The IMS Application Vetting Process and Data Privacy Standard Enable Trust Between Schools and App Providers
LAKE MARY, Florida, 29 October 2020 —IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS Global/IMS), the world-leading non-profit collaborative advancing educational technology impact, announced a new member benefit that provides institutions with a better way to understand the data privacy features of edtech apps and digital resources.
The IMS TrustEd Apps™ program uses IMS member-established criteria to evaluate edtech applications' policies for using and sharing student data and personally identifiable information. IMS facilitates the vetting process—relieving educational leaders from that responsibility and resolving issues with edtech suppliers. Already, IMS has vetted over 4,000 apps using the IMS community-developed rubric.
Immediate benefits for institutions include safeguarding against paid and free apps that violate student data privacy norms, saving time and money in the purchasing process, and quickly building a list of apps approved for use.
"TrustEd Apps gives institutional leaders one less thing to worry about when trying to support the needs of teachers, students, and parents in terms of data privacy,” said Dr. Rob Abel, CEO, IMS Global Learning Consortium. "The IMS community of 575 leading edtech market stakeholder organizations has established a new foundation for clarity about data usage and privacy. It is published and maintained as an open standard, allowing us to work together to achieve data privacy improvements in educational technology. IMS is doing the heavy lifting in terms of the vetting because we have the unique capability to work across all institutions and all suppliers."
"We went down the path of helping our teachers go through a vetting process on their own and keeping up an extensive list of apps and resources that teachers were interested in, but this process wasn't sustainable for our district,” said Kate Crawford, Director, Digital Learning & Media Services, Fayette County Public Schools. “Having IMS take this on is a huge deal for districts. We can leverage it so that teachers can focus on evaluating apps for instructional practice, but we're still getting that insight and transparency into the vendors and their privacy policies."
"We have about 23,000 students in our virtual program and over 77,000 students and 6,000 teachers total in our district, so we need to bring on vendors very quickly and make sure they work within our current ecosystem of technology solutions,” said Jeff McCoy, Associate Superintendent for Academics, Greenville County Schools. “IMS TrustEd Apps will help us cut through the backlog of having to vet and approve all of the apps coming in. Now, our academics department and our technology department have a partner to support and streamline our processes so we can get tools into the hands of our students and teachers quicker, while also ensuring their safety.”
Data Privacy certifications, app vetting results, and suppliers earning the new IMS TrustEd Apps Seal appear in the IMS Product Directory at imscert.org.
For more information or to join the IMS TrustEd Apps Alliance, visit trustedapps.org.
About IMS Global Learning Consortium
IMS Global Learning Consortium is a non-profit organization that advances technology to scale and improve educational participation and attainment affordably. IMS members are leading suppliers, higher education institutions, K-12 districts and schools, and government organizations that enable better teaching and learning by collaborating on interoperability and adoption initiatives. IMS sponsors the annual Learning Impact program, which focuses on recognizing the impact of innovative technology on educational access, affordability, and quality while developing the leadership and ideas to help shape the future of educational technology.
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