While student privacy is frequently a topic of concern in studies about data-powered technologies in higher education, we still know little about handling student privacy in online proctoring systems (OPS). To better understand the challenges associated with student privacy in higher educational practice, we conducted an interview study examining various stakeholders’ understandings of privacy in OPS. We interviewed ten stakeholders–including teachers, students, and administration staff, such as the head of the department, the head of the IT department, and examination administrators–directly involved in the procurement and use of an online examination platform with proctoring features, in one of the largest universities in Scandinavia, to investigate stakeholders’ privacy perceptions, privacy concerns, privacy awareness, and perceived responsibility regarding the privacy practices of OPS. The findings show the participants perceive privacy in OPS as a seclusive and anonymous state of being, a way to control information, and an individual right. The results also point to stakeholders’ concerns regarding collecting sensitive information about the students, the possibility of information misuse, and improper access to students’ personal information. Furthermore, the study’s results identify trade-offs between the stakeholders’ concerns for privacy and the benefits of using OPS for examinations in higher education. This study underscores the need for higher education institutions to involve students and educators in procuring and deploying OPS and develop strategies for cultivating privacy awareness and responsible privacy practices. Finally, implications for developing responsible digital practices in higher education are discussed.

Applications of learning analytics (LA) can raise concerns from students about their privacy in higher education contexts. Developing effective privacy-enhancing practices requires a systematic understanding of students’ privacy concerns and how they vary across national and cultural dimensions. We conducted a survey study with established instruments to measure privacy concerns and cultural values for university students in five countries (Germany, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the United States; N = 762). The results show that students generally trusted institutions with their data and disclosed information as they perceived the risks to be manageable even though they felt somewhat limited in their ability to control their privacy. Across the five countries, German and Swedish students stood out as the most trusting and least concerned, especially compared to US students who reported greater perceived risk and less control. Students in South Korea and Spain responded similarly on all five privacy dimensions (perceived privacy risk, perceived privacy control, privacy concerns, trusting beliefs, and non-self-disclosure behavior), despite their significant cultural differences. Culture measured at the individual level affected the antecedents and outcomes of privacy concerns. Perceived privacy risk and privacy control increase with power distance. Trusting beliefs increase with a desire for uncertainty avoidance and lower masculinity. Non-self-disclosure behaviors rise with power distance and masculinity and decrease with more uncertainty avoidance. Thus, cultural values related to trust in institutions, social equality and risk-taking should be considered when developing privacy-enhancing practices and policies in higher education.

Digital technologies are increasingly used in assessment. On the one hand, this use offers opportunities for teachers to practice assessment more effectively, and on the other hand, it brings challenges to the design of pedagogically sound and responsible digital assessment. There is a lack of validated instruments and models that explain, assess and support teachers' critical pedagogical practice of digital assessment. This explorative work first develops and validates a survey instrument to examine teachers' digital assessment practices. Secondly, we build a model to investigate to what extent teachers' pedagogical digital assessment knowledge is a foundation for the future of digital assessment (ie, authentic, accessible, automated, continuous and responsible). A total of 219 university teachers at a large European university participated in the survey study. Factor exploratory analysis and structural equation modelling were used to validate the reliability and validity of items and internal causal relations of factors. The results show the survey is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing teachers' digital assessment practice in higher education. Teachers' pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of digital assessment is critical, while teachers' technological pedagogical knowledge seems to have a more limited impact on the future of digital assessment.Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Digital technologies are increasingly used in assessment in higher education. Teachers are the key stakeholders in the assessment for learning. There is a limited transformative nature of digital assessment practices. What this paper adds A validated instrument to assess teachers' pedagogical practice of digital assessment in higher education. Teachers' pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge of digital assessment is critical to the future of digital assessment. Teachers' technological pedagogical knowledge of digital assessment has a more limited impact on the future of digital assessment. Implications for practice and policy Teachers need to be supported in developing pedagogical digital assessment practices in higher education. Based on this study's outcomes, educators, institutions and policymakers can inform the design and implementation of effective and responsible digital assessment practices. The design and implementation of responsible digital assessments will enhance the quality of higher education in the digital age.

Privacy is one of the key challenges to the adoption and implementation of online proctoring systems (OPS) in higher education. To better understand this challenge, we adopt privacy as contextual integrity theory to conduct a scoping review of 17 papers. The results show different types of students’ personal and sensitive information are collected and disseminated; this raises considerable privacy concerns. As well as the governing principles including transparency and fairness, consent and choice, information minimization, accountability, and information security and accuracy have been identified to address privacy problems. This study notifies a need to clarify how these principles should be implemented and sustained, and what privacy concerns and actors they relate to. Further, it calls for the need to clarify the responsibility of key actors in enacting and sustaining responsible adoption and use of OPS in higher education.

The protection of students’ privacy in learning analytics (LA) applications is critical for cultivating trust and effective implementations of LA in educational environments around the world. However, students’ privacy concerns and how they may vary along demographic dimensions that historically influence these concerns have yet to be studied in higher education. Gender differences, in particular, are known to be associated with people's information privacy concerns, including in educational settings. Building on an empirically validated model and survey instrument for student privacy concerns, their antecedents and their behavioral outcomes, we investigate the presence of gender differences in students’ privacy concerns about LA. We conducted a survey study of students in higher education across five countries (N = 762): Germany, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United States. Using multiple regression analysis, across all five countries, we find that female students have stronger trusting beliefs and they are more inclined to engage in self-disclosure behaviors compared to male students. However, at the country level, these gender differences are significant only in the German sample, for Bachelor's degree students, and for students between the ages of 18 and 24. Thus, national context, degree program, and age are important moderating factors for gender differences in student privacy concerns.

Protection of student privacy is critical for scaling up the use of learning analytics (LA) in education. Poorly implemented frameworks for privacy protection may negatively impact LA outcomes and undermine trust in the discipline. To design and implement models and tools for privacy protection, we need to understand privacy itself. To develop better understanding and build ground for developing tools and models for privacy protection, this paper examines how privacy hitherto has been defined by LA scholars, and how those definitions relate to the established approaches to define privacy. We conducted a scoping review of 59 articles focused on privacy in LA. In most of these studies (74%), privacy was not defined at all; 6% defined privacy as a right, 11% as a state, 15% as control, and 16% used other approaches to explain privacy in LA. The results suggest a need to define privacy in LA to be able to enact a responsible approach to the use of student data for analysis and decision-making.

Understanding students' privacy concerns is an essential first step toward effective privacy-enhancing practices in learning analytics (LA). In this study, we develop and validate a model to explore the students' privacy concerns (SPICE) regarding LA practice in higher education. The SPICE model considers privacy concerns as a central construct between two antecedents—perceived privacy risk and perceived privacy control, and two outcomes—trusting beliefs and non-self-disclosure behaviours. To validate the model, data through an online survey were collected, and 132 students from three Swedish universities participated in the study. Partial least square results show that the model accounts for high variance in privacy concerns, trusting beliefs, and non-self-disclosure behaviours. They also illustrate that students' perceived privacy risk is a firm predictor of their privacy concerns. The students' privacy concerns and perceived privacy risk were found to affect their non-self-disclosure behaviours. Finally, the results show that the students' perceptions of privacy control and privacy risks determine their trusting beliefs. The study results contribute to understand the relationships between students' privacy concerns, trust and non-self-disclosure behaviours in the LA context. A set of relevant implications for LA systems' design and privacy-enhancing practices' development in higher education is offered.