5 ms·

He isn't being asked to give out the student's names. He is being asked to give out the student's Wikipedia usernames so that Wikipedia editors can see what edi

He isn't being asked to give out the student's names. He is being asked to give out the student's Wikipedia usernames so that Wikipedia editors can see what edits they are making and correct any problems. The students or the course staff can choose usernames that have no relation to their real names.

BruceIV 14y ago
Although, at least back when I was choosing my Internet handle, Wikipedia recommended usernames that resembled your real name.
DanBC 14y ago
That's still personal information. It'd be illegal in England. I have no idea what, if any, privacy laws the various US states (or Canada) have.
- fnordfnordfnord 14y ago
  FERPA http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa I can't give information that would identify a student or allow someone to make direct contact without the student's prior consent.
  - GabrielF00 14y ago
    If that's the case, then obtaining the students' consent to release their Wikipedia username (which could be a random string of characters with no identifying information) needs to be a precondition of the students' participating in the assignment. If a professor has 1700 students start editing Wikipedia and 85% of them are plagiarizing, that's a huge burden to place on the Wikipedia volunteer community to clean up. There are a limited number of volunteers who handle copyright and plagiarism issues and it is unfair for a professor to increase their workload without giving them information about which users are making changes that need to be scrutinized. The problem here is that the professor has refused to engage the Wikipedia community and has, in his own words, gone underground.
    - fnordfnordfnord 14y ago
      >...needs to be a precondition of the students' participating in the assignment. I don't think it wise or fair to extort their consent.
    - illuminate 14y ago
      "obtaining the students' consent to release their Wikipedia username (which could be a random string of characters with no identifying information) needs to be a precondition of the students' participating in the assignment." Why? "If a professor has 1700 students start editing Wikipedia and 85% of them are plagiarizing" This is still a number pulled from the air.
  - GabrielF00 14y ago
    The link you provided appears to be dead. However, the first two resources I found (one from KSU and one from UT) suggest that your reading of FERPA is overly strict. Directory information such as a student name can be released without the student's consent. Also, according to UT: "Ferpa applies to personally identifiable information in educational records." If a student chose a random string of characters as a username I don't see how that's personally identifiable. https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Articles/FERPA-overview.aspx https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Arti... http://registrar.utexas.edu/students/records/ferpa http://registrar.utexas.edu/students/records/ferpa
    - fnordfnordfnord 14y ago
      Sorry about the link, I just c+p'd without checking because I figured it hadn't changed since Dec. Here's an older blurb: http://www.ed.gov/technology/draft-netp-2010/FERPA http://www.ed.gov/technology/draft-netp-2010/FERPA It's very strange, and there is a lot of mis-information perpetrated upon us in our annual FERPA training sessions. College Administration provide no useful guidance either, other than hiring a person to come and hyperventilate on stage for us at our annual faculty convocation. But, one thing that is pretty clear is that I may not reveal my class rolls to the public. Examples cited are abusive ex-spouses / intimates stalking students by learning their schedules and following them home to learn their new address, attack them, or both.

BruceIV 14y ago

Although, at least back when I was choosing my Internet handle, Wikipedia recommended usernames that resembled your real name.

DanBC 14y ago

That's still personal information. It'd be illegal in England. I have no idea what, if any, privacy laws the various US states (or Canada) have.

fnordfnordfnord 14y ago
FERPA http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa I can't give information that would identify a student or allow someone to make direct contact without the student's prior consent.
- GabrielF00 14y ago
  If that's the case, then obtaining the students' consent to release their Wikipedia username (which could be a random string of characters with no identifying information) needs to be a precondition of the students' participating in the assignment. If a professor has 1700 students start editing Wikipedia and 85% of them are plagiarizing, that's a huge burden to place on the Wikipedia volunteer community to clean up. There are a limited number of volunteers who handle copyright and plagiarism issues and it is unfair for a professor to increase their workload without giving them information about which users are making changes that need to be scrutinized. The problem here is that the professor has refused to engage the Wikipedia community and has, in his own words, gone underground.
  - fnordfnordfnord 14y ago
    >...needs to be a precondition of the students' participating in the assignment. I don't think it wise or fair to extort their consent.
  - illuminate 14y ago
    "obtaining the students' consent to release their Wikipedia username (which could be a random string of characters with no identifying information) needs to be a precondition of the students' participating in the assignment." Why? "If a professor has 1700 students start editing Wikipedia and 85% of them are plagiarizing" This is still a number pulled from the air.
- GabrielF00 14y ago
  The link you provided appears to be dead. However, the first two resources I found (one from KSU and one from UT) suggest that your reading of FERPA is overly strict. Directory information such as a student name can be released without the student's consent. Also, according to UT: "Ferpa applies to personally identifiable information in educational records." If a student chose a random string of characters as a username I don't see how that's personally identifiable. https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Articles/FERPA-overview.aspx https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Arti... http://registrar.utexas.edu/students/records/ferpa http://registrar.utexas.edu/students/records/ferpa
  - fnordfnordfnord 14y ago
    Sorry about the link, I just c+p'd without checking because I figured it hadn't changed since Dec. Here's an older blurb: http://www.ed.gov/technology/draft-netp-2010/FERPA http://www.ed.gov/technology/draft-netp-2010/FERPA It's very strange, and there is a lot of mis-information perpetrated upon us in our annual FERPA training sessions. College Administration provide no useful guidance either, other than hiring a person to come and hyperventilate on stage for us at our annual faculty convocation. But, one thing that is pretty clear is that I may not reveal my class rolls to the public. Examples cited are abusive ex-spouses / intimates stalking students by learning their schedules and following them home to learn their new address, attack them, or both.