Are MOOC-Takers 'Students'? Not When It Comes to the Feds Protecting Their Data - Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Ed

The U.S. Education Department wants to encourage colleges and the tech companies they work with to protect student data from misuse. But the agency’s power to protect the privacy of people taking free, online courses is essentially nonexistent. "Data in the higher-education context for MOOCs is seldom Ferpa-protected," Kathleen Styles, the Education Department’s chief privacy officer, said on Tuesday at a symposium on student privacy. In other words, people who take free online courses known as MOOCs, or massive open online courses, are not covered under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, known as Ferpa, which stipulates how colleges must protect the "education records" of their students. http://chronicle.com/article/Are-MOOC-Takers-Students-/150325/