COI Online Safety, Privacy & Digital Citizenship 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which federal law protects the privacy of student education records and gives parents the right to access those records?
- COPPA
- FERPA (Correct answer)
- HIPAA
- CIPA
Correct answer: FERPA
FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) is the federal law that specifically protects the privacy of student education records and grants parents the right to access and amend them.
Question 2: Under COPPA, what is the minimum age below which websites must obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from children?
- 13 (Correct answer)
- 16
- 18
- 12
Correct answer: 13
COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) requires websites to obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13.
Question 3: Under FERPA, at what age do the privacy rights over a student's education records transfer from parents to the student?
- 16
- 17
- 18 (Correct answer)
- 21
Correct answer: 18
Under FERPA, when a student turns 18 or attends a postsecondary institution, the rights over education records transfer from parents to the student.
Question 4: What term describes the trail of data that students leave behind when using online platforms, including posts, searches, and interactions?
- Digital divide
- Digital footprint (Correct answer)
- Digital literacy
- Digital citizenship
Correct answer: Digital footprint
A digital footprint is the record of an individual's online activity and data traces left behind from internet use.
Question 5: An online instructor receives a suspicious email appearing to be from the school's IT department asking for student login credentials. This is MOST likely an example of which cyber threat?
- Malware
- Phishing (Correct answer)
- Ransomware
- Spyware
Correct answer: Phishing
Phishing is a cybercrime where attackers disguise themselves as trustworthy entities to steal sensitive information such as login credentials.
Question 6: Which of the following is the BEST practice for creating secure passwords for educational platforms?
- Using the student's name and birth year
- Using a simple memorable word
- Using a combination of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols (Correct answer)
- Reusing the same password across all educational platforms
Correct answer: Using a combination of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols
Strong passwords that combine uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special symbols are significantly harder for attackers to guess or crack.
Question 7: An online instructor discovers that student data may have been compromised in a security breach. What is the FIRST action they should take?
- Delete all student data immediately
- Notify the institution's IT department and administration (Correct answer)
- Change all student passwords without notifying anyone
- Continue teaching and address the issue after class
Correct answer: Notify the institution's IT department and administration
The first step in a data breach response is to notify appropriate institutional personnel (IT and administration) so that proper security protocols and legal obligations can be followed.
COI Online Safety, Privacy & Digital Citizenship 1
Which federal law protects the privacy of student education records and gives parents the right to access those records?