Privacy, Security and Research

The #change11 Course has a firm commitment to privacy. This document discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for this website: change.mooc.ca .

Website

As is the case with all web servers, vistors' IP addresses are collected and logged. We review this log from time to time to gather statistical information, but do not track individual IP address browsing information. We may otherwise use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server, and to administer our Web site.

This site contains links to other sites. The #change11 Course is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites.

We do not share any information about our visitors with any other site or entity, aside from demographic data such as the number of hits, impressions and unique users. We are careful to scrub any and all information to remove any personal identifying marks prior to dissemination.

E-mail lists

We have several mailing lists. We do not give or sell our subscriber to anyone, nor do we use it for any other purpose than The #change11 Course news and updates. The information you may have provided is kept strictly confidential. If used to generate demographics the list is scrubbed any and all information to remove any personal identifying marks prior to dissemination.

Cookies

The #change11 Course site uses cookies only for identification purposes. We store one cookie on your browser, indicating your user name. This user name is in turn related to user information on our server which you provide when you log in. Cookies are not used to track your movements and cookie information is not supplied to any external party.

Public Forums

This site makes chat rooms, forums, message boards, and/or news groups available to its users. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information.

Security

This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. Additional security is provided by our Internet Service Provider.

Choice/Opt-Out

This site provides users with the following options for removing their information from our database, to cease receiving communications, or to terminate service in any way:

1. If you are receiving any of our Newsletters you are given an opt out link at the bottom of the message.

2. You can also send email to stephen@downes.ca

Correct/Update

The #change11 Course gives users the following options for changing and modifying information previously provided.

1. Email stephen@downes.ca
2. Re-enter your personal information here

Contacting the Web Site

If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this Web site, you can contact stephen@downes.ca

Research Programs

The #change11 course is also part of the National Research Council of Canada's PLE research as well as the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute at Athabasca University. The project will examine the learning that occurs as a result of interaction and participation in the distributed community. The goal of the research is to follow and document what communities of learners do when they are learning in a sizable open online course.

The following information is intended to help you understand exactly what we are asking of you so that you can decide whether or not you want to participate in the research. Please read this information carefully and ask all the questions you might have before deciding whether or not to participate or not in the #change11 course & research project. Your participation in the course and research project is entirely voluntary and you can opt out of the course and the research at any time.

What may you be asked to do?

The structure of the course is based on the pedagogical model employed in the Connectivism and Connective Knowledge course offered in 2008, 2009 and 2011. It is within such a model that a learner is expected to exercise the skills and capacities required to effectively learn using a PLE. The course will be held between September, 2011 and April, 2012, or maybe longer, if the world doesn't come to an end in 2012.

Researchers will track activities and entries with the various tools and resources available in the course (e.g., wiki, Moodle discussion area, blogs) and conduct short interviews and focus groups with participants about their learning experience in the PLE. You may be asked to participate in questionnaires on your perceptions of PLE functionality and learning experience, and complete a course evaluation at the end of the course.

Privacy and confidentiality

By registering for the course, you have indicated that you will be willing to participate in the research as it contributes to the development of a Personal Learning Environment that will be used for the course next year. Participation involves no more than taking the course as you normally would; we will not enlist you in any other activities or studies without your prior notification and consent.

Please note that your contributions to the course on the website - links to feeds, posts, comments, and other content - will be stored on http://change.mooc.ca and will be publicly available for viewing by other participants, researchers, and the general public. Additionally, content related to the course you may have posted publicly on some other website will be publicly available to participants, researchers, and the general public, and links and references to that material may be posted on this site.

Private files, correspondence, and private personal records, including email addresses, passwords, and personal details, will not be made available to anyone else by the course organizers. If you are asked for private information by any researcher, please be aware that you are not obliged to provide this information, that this request is not being made on behalf of the course organizers, and that the private research is not affiliated with the course organizers.

Please note that the course organizers do not control sites that are not located at http://change.mooc.ca and that information submitted to these other sites will be subject to whatever privacy and security agreements govern those sites.

If you are interested in the research and would like to be involved in interviews and other surveys, please email George Siemens (gsiemens@gmail.com), Dave Cormier (coarsesalt@gmail.com) or Stephen Downes(stephen@downes.ca). If you are interested in the research discussions, view the MOOC resaerch group at Google Groups.

Thank you on behalf of the change.mooc.ca research team!