Participate in Our Research

Students, Help Us In Research!

• Are you a high school student in a K-12 school district in the US?

• Do you use educational technologies in school?

If so, we would like to invite you to participate in a research study jointly conducted by New York University, University of Chicago, University of York and Colgate University. If you're under 18 you'll need your parent's permission, of course. 

What Is This Study About?

We want your help checking how the websites your school uses to help with your education handle information about you. By observing how data flows from student computers to educational technology websites, we hope to develop guidelines and tools to help educators, parents, and students use educational technologies in ways that respect privacy and security.

What Do I Get Out of It?

With your help, we will use develop guidelines and tools to help educators, parents, and students use educational technologies without compromising student privacy or security. 

Wait, I Have Questions About How Enrolling in This Study Will Affect My Data

Ultimately, we are studying education websites – we are not studying you. 

Any information that you enter into the program used for this study, other than your school district and grade, will not leave your laptop and will not be collected. We will not gather or report any information that could allow someone to identify you individually.

What Information Does the Web Extension Transmit?

When a student is on an approved website the extension records metadata such as URL, timestamp, and packet headers of HTTP requests to and from the platform and other online services. The extension sends this metadata, along with a pseudonymous student identifier, to the researchers.

<INSERT LIST OF APPROVED SITES HERE>

Will This Extension Collect Data on Every Website Students Use?

No. The extension will only collect information – name, school district, grade, phone number, geolocation, and website – when a student accesses specific online education platforms listed in a whitelist. This whitelist will be defined in collaboration with you, the school/district. 

Will the Researchers Have Access to Students’ Personal Information Or Store Students’ Personal Information?

No. By design, all personal information about a student will be stored on the student’s device. There is no technical mechanism for us to access that data. Moreover, since each student retains their own personal information, we do not have any of their personal information to store on our servers.