What information does Empatico collect from me?

Empatico believes in the power of connecting teachers and classrooms around the world to provide rich multicultural learning experiences which promote a deeper cultural understanding amongst students. In facilitating such connection and communication, our users’ privacy is important to us. You can access our full privacy policy by visiting: https://empatico.org/privacy-policy

When you use the Website (other than the Video Feature which allows students to join the video meeting from their own devices), we collect the following types of information:

Information You Provide Us Voluntarily: We ask you to register to create an account on the Website. At that time, we request that you provide the following:

• Your name;
• Your email address;
• Your geolocation (city, state/region, and country) information; and
• Your username and password

To receive email communications from us, you need not register but we do ask that you provide us with your email address.

In order to use Empatico’s services and the Website, you are required to provide us with the following information: preferred activities, time zone, student ages, and classroom languages. We use this information to improve the classroom matching process. As part of the classroom matching process, we may share your name, location, time zone, and classroom languages with other teachers using Empatico’s services and the Website to facilitate matching.

You have the option to fill out a teacher profile in which you can provide additional information including school name, school location, type of school, information about your classroom, class size, languages spoken, school vacations, and subjects taught only for the purposes described in the privacy policy. We will share this information with Teachers with whom you have been matched.

You have the option to provide your phone number so that you can receive text messages and voice calls from us. You can unsubscribe from receiving text messages at any time by texting STOP. Registered users may also be asked to provide their telephone number or a secondary email address when submitting support tickets to our customer support team; such information may allow our customer support team to better resolve service issues.

We collect and use this information only for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

• Information Collected Automatically: We also collect certain technical information automatically when you use the Website. We collect this information in order to provide Website functionality and for our internal analytics only.
• Log Information: We collect server log information when you use the Website, which includes (but is not limited to) the date and time of your visits and/or logins (if registered), the pages viewed, and time spent on the Website. If you use Empatico’s service and the Website, we may also use this information and share it with others on the Website to facilitate classroom matching.
• Device Information: We collect information about the computer or mobile device you use to access the Website, including the hardware model, operating system and version, and the web browser you use.
• Usage Information: We use various technologies, including third-party cookies, to collect additional information about your use of the Website, including the websites you visit before and after visiting the Website, which Website pages you view, which Website features you use and how often, how much time you spend on Website pages or functionalities, and which links on the Website you have clicked on. We collect this information to understand how the Website is working and how to improve it for you. Cookies are small data files placed on your web browser which enable us to collect this information. You can disable cookies to prevent the collection of the above usage information by changing a setting in your web browser. Please note, however, that without cookies aspects of the Website may not function properly.
• Chat Conversations and Video Communications: Please note that any information you disclose or share through chat conversations and video communications with other teachers will be made available to them and, accordingly, you should have no expectation of privacy with respect to any such information. We also retain copies of the chat conversations and video communications between you and other teachers who have registered to use the Website. This processing is performed as part of our legitimate interests and allows us to ensure appropriate usage of our service, including ensuring the safety of participants. We will not share our copies or the contents of these communications with third parties, and, if we use them at all, they will serve only to inform our internal testing and analytics purposes.
• Shared Folders: Any information you share with other teachers through the Shared Folders tool – both file uploads and comments -- will be made available to them and, accordingly, you should have no expectation of privacy with respect to any such information. We also retain copies of the files uploaded and comments shared using that tool. We will not share our copies or the contents of these files or communications with third parties, and, if we use them at all, they will serve only to inform our internal testing and analytics purposes.

When you use the Video Feature that allows students to enter the video meeting from their own devices, we collect the following types of information:

We create and provide the Teacher a meeting link and student passcode used to enter the video call. We do not collect any personal information or records of the students that would enable us to directly contact the student or provide us access to any student records.

We automatically collect, and retain for a limited time period, the IP addresses and certain device information including the hardware model, operating system and version, and the web browser of the students that access the Video Feature (“Device Information”). We collect this Device Information for the sole purpose of investigating any breach of the system and providing support for the internal operations of the Feature and Empatico’s website.

The Video Feature does not enable students to communicate with each other or with the Teachers in any manner other than through video communications. Please note that any information disclosed or shared through conversations during the video communications with other Teachers and students will be transmitted and made available to them and, accordingly, you should have no expectation of privacy with respect to any such information. The chat function of the Video Feature is available for use only by and between Teachers, and students will not have the ability to view or access such chats between Teachers. We do not receive or retain copies of the chat communications between Teachers.

Keywords: student data, privacy, student safety, disclaimer, disclosure