Let’s face it. Digital learning (DL) is a part of our children’s education. SDACC believes that DL can be an effective part of our children’s education, but should not be the only way our children learn. One of the concerns parents have about DL platforms is that, unlike books, parents may not able to see what their children are learning.

DL is not like reading a book on Kindle. Children read a prompt and then react. Children read a prompt and react. Each keystroke, mouse click, time taken to answer the question, etc, can be recorded.

My simplest demonstration of data being mined and used is Google. Have you ever searched for something on Google, only to find ads for that item showing up in the next website you visit. And how platforms are sharing data. Even when I go to Home Depot, anonymously, and search for something, suddenly most every website I go to has an ad from home depot for that item.

I, as an adult, have the knowledge of that information being collected and can choose to use a different search engine, such as Duck Duck Go, where they are not tracking my every move or to not search online at all.

How many of us buy something online and on some sites they give you the option of saving your credit card information for future purchases. Some sites require you to re-enter that information every time you visit because they don’t keep that information in their system. You as the consumer have the right to decide if you will purchase from a company that keeps that information or not.

It’s the reason that even to pay your utility bills online, you have to click the “I Agree” icon on their privacy policy before you can pay your bill. You have the right to know what type of data companies are collecting and what they are doing with that data. It’s the reason so many will not use Facebook. Data collection.

There was just a story on the news that some credit card companies are launching new programs that will allow users of their credit cards to use a palm scan or track the location of your phone to the location their credit card is being used. You can to decide if that is something you want, and then you can decide if you will use that credit card or not. (link)

HB 1184 is a transparency bill that

— requires schools to explain to parents exactly how any proposed digital-learning (DL) program works, what types of data it gathers, what will be done with that data

— requires the school or DL provider to destroy any data at the end of the course

— requires that the content of any DL platform be made accessible to parents

— allows parents to opt out of DL programs.

It’s a no brainer that parents have the right to know what platforms are being used, what type of data DL platforms will gather, what will be done with that data, and to decide whether or not their child will use that platform. The time has come to put regulations into law to protect South Dakota students’ data.

HB 1184 is being heard in committee at 7:45 on Friday, Feb. 20, 2015.

Please contact the following members of the House Education Committee today and ask them to vote yes on HB 1184. Be sure to put “Vote Yes on HB 1184” in the subject line.

rep.campbell@state.sd.us, rep.deutsch@state.sd.us, rep.gibson@state.sd.us, rep.hawks@state.sd.us, rep.holmes@state.sd.us, rep.hunt@state.sd.us, rep.johns@state.sd.us, rep.kaiser@state.sd.us, rep.klumb@state.sd.us, rep.may@state.sd.us, rep.mccleerey@state.sd.us, rep.sly@state.sd.us, rep.tulson@state.sd.us, rep.wollmann@state.sd.us, rep.zikmund@state.sd.us