2017 was full of exciting new resources and timely developments! iKeepSafe is proud to have spent the year working in partnership with many of you to provide a safe digital landscape for children, schools, and families by supporting the protection of student privacy, while advancing learning in a digital culture.
PRODUCTS CERTIFIED
iKeepSafe certifies digital products as compliant with state and federal requirements for handling protected personal information. We help organizations achieve and maintain compliance through product assessments, monthly monitoring, annual training, and assistance with remediation. Our Privacy Certifications simplify privacy compliance for education technology vendors, and make it easy for schools to identify websites, apps, data management platforms, and other technology products that follow various privacy laws governing student data. Products that carry the iKeepSafe badge provide educators and parents with assurance that the product meets federal and state standards in the areas of privacy, safety, and security.
We are proud of the many vendors–including MESH, Albert, SchoolMint, GoGaurdian, Proctorio, and many others—who demonstrated a commitment to safeguarding student data by meeting iKeepSafe’s quality standard of data privacy protection. By earning our FERPA, COPPA, and/or California Student Data Privacy Certifications, these products give school stakeholders and parents peace of mind.
To learn more about how you can join the growing list of assessed products, email privacy@ikeepsafe.org.
CONFERENCES
2017 was a busy year of conferences, workshops, and speaking engagements. iKeepSafe CEO and President Holly Hawkins presented at CETPA 2017 and Senior Program Manager Felicia Rateliff presented at the 2017 Digital Citizenship Summit.
The highlight for iKeepSafe, however, was hosting the NICE K-12 Cybersecurity Education Conference. The mission of this conference is to inspire a cybersecurity workforce for the digital age. 320+ attendees and 85 speakers and panelists convened to discuss opportunities and competencies in K-12 STEM education, specifically in cybersecurity. The conference expands a national effort to document the K-12 cybersecurity education programs ongoing throughout the country and to address the goal: to develop a comprehensive agenda focused on the challenges of cybersecurity education at the K-12 level. We will be hosting the 2018 NICE K-12 Cybersecurity Education Conference in San Antonio, Texas on December 3-4, 2018. Stay tuned for future updates and more details
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
iKeepSafe recognizes that growing concerns about student data privacy can create hurdles for K12 educators working to expand access to edtech and digital innovations, Today’s teachers and administrators need to know how student personal information is used and improve student privacy protections in order to strengthen parent confidence in digital learning.
To this end, we developed and launched a full training course in 2017 that provides K-12 education stakeholders with all the tools they need to be aware of privacy concerns and keep students safe. Data Privacy in Education – An iKeepSafe Educator Training Course, is a FREE course that includes lessons, videos, video study guides, and an online end of course quiz where educators can test their understanding. It also includes a Facilitator Guide to help administrators or teachers prepare a Student Data Privacy Professional Development Workshop for their school teams.
Additionally, we partnered with Google, Family Online Safety Institute, and ConnectSafely to launch a new multifaceted program designed to teach kids how to be safe and confident explorers of the online world. ‘Be Internet Awesome’ aims to encourage parents, educators and kids alike to exhibit all the traits that comprise “Awesome” online. The Be Internet Awesome Curriculum provides lesson plans for educators to use in schools, and is also available for free download.
LOOKING FORWARD
There are many new opportunities that we are looking forward to in 2018. One thing will remain the same, however, and that is our commitment to providing a safe digital landscape for children, schools, and families by supporting the protection of student privacy, while advancing learning in a digital culture. We will continue certifying products, hosting and presenting at conferences, and developing timely educational resources. If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for upcoming announcements. We wish you a happy new year!
To contact iKeepSafe, please email info@ikeepsafe.org or fill out this form.