LPC’s Blackboard Privacy Statement
Las Positas College is committed to protecting the privacy of all students using Blackboard. This Privacy Statement describes what information is collected on the Blackboard server, how it is protected, who has access to it, and how it might be used. The Statement is in accordance with the U.S. Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA).
Information we collect
When you enroll in a Las Positas course that uses Blackboard, your username and password are automatically created. This login information will be linked to your first and last name, which is visible to the instructor and students in many areas of Blackboard, such as the Discussion Board, Chatrooms, email lists, etc.
Your username, which is your W number, will only be visible to the instructor and system managers, which includes system administrators and technical support personnel.
By default, your email account (Zonemail) and address will be generated by the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District's Information Technology Services department. You can change the default address for Blackboard in CLASS-Web, or you can set up forwarding from Zonemail to your personal account. You will use your email address to automatically reset your password if you happen to forget your password.
After you log into Blackboard and access your class, much of your activity will be tracked. For example, your instructor can see how many times you entered the class, how many times you clicked within the class, how many times you clicked in specific areas of the class, etc.
Tracking is accomplished with a cookie, which is a small data file that many web sites, including Blackboard, write to your hard drive when you visit them. The cookie stores a unique, random user ID that links users to their Blackboard accounts, giving it the ability to track.
Cookies won’t help track Discussion Board posts and Chatroom archives, but they will track how often you have clicked within those areas. Whatever you post in the Discussion Board or Chatroom becomes available to the instructor and to your fellow students, so exercise caution when posting personal information. Instructors have the ability to delete posts as they see fit.
Blackboard classes typically include links to external web sites. Aside from links to LPC-affiliated sites, the college is not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites.
How your information is protected
Since Blackboard is password-protected, the only students who have access to your class are those who are officially enrolled in the course. However, since Blackboard identifies you in the class with your name, your classmates will not see your W number.
The work that you submit to Blackboard will remain in the class until the class is deleted from the server. The server is located on the East Coast and is hosted and maintained by Blackboard, Inc. Daily data backups are performed with weekly offsite tape rotation, and the system is regularly monitored for unauthorized activity. No unauthorized individuals of Blackboard, Inc., or of the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District have access to the server or its data.
Maintaining the integrity of your privacy
Aside from not posting private information, such as your phone number, into Discussion Boards or Chatrooms, here are a few other ways you can ensure your privacy:
- Never let anyone log in as you, or after you log in, don't give anyone access to your course. The CLPCCD authenticates you as an enrolled student in a Blackboard course through a secure login process. Your password is encrypted by Blackboard, and the login page is secured by SSL technology. However, in order to maintain the integrity of your privacy -- and academic integrity -- you must ensure that all work completed in the class is done by you. View LPC's Academic Honesty Statement.
- Choose a good password. View tips for choosing a password.
- Click the Logout button every time you finish using Blackboard, then exit out of the web browser. This is especially important if you share a computer or are using a computer in a lab.
Access to your information
Only authorized individuals of Blackboard, Inc., and the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District have complete access to your W number and work posted on Blackboard (your password can only be accessed by you). Authorized individuals are system managers and the instructor(s) of your course.
Limited access to courses will be granted from time-to-time to others, such as guest speakers and course evaluators. In both instances, your instructor will give you advanced notice. Guest speakers will have access to the Discussion Board and Chatroom until the instructor removes the speaker from the course. Course evaluators will have access to much of the course for a predetermined amount of time.
You have the ability to change your password whenever you like in Blackboard. You will also have access to your past courses until the courses are either deleted off the server, or the instructor makes the courses unavailable to students, which is standard practice at the end of each semester.
How your information might be used
Student email addresses might be collected in order to survey students on such topics as: evaluating your instructor, improving the LPC Online Learning program, and collecting opinions about Distance Education in general.
Instructors might also seek your permission to post examples of your work into future classes. If so, the instructor will delete your name from the examples.
Neither your information in Blackboard, nor your answers to online surveys, will be used for anything other than college-related purposes. No information will be sold to, or shared with, third-party entities.
Changes to this Statement
Depending upon changes in technology and institutional policies, LPC might revise its Blackboard Privacy Statement in the future. If so, those changes will be reflected in this document so you will always know what happens to your information.
