
> Medicare card.
>     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Card
>
> Now is a good time to explore this whole new area and give 
> consideration to the implications of what is being planned or the 
> legislation that is before the Victorian parliament.
>
> Now is a good time to ask questions.
>
> Regards Roland
>
> -- 
> Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
> http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au
>
> "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can 
> change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." 
> --Margaret Mead _______________________________________________
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