What are the privacy considerations for Wikipedia assignments? What about FERPA?

This site stores relatively little private information, and does not store any grades or instructor evaluations. For more details about what data is stored, see https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/private_information.

The following information is public via this site and/or Wikipedia:

• the usernames (but not real names) of the students in the class
• the instructor's username
• the course description and timeline
• all the edits made on Wikipedia

We recommend the following best practices:

• Let your students know at the outset of the course that they will be working in public on Wikipedia
• Provide an alternative option for students who are uncomfortable working in public
• Encourage your students to choose usernames that are anonymous

See also the anonymity and transparency slide of the instructor orientation (added March 2023).

AI detection

The contents of public Wikipedia revisions may be checked with the AI detection service Pangram. This system sends no information about the user to Pangram. The Dashboard itself stores records that links a particular Pangram check to the user who made the edit, but these are not publicly available.

Additional resources

• Teaching with the Internet; or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Google In My Classroom - Adeline Koh's overview of considerations for assignments done on the public internet, with a section on Wikipedia specifically
• Guidelines for Public, Student Class Blogs: Ethics, Legalities, FERPA and More - HASTAC's advice on how FERPA applies to working in public