Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

FERPA

FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, protects the privacy of student educational records.

FERPA gives students the right to:

  • Review their educational records.
  • Request amendment to records they believe to be inaccurate.
  • Limit disclosure from those records.

An institution’s failure to comply with FERPA could result in the withdrawal of federal funds by the Department of Education. In order to ensure compliance with FERPA, UCF offers a FERPA training course (SR100W) which is required for all faculty and staff. If you have not yet completed this course, information to register for this course can be found at the Registrar's Office Training webpage.

Whether you are delivering a face-to-face or an online or blended course, make sure that you understand the difference between directory information and personally identifiable information. The UCF Registrar's FERPA Reference Sheet for Faculty is a helpful reference that identifies these types of information. 

Strategies FERPA Do's and Don'ts

Review the list below of FERPA do's and don'ts specific to facilitating a digital learning course.

✓Do

  • Post grade information and feedback for students in your <Replace -  Course LMS> gradebook.
  • Put all e-mail addresses in the blind carbon copy (BCC) box when emailing a group of students outside of <Replace -  Course LMS>.
  • Request to have teaching assistants enrolled by your department scheduler to ensure no unauthorized instructors have access to student grades or other FERPA-protected information.
  • If you choose to use third-party technology tools (e.g., blogs, wikis) include a FERPA statement in your syllabus reminding students not to include any personally identifying information on the public website. 

×Don't

  • Do not e-mail or share student identification numbers (UCFID) as this is personally identifiable information.
  • Do not email students outside of <Replace -  Course LMS> with grade information or other personally identifiable information.
  • Do not post grade information in areas of <Replace -  Course LMS> where all students in the course may see the grade, such as replying to a public discussion post with grade information.
  • Do not display your course grade book or discuss grades during a video conferencing meeting that more than one student may attend.

Teaching Online Strategies

Review the Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository FERPA statement entry entry to see examples of including a in your course syllabus.