I. General Policy Statement

Thank you for visiting the LAAPlatform website and reviewing our Privacy Policy. Our privacy policy is simple and straightforward: we do not provide, share, sell, or transfer any personal information to a third party.

In order to provide our educational services, we must collect certain information from faculty and students. Access to this information is restricted to educational use by faculty and students in accordance with existing legal statutes governing online information and grade privacy restrictions. Please review the website and software policies below to acquire a complete understanding of how LAAPlatform uses information.

II. Website Policy Statement

Personal Information

We collect no personal information about you unless you select to provide that information to us. Some of our web pages allow users to voluntarily submit personal information about themselves. In those cases, the purpose for collecting information is indicated on the requesting page.

Please note that we are not responsible for safeguarding any personal information that you choose to disclose on any LAAPlatform message boards or chat sessions. That information may be collected and used by third parties without our knowledge and may result in unsolicited communications from third parties. Such activities are beyond our control. Likewise, visiting external links from our site is at your own discretion. We do not validate the accuracy of information posted on sites you visit or control usage of information that you automatically initiate while on other servers.

Information Collected from Interactive Forms

Some of our web pages may offer interactive forms that let you voluntarily submit personal information (such as your email address, name, address, et cetera). These forms are for the purpose of gathering information from those who are interested in receiving information about or applying to participate in our programs. In those cases, all submitted information is used only for the expressed purposes for which it is intended and is not made available to any third party.

Non-personal Information

LAAPlatform gathers non-personal information collectively about all website visitors, including which sites users access more frequently and what services users most often request. LAAPlatform servers also automatically log IP addresses, session sources, and other data which track users’ access to our web resources. We periodically analyze these logs for purposes of system performance, load monitoring, and to determine aggregate trends of website use. This information is used by LAAPlatform for internal purposes only and is not shared with third parties except in an aggregate reporting context to external funding agencies for support of LAAPlatform projects.

Information from E-mail You Send to Us

If you decide to send us an email, the message will usually contain your return e-mail address. If you include identifying information in your email because you want us to address issues specific to your situation, we may use that information in responding to your request. In other limited circumstances, including requests from Congress, government funding sources or limited other parties, we may be required by law to disclose information that you submit. Also, email is not necessarily secure against interception. Please send only information necessary to help us process your request.

Information Collected from “Cookies”

The LAAPlatform website does not make use of cookies.

III. LAAPhysics Online Software Policy Statement

Mission Statement

LAAPhysics is dedicated to the goal of delivering to students and faculty an open-ended laboratory physics learning environment that is pedagogically sound, student-centered, secure, and easily manageable. Toward that end, we are committed to ensuring student and faculty privacy in the use of all LAAPhysics software products. All LAAPhysics accounts are password protected and stored on secure servers. Access to the LAAPhysics servers or databases is limited to authorized personnel only.

Information Collected from “Cookies”

LAAPhysics employs ‘cookies’ in a very limited fashion and only for the convenience of the user. A cookie is a small data file created by your web browser and located on your hard drive. Typically, a cookie contains information such as a user ID. The only personal information a cookie can contain is information that you supply. Cookies cannot read data off your hard drive nor read cookie files created by others. LAAPhysics uses cookies only to store login information (username and password) on your computer to facilitate your login process.

The LAAPhysics Tutoring System

LAAPhysics is an online physics tutorial system that is currently being made available to faculty and instructors through a project funded by the U.S. Department of Education. To obtain a faculty account, instructors complete and submit an online application form, information from which is entered into our LAAPhysics database. If the application is approved, the instructor is notified via an automated email, which contains the instructor’s username and password.

Once a faculty account is obtained, instructors set up their LAAPhysics ‘course.’ The database automatically assigns a unique ‘course code number’ to the course. The instructor provides this course code to each student who will be registering to use LAAPhysics in that course. To obtain a LAAPhysics account, students must complete an online application using this course code. Students provide their name and address, username (email address) and password in the application. When the student logs in to LAAPhysics, the server uses the login information to determine which module to serve and where. Students begin LAAPhysics in the Pre-test module. Results of this test are not made available to students but are stored in the database to be compared with post-test results at the end of the LAAPhysics ‘course.’ Data from the pre- and post-tests are used in aggregate form only and for purposes of determining the effectiveness of LAAPhysics modules in enhancing student learning of physics.

The use of LAAPhysics student response data is up to the discretion of the instructor in the same manner that instructor discretion governs on-site coursework. LAAPhysics is not responsible for safeguarding student information that is under the control of the instructor nor can we monitor instructor use of student data.

LAAPhysics reserves the right to access student data for purposes of administering the program including software maintenance, backups, technical support, product improvement and expansion, and content development. LAAPhysics may use student data in the aggregate for purposes of identifying demographic populations, assessing the program’s effectiveness, or generating market information about LAAPhysics. In any case, the data will never identify a specific student, faculty member, or institution except as required by law.

In no event will LAAPhysics violate the federal privacy rights of students as established by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) at 20 U.S.C. 1232g and 34 C.F.R. part 99, nor the Children's Online Privacy Act of 1998 .

Questions and Comments

If you have any questions or comments regarding our privacy statements, please contact us at:

Fax: 336-334-3755

U.S. Mail:

LAAPhysics / EPC
Dr. Jerry Meisner or Dr. Harol Hoffman
217 Petty Science Building
UNC Greensboro
Greensboro , NC 27402-6170

Email: hh at curie.uncg.edu

Email: jm at curie.uncg.edu