NSTA Reader is a Program that provides teachers and their students with on-line access to educational materials in the field of science. If teachers and their students register for NSTA Reader, teachers have access to their students’ usage of the Program.
The National Science Teachers Association (“NSTA” “we” or “us”) respects students’ privacy and recognizes the need to provide privacy protections with respect to personal information we may collect from students under NSTA Reader. We support the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and take additional steps to protect children’s privacy as described below.
Personal Information Limitation. We limit our collection of personal information from students to no more than reasonably necessary to participate in NSTA Reader.
Registration Process. Students are registered for the NSTA Reader by their teachers or school administrators. The registration includes the student’s first name, and a username and password assigned by the teacher/administrator. No student email is required or requested and teachers/administrators are instructed not to include the student’s last name or photograph. After registration, students may use the audio microphone or camera tool to submit assignments to teachers or add their profile picture. This is at the discretion of the teacher. Parental consent (as described below) is required for registration of any child under the age of 13.
Persistent Identifiers. When students interact with NSTA Reader, certain technical information may be automatically collected to make NSTA Reader more interesting and useful, to diagnose and respond to problems, and for purposes related to NSTA’s efforts to promote science education. This non-personal information may include students’ dates and times of visit, time spent on the content, Device ID, the type of browser used (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer), the type of operating system used (e.g., Windows 8, Mac OS) and the ISP from which students receive Internet access. The information is collected by using technologies such as cookies and other unique identifiers, and may be collected by us or by a third party service provider to NSTA, including the company that provides hosting services for NSTA Reader (see below).
The information may be used in the following ways:
NSTA does not have access to personal information collected about individual students.
Parental Consent Required. Children under the age of 13 must have parental consent before they can use NSTA Reader. We require the email address of a parent (or legal guardian) of the child, which is captured during the registration process. We use the parent’s email address to seek parental consent for the child’s registration and to explain what information we are collecting, how we plan to use it, how the parent can consent, and how the parent can revoke consent. We also provide a link to this privacy policy.
Upon request, a parent may review any personal information of his/her child collected by us, and may revoke consent for his/her child to participate in NSTA Reader at any time. Parents should contact us at ebooks@nsta.org to review or revoke consent for collection of his/her child’s personal information. We will delete the child’s registration and personal information and parental contact information upon request. A parent’s online contact information will not be used or disclosed for any purposes other than as described under this policy.
Teacher Consent in Lieu of a Parent. With regard to school-based activities, teachers and school administrators are permitted under applicable law to act on behalf of parents to provide consent for the collection of personal information from children as long as the information is used in connection with the educational context authorized by the school. Schools should always notify parents about participation of their children in these activities. NSTA may elect to use teacher/administrator consent in lieu of a parent if it determines that it is appropriate to do so.
The security, integrity and confidentiality of personal information are extremely important to us. We have implemented measures to protect the information provided to or captured by us against unauthorized access and use. We use robust security measures to protect user information from loss, misuse, and alteration, and industry-standard practices such as encrypted communications, firewalls, and password protection systems to safeguard the confidentiality of personal information.
From time to time, we review our security procedures to consider appropriate new technology and methods. Please be aware, however, that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. We will retain personal information for the length of time needed to fulfill the purposes outlined in this privacy policy unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.
To view compliances that are followed by NSTA’s hosting service provider, Magic Software, go to http://www.getmagicbox.com/help/what-are-all-the-compliances-that-magicbox-follows/.
We use "cookies," which are small data files stored on a user’s computer that identify the user as a previous visitor. Cookies do not capture any personal information apart from username. Cookies (or other non-consensual methods) are not used to acquire contact information about the user. We may passively collect information on site usage patterns or through content that users access on NSTA Reader. For further information on the technologies we use to collect information, please contact ebooks@nsta.org.
We do not disclose to third parties any student's (including any child’s) personal information that we collect other than as follows, consistent with applicable law:
We may change our privacy policy to accommodate new technologies, industry practices, regulatory requirements or for other purposes. We will provide notice to parents of children using NSTA Reader of material changes in the policy and, where required by applicable law, we will obtain parental consent.
If a parent has any questions or concerns about his/her child's use of the NSTA Reader or NSTA’s privacy policy, we encourage the parent to contact us at ebooks@nsta.org.
National Science Teachers Association
1840 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 243-7100
ebooks@nsta.org
NSTA Reader hosting company:
Magic Software
9th floor, Tower C, Tech Boulevard, Plot No. 6, Sector 127,
Noida 201301, U.P, India +91 120 4036 800 support@magicsw.com
Revised 2/17/2017