FERPA is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. It protects the privacy of student educational records. When assigning digital class assignments that include blogging or the use of some social media platforms, it is important to remain within FERPA. Assignments should not reveal personal or identifiable educational records without student consent. Students should be informed about assignments that will require them to post to publicly accessible blogs or social media platforms like Twitter. They should be given the option of using an alias or pseudonym that is identifiable to the faculty member grading the assignment. Students should be reminded to never post personal identifiable information such as social security numbers, addresses or phone numbers. In rare cases where some students may have additional privacy concerns, they should be given the option to fulfill class requirements with another assignment.
Resources for assignments that consider FERPA: