EVALUATING

TOOLS
BY BEVERLEY B. AND STACEY W.
FRESH GRADE

PURPOSE EDUCATIONAL VALUE

 Communicating student learning
Creating e-Portfolios for K-12
 Parent engagement
students
 Formative assessment
 Student ownership
 Home-school communication
 Teacher record-keeping
POSITIVES - WHAT IT'S DOING RIGHT...

 Users own their content and data

 No advertisements
 Data is stored and processed in compliance with BC PIPA (Personal
Information Protection Act), Canadian PIPEDA (Personal Information
Protection and Electronic Documents Act), and provincial FOIPPA
(Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act)
 It is a local Canadian company based in Kelowna, B.C.
NEGATIVES – OUR CONCERNS...

 Fresh Grade uses cookies, and does not respond to 'Do Not Track' requests at this time
 Obviously, students much younger than 13 years old have accounts (set up, presumably, with
parents' electronic consent) 
 Electronic consent can be by-passed with a simple check box by a rushed or careless teacher
 Fresh Grade keeps students' data archived from K to 12 unless they are directed to delete it
 It may inadvertently collect data and personal information from third-party services and social
media apps depending on how these are linked to Fresh Grade, and dependent on the users' privacy
settings (the company itself cautions users to check their privacy settings)
CONCLUSIONS

 The benefits outweigh the risks 

 Educators and students may wish to use 
 One caution: the electronic consent process must be discussed with
students and parents to assess risks each year, and there must be an
alternative to Fresh Grade for those who are not comfortable 
 CommonSense.org Privacy Rating: 90% PASS
BOOK CREATOR
PURPOSE EDUCATIONAL VALUE
 Multimodal content creation (images, text,
Creating and sharing digital audio, video)
books  Supports differentiation
 Supports language learners
 Addresses higher levels of SAMR
 Great for creating non-fiction books in
content areas
 Easy for all ages to use K-12
POSITIVES – WHAT IT'S DOING RIGHT...

 Users own their content

 Books are set to private by default and only teachers can choose to share them with
a wider audience
 Does not use information to create data profiles or targeted ads
 Encrypted data during transfer
 Account holders can request account and book data correction and erasure
 Intended mainly for students under age 13 and informed consent required from
parents
NEGATIVES – OUR CONCERNS...

 There are fees associated with some accounts, which means financial
information is shared
 Teachers can make student books public, which may contain personal
information (teacher's responsibility to ensure consent)
 Data is stored in the USA in the Google Cloud
 Does not comply specifically with BCPIPA, PIPEDA, and FOIPPA as
it is a UK-based company (EU General Data Protection Regulation
compliant)
CONCLUSIONS

 Safe option to use with younger students as teachers control the account
 Main concern: Data is stored in the USA so it is not FOIPPA compliant
 Recommended for use with K-7 students with teacher discretion about
what type of content to include (parental consent may be required)
 CommonSense.org Privacy Rating: 82% PASS
KAHOOT

PURPOSE EDUCATIONAL VALUE

 Competitive game-based tool
Game-based quizzes and  Great for content pre-assessment and review

participatory learning  Anonymity of participation in a Kahoot!

makes it non-intimidating (students create
their own names)
 Immediate responses so students can self-
check for understanding
POSITIVES – WHAT IT'S DOING RIGHT...

 Accounts are intended for users over the age of 13

 Account holders can request to access, correct, or erase their personal
data
 Free for teachers and students
 No information collected when someone participates in a Kahoot!
 Encrypted data during transfer
NEGATIVES – OUR CONCERNS...

 A lot of personal information is collected from the account holder

 "When a user under the age of 13 creates an account, Kahoot! collects his or her name
and email address but does not collect any other Personal Information."
 Kahoot is a European company and stores data in Europe, USA, and Canada –
there's no way to know which country will store your personal data
 Does not monitor or respond to any "Do Not Track" browser requests
 Kahoot may share personal information with third parties for marketing purposes
 No parental consent if users under the age of 13 sign up for an account – third parties
and Kahoot! can use data analytics
CONCLUSIONS
 Can be a fun tool for students to review or pre-assess content
 Teachers can choose premade quizzes or create their own
 Does not offer a lot of opportunity for higher level thinking
 Students accessing Kahoot on their personal devices could be a positive or a negative,
depending on the grade level and demographic
 Not FOIPPA compliant... but students don't need to share their data to participate
 Use sparingly as a tool to review content if your students have access to personal devices
 CommonSense.org Privacy Rating: 75% WARNING
MINECRAFT EDUCATION EDITION
PURPOSE
Game-based or participatory
learning
EDUCATIONAL VALUE
 Good for delivering specific pieces of
learning content
 Works well for whole-class lessons
and projects
 Allows teachers to easily make and
monitor assignments
 Includes classroom management
tools
POSITIVES – WHAT IT'S DOING RIGHT...

 Parental consent is required for kids under 13

 Parents can easily remove consent, if necessary
 The Education Edition limits players to those within a class
 Minecraft will not sell a student's data 
 A user's data remains their own property
 Minecraft does not share data with third parties or advertisers
NEGATIVES – OUR CONCERNS...
 Minecraft is now a subsidiary of Microsoft, so...
 It uses cookies (but does at least remind you your data is being collected)
 Data is stored and processed all over the world; storage facilities exist on every
continent
 When students document and submit or share their work, other apps may gain access
to their data, so students must be made aware that they might be sharing more than
they bargained on
 Very distinctly states that the teacher is solely responsible for ensuring parents'
consent 
CONCLUSIONS

 I have not used the Minecraft: Education Edition with my classes

 The issue of students' data being stored all over the world is a significant problem, as
it violates B.C. privacy laws for students
 However, Minecraft is being used all over the province as an educational tool 
 Clarify use with District tech personnel; if it is approved in your District, ensure that
you enlist admin and parent support before proceeding, and even so, it may be risky
 CommonSense.org Privacy Rating: UNRATED as of 29 April 2021.
REFERENCES

"Book Creator Privacy Overview." Book Creator, 2021, https://bookcreator.com/privacy-policy/. 

"Common Sense Media: App Reviews." Common Sense Org, 2021. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/app-reviews.

"Common Sense Media Privacy Program." Common Sense Org, 2021, https://privacy.commonsense.org/.

"Get Started: Try Minecraft – Education Edition." Minecraft: Education Edition, 2021.
https://education.minecraft.net/get-started. 

"Kahoot! Privacy Policy." Kahoot! Trust Center, https://trust.kahoot.com/privacy-policy/. 

"The Fresh Grade Pledge." Fresh Grade, 2021, https://freshgrade.com/privacy-policy/.