Privacy Policy

Effective Day: May 19, 2020

iED and each Member that provides courses through the Academy Platform care about the confidentiality and security of your information. This Privacy Policy applies to information that Academy collects through the Academy Platform when you interact with Academy, with Members, with other users, and generally with the Academy Platform. Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (iED) as the sole controller of data process in Academy implements the appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure conformity with Regulation (EU) 2016/679.

Academy is solely and independently responsible for its own privacy practices. No Member is responsible for Academy’s privacy practices.

sign up for an Academy user account and create an Academy user profile;
enroll and participate in online courses;
purchase a product or service (for example, Verified Certificates);
send email messages to Academy (including messages to learner support);
participate in user surveys; and
participate in public forums, webinars, and other interactive experiences on the Academy Platform.

Academy also indirectly collects usage information about your visit to the Academy Platform, as explained in the section below titled Cookies and Tracking Technologies.

Academy does not itself collect or store financial account numbers or identification issued by a governmental entity, employer, or other authority. Instead, if you choose to make a purchase on the Academy Platform, for example a Verified Certificate, you will be directed to Academy’s third-party payment processor and Academy’s third-party ID verification service provider. If you do not wish to submit the required authentication or payment information, then you will not be able to obtain a certificate via the Academy Platform.

sign up for an Academy user account (name, username, email address);
purchase a Verified Certificate (so that Academy’s third-party vendor can authenticate your identity) or other product or service (so that Academy’s third-party vendor can process payment);
participate in remote proctoring or other course facilitation processes (so that Academy’s third-party vendor can monitor and assess the integrity of your course activity); or
earn a Verified Certificate (the certificate will have your name on it).

You may voluntarily choose to share additional Personal Information on the Academy Platform, for example:

in your Academy account profile (and you may display a limited or full profile to other Academy Platform users);
in applying for financial assistance; or
when participating in a course, forum, webinar, or other interactive experience on the Academy Platform (noting that in some cases, this information is shared with a third party that provides tools or other assistance for the Academy Platform or a course).

based on your cookie settings, Academy tracks information indicating, among other things, which pages of the Academy Platform were visited, the order in which they were visited, when they were visited, and which hyperlinks and other user interface controls were used;
Academy may log the IP address, operating system, and browser software (including mobile use and device type when you use Academy native mobile apps) you used when accessing the Academy Platform, and Academy may be able to determine from an IP address your Internet Service Provider and the geographic location of your point of connectivity; and
Academy may track and collect information from emails that Academy sends to you, for example whether you opened the email or clicked on any links from the email.

Academy also partners with third parties to help us track and understand your activity on the Academy Platform, how you interact with Academy’s social media, and how you find or may be referred to the Academy Platform. Individual Members may separately use Tracking Technologies within their courses and email communications to understand your activity within a course and how you find or may be referred to a course on the Academy Platform.

Academy and Members use Cookies and other Tracking Technologies for the following purposes:

when necessary for system administration, security, and integrity to ensure the Academy Platform works properly for you. Without these technologies, the Academy Platform may not function correctly;
to enable analytics, performance and functionality, to help Academy and Members gather information about how visitors use the Academy Platform and monitor Academy Platform performance, and to enhance your experience by recognizing and remembering whether you have visited the Academy Platform before and may have any personal preferences; and

to support marketing by enabling Academy and Members to deliver content relevant to your interests on the Academy Platform and third-party sites based on how you interact with Academy or Member advertisements or content. Academy and Members use “first-party” cookies, which means cookies served by Academy or an individual Member, and also “third-party” cookies, which means cookies served by third parties that help Academy and Members track this information.

You have some options for managing Cookies and other Tracking Technologies. These include:

Modifying your browser settings: You should be able to control how and whether your web browser accepts Cookies by adjusting its privacy and security settings. The “help” feature of the menu bar on most browsers will tell you how to stop accepting new Cookies, how to receive notification of new Cookies, and how to disable existing Cookies. If you reject Academy’s Cookies, many functions and conveniences of the Academy Site may not work properly.
Opting-out of certain third-party tracking and advertising: Some of the third parties used by Academy or a Member for Cookies and Tracking Technologies offer the ability to opt-out from their tracking by following processes described on their websites. A list of some such third parties is maintained and available at the Academy learner Help Center and includes, for some, links to applicable opt-out processes. Neither Academy nor any Member is responsible for the effectiveness of any third-party opt-out options.

Academy and Members use information, including Personal Information, to carry out the following purposes:

Operate and improve the Academy Platform – This includes creating and improving features that support the Academy community and enable Academy Platform usage at scale. This also includes personalizing the Academy Platform, so your learning experience is tailored to your interests and needs.
Create, administer, provide, and teach courses – This includes creating and improving the delivery of massive open online courses and programs on Academy. This also includes personalizing courses, so your learning experience is tailored to your interests and needs, and assessing your performance and awarding certificates.
Offer and improve products and services – This includes enabling you to navigate the Academy Platform, to enroll and participate in courses and programs on the Academy Platform, to learn effectively in such courses and programs, and to purchase or obtain products and services on the Academy Platform such as Verified Certificates.
Develop and maintain the security and performance of the Academy Platform – This includes tracking Academy Platform outages and creating software solutions, detecting violations of the Honor Code and Terms of Service, and monitoring uses, misuses, and potential misuses of the Academy Platform.
Communicate with you – This includes answering your course and platform questions, notifying you of course and Academy Platform maintenance and updates, marketing to you about course offerings, programs, news, and related products and services of Academy or Academy affiliates, and as permitted under applicable law, sending you communications about products or services of selected business partners that may be of interest to you.
Support scientific research including, for example, in the areas of cognitive science and education – This includes collaborating to enable and conduct research about how learners access and master course materials online, with the goal of improving course outcomes.
Track Academy Platform usage against goals and mission – This includes performing analytics to evaluate access to and performance in courses and course-related products and services and to report aggregate usage information (not Personal Information) to business partners and external audiences.
Exercise, enforce, and comply with legal rights and obligations – This includes responding to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process; and investigating, preventing, or taking action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, security or technical issues, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Academy, Members, or others, and as otherwise required by applicable law.
Academy or a Member may also seek your consent for additional uses of information, including Personal Information, and will use it only for the purpose described to you. All use of Personal Information is subject to applicable law.

Academy and Members share information, including Personal Information, with third parties for the following purposes:

With service providers, contractors, and other third parties that help carry out the uses described above – Academy requires third parties to: (1) abide by this Privacy Policy and applicable law; (2) handle Personal Information in a confidential manner and maintain adequate security; and (3) use Personal Information only as needed to fulfill the relevant purpose(s). In some cases, the Academy Platform and individual courses are integrated with third-party services or contain links to websites published by third parties, including other content providers as well as service providers. These third parties are responsible for their own privacy practices, so you should pay attention anytime you are redirected to a third-party website and be sure to review its privacy policy.
With other learners in courses that you take and with other visitors to the Academy Platform, to create an interactive learning environment, support class participation, and share course information – This includes sharing comments, coursework, or other information or content that you submit to a portion of the Academy Platform designed for viewing by other class members or for public communication. This also includes providing opportunities for you to communicate with other users who may have similar interests or educational goals, for instance, recommending specific study partners or connecting potential student mentees and mentors. In such cases, Academy and each Member that offers a course in which you enrolled may use all information collected about you to determine who might be interested in communicating with you, but will only provide others your username (for clarity, no disclosure of your real name or email address).
With employers, government programs, institutions, or other enterprises that sponsor your enrollment in a course for training or other educational purposes – If an entity pays for or otherwise sponsors your Verified Certificate or course participation, Academy will share information with the entity as needed to confirm your enrollment, participation, progress, and completion status in that course.
With affiliates of Academy or a Member, or with successors in the event of a merger, acquisition, or reorganization, for their use consistent with this Privacy Policy.
Academy or a Member may also seek your consent for additional disclosures of information, including Personal Information, and will share it only as described to you. In addition, Academy or a Member may share with the public and with third parties, including but not limited to researchers and business partners, information and Personal Information that is de-identified or aggregated in a manner that does not personally identify you.

You can manage your Personal Information through learner features on the Academy Platform and requests to the Academy learner support team. If your request involves information controlled by a Member, Academy learner support will notify and coordinate with the appropriate Member to address your request. Academy will provide support to the extent required by applicable law (for example, learners in the European Union) and more broadly when possible, as a courtesy in our sole discretion. Academy will notify you in the event that Academy is unable to meet a request that is not legally required. Similarly, Members will only be obligated to comply with requests to the extent legally required, but may choose to comply with other requests in their sole discretion.

Access and correct your Personal Information

Much of your Personal Information is available in your Academy account. Your name, email address, and other identifiable profile information is editable through the profile settings in your Academy account except as noted below. Your account dashboard lists all current and archived courses in which you have enrolled and includes links to any Verified Certificates you may have earned. The dashboard also contains copies of your answers and other participation and performance in courses. Please contact Academy learner support to access and update this or other information. If your request involves information controlled by a Member, Academy learner support will notify the appropriate Member of your request.

Exceptions:

Usernames cannot ever be changed. This is an Academy system restriction. Because usernames identify you in courses and elsewhere on the Academy Platform, Academy encourages you to use discretion in choosing your username.

Academy does not track or index every time or every place on the Academy Platform when or where a learner may volunteer Personal Information, so neither Academy nor Members will be able to help you locate or manage all such instances. Academy encourages you to use discretion before volunteering Personal Information on the Academy Platform.

Restrict or object to the processing of Personal Information
If you want to manage emails and other communications to you, you may update your preferences in your Academy account dashboard, follow the steps described in links at the bottom of email messages, or contact Academy learner support. You may object to, or request that Academy or a Member stop, its use of your Personal Information for other purposes by contacting the Academy learner support team. If your request involves information controlled by a Member, Academy learner support will notify the appropriate Member of your request. Please note that if you choose to restrict Academy’s or a Member’s ability to process Personal Information, and the processing is otherwise required to provide you with various services and products offered on the Academy Platform, you may not be able to establish an Academy user account or enroll for a course, and Academy or a Member may not be able to provide you with those services or products.

Delete account and Personal Information
To request deletion of your Academy account and Personal Information, you should click the button labeled “Delete my account” in your Academy account settings. Because deletion on the Academy system is a permanent action and cannot be reversed, Academy may ask you to complete a process that aims to confirm your authority to manage the Academy account affected by your request.

With respect to your Academy account, Academy will permanently:

deactivate your Academy account,
remove the active profile,
retire your username, and

remove you from Academy email lists.

With respect to your Personal Information, Academy will permanently delete your Academy account profile Personal Information from the Academy Platform.
As noted above, to the extent that Academy associates the information that Academy collects directly or indirectly with an individual (for example, you), the association is based on Personal Information in your Academy account profile. By erasing the Personal Information in your Academy account profile, the remaining information about your activity on the Academy Platform will no longer be associated with you, except as noted below.
These changes will be applied to data stores that are used for operation of the Academy Platform including course administration by Members. If you enrolled in any courses on the Academy Platform, the Academy learner support team will share your request with the Members that offered those courses.
Exceptions:

Deletion will not apply to historical activity logs or archives unless and until these logs and data naturally “age-off” the Academy system.
Academy does not track or index every time or every place on the Academy Platform when or where a learner may volunteer Personal Information, so neither Academy nor Members will be able to help you locate or manage all such instances. Academy encourages you to use discretion before voluntarily sharing your Personal Information on the Academy Platform.
Academy will archive course data (in a manner and to the extent permitted under applicable law) to serve its mission to enable scientific research on cognitive science and education. These archives are used to produce encrypted research data packages for Members, and Personal Information may not be deleted from research data packages retained by Members.
Academy and each applicable Member cannot always delete records of past interactions and transactions. For example, records relating to previous purchases on the Academy Platform must be retained for financial reporting, audit, and compliance reasons.
Academy and each Member will retain and use Personal Information as necessary to comply with its legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce its agreements, and as otherwise permitted by applicable law.
Data retention
Academy will retain your Personal Information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with services; to maintain a record of your transactions for financial reporting, audit, and compliance purposes; and to comply with Academy’s legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce its agreements, and as otherwise permitted by applicable law. If you enroll in a Member’s course, such Member will also retain your Personal Information for as long as needed to provide you with services; to maintain a record of your transactions for financial reporting, audit, and compliance purposes; and to comply with its legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce its agreements, and as otherwise permitted by applicable law. Upon your request that Academy deactivate your account and delete your information, Academy will follow the process described above, including without limitation archiving your course data (in a manner and to the extent permitted under applicable law) to serve its mission to enable scientific research on cognitive science and education. These archives will be used to produce encrypted research data packages for Members, and each such Member may also keep and use course data for scientific research.

Academy stores information, including Personal Information, on its own servers and also on servers of companies that Academy hires to provide services. Each Member also stores information, including Personal Information, on its own servers and/or on servers of companies that the Member hires to provide services. In each case, information may be stored in Germany and in other countries where Academy or a Member operates, and in countries where Academy and each Member’s respective service providers operate. If you are in the European Union, Switzerland, or other regions with laws governing data collection and use, you acknowledge that Academy and each Member may transfer, process and store your personal information in Germany and other countries, the privacy laws of which may be considered less strict than those of your region.

Academy controls its own copy of information collected through the Academy Platform and has an information security program designed to protect information in its possession or control. This is done through a variety of privacy and security policies, processes, and procedures. Academy uses administrative, physical, and technical safeguards that reasonably and appropriately protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the information that it collects, receives, stores, or transmits. Nonetheless, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure; and therefore, Academy cannot guarantee its absolute security. While Academy works hard to ensure the integrity and security of its network and systems, Academy cannot guarantee that its security measures will prevent “hackers” or other unauthorized persons from illegally accessing or obtaining information.

If Academy learns of a security breach involving its copy of your Personal Information, Academy may attempt to notify you electronically so that you may take appropriate protective steps. By using the Academy Platform or providing Personal Information to Academy, you agree that Academy can communicate with you electronically regarding security, privacy, and administrative issues relating to your use of the Academy Platform. If a security systems breach occurs, Academy may post a notice on the Academy homepage (www.Academy.org) or elsewhere on the Academy Platform and may send an email to you at the email address associated with your Academy account. Depending on where you are located, you may have a legal right to receive notice of a security breach, involving your Personal Information, in writing.

If a Member learns of a security breach involving that Member’s copy of your Personal Information, the Member may attempt to notify you electronically so that you may take appropriate protective steps. By enrolling in a Member’s course on the Academy Platform or providing Personal Information to the Member, you agree that the Member can communicate with you electronically regarding security, privacy, and administrative issues relating to your course enrollment and participation. If a security systems breach occurs, the affected Member may post a notice on the Academy Platform and/or send an email to you at the email address associated with your enrollment in the Member’s course on the Academy Platform. Depending on where you are located, you may have a legal right to receive notice of a security breach, involving your Personal Information, in writing.

This Privacy Policy will be reviewed and updated from time to time. When changes are made, the Privacy Policy will be labeled as “Revised (date),” indicating that you should review the new terms, which will be effective immediately upon posting on this page, with an updated effective date. By accessing the Academy Platform after any changes have been made, you accept the modified Privacy Policy and any changes contained therein. In case you miss the notification referenced above, be sure to return to this page periodically to ensure familiarity with the most current version of this Privacy Policy.

Cookies are unique identifiers usually in the form of small data files placed on your device that send certain information about your activity on the Academy Platform or in an email communication back to Academy or the authorized third party that served the cookie. Academy or third parties may also use Flash cookies.

Academy Platform consists of all content and pages located within the Academy.ied.eu web domain and all Academy mobile applications.

Member is each educational institution or other leading global institution or entity that provides courses through the Academy Platform.

Personal Information is information that specifically identifies you or that, when combined with other information, could be used to identify you.

Tracking Technologies are web beacons, clear gifs, pixels, and similar technologies that are also unique identifiers used to track your online activity but are not stored on your device.

Verified Certificate is a virtual certificate that shows that you have successfully completed your Academy course or program and verified your identity using your webcam and your acceptable form of photo ID.

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Privacy Policy

INFORMATION THAT ACADEMY COLLECTS FROM YOU (INCLUDING PERSONAL INFORMATION)

COOKIES AND TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES ON THE ACADEMY PLATFORM

HOW YOUR INFORMATION IS USED

HOW YOUR INFORMATION IS SHARED

HOW TO MANAGE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

STORAGE & SECURITY

PRIVACY POLICY UPDATES

CONTACT INFORMATION

GLOSSARY

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