Reframing Student Privacy as a Common Value and Responsibility

Abstract

In the American higher education context, student privacy is treated as an individual right. In this workshop paper, we argue that in light of emerging sociotechnical conditions this approach is flawed. Data mining, predictive analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence continue to push the boundaries of student privacy in ways once unimaginable, all of which challenge federal law, institutional policy, and contextual norms. Instead of relying on existing, non-workable conditions to protect students, we argue that institutional actors need to reframe their thinking about student data and student privacy by taking up a position that the data is a common-pool resource and privacy is a shared value—and responsibility.