Installing the LearnPlatform by Instructure Browser Extension

What is the LearnPlatform browser extension?

Designed to give K-12 leaders insights into student edtech access, the LearnPlatform browser extension allows administrators to know what edtech products are being used in their organization. The extension collects information about domains associated with apps or sites in the LearnPlatform product library. The information collected via the browser extension is never used to identify any specific student; rather it provides data to help schools and districts understand and improve how technology supports teaching and learning.

The extension is not designed or intended for individual student use and should only be installed as part of a school or district initiative.

When the LearnPlatform browser extension is installed on a user's browser and that user visits a site that is included in our product library, the extension activates and captures information. The LearnPlatform icon changes from gray (inactive) to colored (active). When the extension is activated, general usage information is collected. This information can include a school-provided user ID, the time of day, and information about the domain and web site.

LearnPlatform is compliant with all federal and state student data privacy and confidentiality laws. Instructure is also a signatory of the Student Data Privacy Pledge. Access to reports, dashboards, and insights is secure and verified, and uses industry leading encryption and protection methods to defend against any malicious activities across the organization.

For more information about the privacy and security practices related to the browser extension and LearnPlatform, please visit our Privacy Center.

Reach out to support for the browser installation guide at support-lp@instructure.com

What is the difference between the Educator and the Student extension?

There are two LearnPlatform browser extensions; one for educators and another for students. These are simply used to identify whether the incoming usage data should be attributed to an educator or student user since the Inventory Dashboard can aggregate usage data based on user The user data collected and presented in the platform varies

The data collected by LearnPlatform browser extensions is gather only from edtech products found in the LearnPlatform community library. Data from products outside of the LearnPlatform Library is ignored.

How do I install the LearnPlatform browser extension?

Reach out to support for the browser installation guide at support-lp@instructure.com

How do I make sure my LearnPlatform browser extension is pulling data?

To ensure that your LearnPlatform browser extension is pulling data for all your students or educators, please make sure that:

  • Students and educators are logged into their institution’s Google account while using the Chrome browser
  • Students and educators are accessing products via Chrome as a browser
  • Your organization's student and faculty/staff domains are included in our system for your usage to match your organization. If you have not done so already, send your faculty/staff domains to the LearnPlatform team via support-lp@instructure.com to be added.
  • The browser extension is lit up, as opposed to greyed out, when accessing an educational product (below)

For additional information about troubleshooting your browser extensions see Troubleshooting my LearnPlatform browser extension.

What user data will be collected and transmitted by the LearnPlatform browser extensions?

For educators:

A GSuite identifier, typically an active email address (utilized only on the backend of the platform) and a notification of point of access for published edtech products. If an educator roster list is provided by the client, a name will also be visible in the Educator Usage Details table of the Inventory Dashboard.

If you have provided a roster, but you don’t want the names to be visible in the Inventory Dashboard, navigate to Settings > Account Settings > Access Controls > Educator Usage Details > select ‘Yes’. This can be especially useful when you want to share the dashboard with external partners, but don’t want to provide them to view educator names.

For students:

A GSuite identifier, typically an active email address (utilized only on the backend of the platform) and a notification of point of access for published edtech products. All student data is aggregated at the school or district level and is not currently available by name, class, course, etc. 

No PII is shared in the Inventory Dashboard.

Is the data collected for Educators, Staff or Students?

The customer decides which organizational units (OUs) are connected to the browser extensions. The Extensions can be installed for educators and/or staff (using the educator extension) or students (using the student extension).

Is data transmitted from the customer to LearnPlatform?

Data is transmitted through organization-level GSuite educators/students who are authenticated with their credentials and are utilizing a Chrome browser on any non-mobile device.

Is the data stored by LearnPlatform?

Please refer to our data sharing agreement (attached).

How is the data used?

Please refer to our data sharing agreement (attached).