Engaging with Emerging Technologies While Protecting the Privacy and Rights of Students in the Classroom by

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Abby Conrad

Digital Literacies in the Early Years

Kim Stewart & Sherry Rose

October 2025

Inspiration:

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When first engaging with the texts for this course, I had initially reflected upon my own prior experiences, as well as videos that I had seen on Instagram and TikTok. Above is one example that inspired my inquiry into this topic!

Initial Inquiry Question

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In an effort to remain engaging, educators are constantly seeking out new ways to integrate creative uses of technology and digital resources into classrooms. One example that comes to mind is educators who upload student information into ChatGPT to produce a colouring sheet with all their students on it, or to create an image of a student and what they might look like 20 years in the future. Evidently, there are issues with ensuring privacy and protection of the students in the classroom, such as what was mentioned by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (2012, p. 10).

With privacy and protection of students as a main concern, is there a way to use creative outlets and generation of materials, such as that mentioned above, that respects both the privacy of students and the comfort of parents/ guardians of the students?

Reframed Inquiry Question

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What do educators need to consider as they engage with emerging technologies and tools, such as ChatGPT, in order to respect and protect the privacy and rights of students in their classroom?

It is more important than ever to be attentive to student, teacher, and parent rights to privacy.

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Tremendous advancements in technology & artificial intelligence, like ChatGPT
Previous strategies for critical & digital literacy focused on risk mitigation... new advancements are not responsive to the same strategies (Edwards, 2021, p. 401)

Tip:

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Make sure to stay up to date on emerging advice for engaging with these tools, through your schools, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, provincial and federal policies, and scholarly research in the field.

Your actions and choices of technology / digital tools affect your students.

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Tip:

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Weigh the pros and cons of the tools you are choosing to implement. Put yourself in the shoes of your students and think about what information of yours you would be comfortable with someone else sharing online.

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Even if you are using digital tools on behalf of your students, they are still being exposed to risks associated with being online (Edwards, 2021, p. 397)
"Sharenting" as a common example (Creswick et al., 2019, p. 169)
The same applies to when teachers upload student information online into intentionally educational apps & websites (Edwards, 2021, p. 397)

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As a teacher, you have responsibilities that you must uphold while engaging with new technologies and tools.

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Article 3.1 of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989, p. 3)
Responsibility to select which content is welcome in the classroom (Bernstein, 2020, p. 9)
Everyone has a role to play in fostering safe and secure learning environments (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2024a, p. 3)
“Do not assume anyone else will ensure children’s safety” (Designing for Children’s Rights, 2022, p. 7)

Tip:

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If deciding to implement a new digital tool, think first of how it might affect your students, how you can best protect them and their privacy, and how plausible it is for you to ensure their safety.

Children, and more specifically, the students in your classroom have powerful imaginations and senses of creativity, and it is essential that this is considered alongside the new technologies that are implemented.

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We must “get really curious” (TEDx Talks, 2014, 3:26)
Children were born into a heavily digital world (Creswick et al., 2019, pp. 169-170)
Children as creators & contributors, not just consumers (Designing for Children's Rights, 2022, p. 4)

Tip:

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If using a generative AI such as ChatGPT, provide space to co-engage with the software with your students. Let students lead you in perhaps unexpected ways. Students have many more amazing ideas than you may initially think!

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Children have often been neglected and/or excluded from conversations regarding their rights and privacy.

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Children are rarely consulted or considered as part of the "users" of digital tools (Livingstone, 2018, p. 18)
Lack of ethical consideration (Creswick et al., 2019, p. 168)
Children have a desire to be involved in these important conversations (Third et al., 2014, p. 9)

Tip:

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When introducing a new tool, provide the space for your students to discuss their thoughts. Co-create definitions of what it means to use this tool in a safe and productive manner. Make your students an active part of the integration of new tools.

How I Got Here:

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I had initially put all this information into a video that I created on Canva, which I had already submitted into our class discussion board so I could get feedback from my peers. Canva is a software that I use a lot and I feel quite comfortable with, which is why I had initially chosen it. In class on October 3, 2025, Kim and Sherry provided us an opportunity to engage with prior year's examples of this same project. The one that I selected to engage with was made on Padlet, and I knew right then and there that I needed to pivot and try to learn this new tool! I think that it is so important that while I am preaching the importance of engaging properly with technology, and the importance of discovering and implementing new tools, that I too take on the challenge of learning a new tool that I can take with me in my future career. I hope you enjoy looking through my Padlet!

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You must obtain consent from students and their parents/ guardians before you engage with sharing their information anywhere.

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Tip:

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If you are going to engage with using an AI software, like ChatGPT, for one of your classroom projects, it is insufficient to use the consent that is collected yearly by the school. You must obtain explicit consent to have the right to share/ upload student information or work.

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YouTube and Google were fined $170 million in 2019 because they were not respecting the USA COPPA; using cookies for targeted advertisements for children (Edwards, 2021, p. 403)
Policy 311: obtaining written consent before any personal information is uploaded online (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2024a, p. 6)
Students or their parents/guardians must directly authorize their teacher or school before they upload the student's work to an AI software (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2024b, p. 3)

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Uploading student information online opens a rabbit hole of privacy and security concerns.

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Tip:

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Consult with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and see which tools and technologies have been approved before deciding to implement a new one into your classroom. Although you may be able to glean whether a tool is ‘safe’, there are rigorous practices in place that work to protect you and your students.

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“Entering personal information into an AI system poses a risk to privacy and security and is not recommended” (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2024b, p. 6)
Privacy as a necessity, not a luxury (Livingstone, 2018, p. 18)
Increasingly difficult to not engage with the collection of digital data: Google Classroom, Kahoot, YouTube, etc. (Rashkovan, 2019)
Policy 311: Procedures to approve the use of new software in schools (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2024a, p. 5)

Here is my APA reference list for this project!

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