OER PROJECT PRIVACY POLICY
Effective Date: July 9, 2025
ABOUT OER PROJECT
The OER Project is operated as a non-commercial venture by Big History Project, LLC (referred to herein as “OER Project,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) for the purpose of offering a family of free, online courses for teachers to use with their students on behalf of their associated Schools. Our course materials, including the Big History Project, Climate Project, and World History Project social studies courses, related teaching resources accessible to participating Schools at http://www.oerproject.com, http://whp.oerproject.com, and any mobile applications, other channels or mobile feature that we operate constitute our “Site”. All course material, teaching resources and supporting services available on the Site (the “Services”) are designed to be used by participating schools, school districts, and related entities and organizations, including but not limited to school personnel, such as classroom teachers or administrators, who access the Services individually or on behalf of their school (each a “School”).
This Privacy Policy describes the privacy practices we follow when collecting and using information about you, a visitor or registered user (“you” or “your”) on the Site. We ask that you please read it carefully before using or registering for an account on the Site. When you access or register for an account on the Site, certain information, including personal information, may be collected, transferred, processed, stored, and in certain circumstances, shared with others as described in this Privacy Policy. We understand that online privacy is important and are committed to protecting, and to helping Schools protect, the privacy of their Student Users.
Capitalized terms used but not defined in this Privacy Policy have the definitions provided in the Terms of Use. Parts of the Terms of Use affect this Privacy Policy, so unless you have already done so, please be sure that you also review the Terms of Use prior to beginning your use of the Site, Services or instructing others to use them.
IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THE PRIVACY PRACTICES STATED IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY, PLEASE DO NOT USE, OR REGISTER FOR AN ACCOUNT ON, THE SITE. IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE OR REGISTER FOR AN ACCOUNT ON, OR DIRECT OTHERS TO USE THIS SITE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE OUR INFORMATION HANDLING PRACTICES AS DESCRIBED IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY.
IF YOU ARE A SCHOOL OR TEACHER USER, PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL USE OF THE SITE OR THE SERVICES BY YOUR STUDENT USERS MUST BE FOR SCHOOL PURPOSES ONLY AND AS DIRECTED BY YOU. BEFORE INVITING STUDENTS TO USE, THE SITE, PLEASE BE AWARE THAT YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVIDING ANY NECESSARY NOTICES TO PARENTS AND OBTAINING AND MAINTAINING ALL REQUIRED CONSENTS TO OUR COLLECTION AND USE OF INFORMATION PERTAINING TO STUDENT USERS, INCLUDING STUDENT USERS WHO ARE UNDER THE AGE OF 13.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Our Collection and Use of Information.
3. Your Choices About Your Information.
4. How We Store and Protect Your Information.
5. Our Information Sharing Practices.
9. Changes to this Privacy Policy.
10. Privacy Questions.
1. OUR COLLECTION AND USE OF INFORMATION
We collect the following information, including personal information, from users of the Site, which is used to enable, support and improve the Services we provide.
Schools: When a School’s teacher, administrator or other personnel (“School Personnel”) communicates an interest in using the Services as part of the School’s educational curriculum for its students, we gather information about the School, such as its name, school district, the city and state in which it is located, the name and email address of the School Personnel contacting us on the School’s behalf, and any message content, or other information provided about how the School intends to use our Services to educate its students. We collect and retain information about each School’s use of the Site and Services, such as the content of any messages, feedback or information posted by classroom teachers at participating Schools acting on behalf of, and as directed by, their affiliated School (“Teacher Users”) Teacher Users (defined below). We use this information to help us operate, manage, and improve the Site and Services. We may combine the information we collect from Schools and their associated School Personnel, including Teacher Users, with demographic data available from sources such as greatschools.org. This information is used to facilitate academic research pertaining to the Site and Services.
Teacher Users: Teacher User accounts are the primary means by which Schools define the scope of, and direct our provision of, the Services to their Student Users on their behalf. At registration, Teacher Users are asked to supply information about their School (to the extent not yet received), the grade level and subjects they teach, and other information we require to establish and operate Teacher User accounts, such as school email address, account name, and user-generated password. We may use the information we collect from Schools and Teacher Users to communicate with them and occasionally to request feedback and survey responses, all of which is optional. We collect and use the feedback we receive from Teacher Users, as well as usage data, to continually analyze and improve our Services and the functionality of the Site. Some of the Services available on our Site are accessible by Teacher Users without a registered account. In those instances, we collect the information we describe in this policy that is collected automatically or otherwise collected by us, or that a Teacher User chooses to share with us.
Student Users: Students cannot create accounts on the Site. For the purpose of supporting educational research regarding our Services, we may ask Schools (at their option) to allow their students to participate in surveys regarding their learning experience on the Site or Services, which may be used by us to improve the educational value we offer Student Users on behalf of their Schools. Any survey responses we receive from consenting Schools are received in an anonymous fashion, and without any link or connection to individual students.
Automatically Collected Usage and Device Information: Like most other websites, we and our third-party vendors and partners (See the “Third-Party Analytics Tools” section below) automatically collect technical usage and related data when our account users access the Site, read our emails, or otherwise engage with us and our Services. This information is collected through tracking technologies like cookies, pixels, web beacons and similar technologies, which identify data about your device or its software, such as your IP address, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), device type, operating system, platform type and other such information. If you access our Site or the Services from a mobile device, we may collect unique identification numbers associated with your device, mobile carrier, device type, model and manufacturer, mobile device operating system brand and model. We also collect data about the way you use our Site and Services, for example, the pages you visit, the links you click, and how frequently you visit the Site. We use the information we gather through these technologies to improve our ability to diagnose and fix technical problems, continuously improve the Services, to provide a better user experience to you, and in the case of Schools, Teacher Users, and users of the portions of our Site that are accessible without registration, promote the Site and Services. For example, it allows us to ‘remember’ information so a user will not have to re-enter it during subsequent visits and to keep track of your course progress so that the page content displayed upon your return remains consistent with your progression through the material.
Third-Party Analytics Tools: We collect analytics data using third-party analytics tools such as Adobe Analytics and Google Analytics, to help us measure traffic and usage trends on the site. You can learn more about Adobe’s privacy practices at https://www.adobe.com/in/privacy/policy.html and view its currently available opt-out options at https://www.adobe.com/in/privacy/opt-out.html. You can learn more about Google’s privacy practices at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en and view its currently available opt-out options at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Limits On Third-Party Tracking; Do Not Track Signals: We DO NOT use Student Data for targeted advertising. However, the data that we receive through pixels and other tracking technologies allows us to effectively promote the Site and, and to optimize external advertisements about the Site and Services that appear on third-party websites, which are directed at teachers. Although we do our best to honor the privacy preferences of our users, we are not able to respond to ‘Do Not Track’ signals from your browser at this time.
Information We DO NOT Collect: We do not seek or collect highly sensitive information, like health or biomedical information from our users. We do not seek or have access to sensitive information used for identification purposes, such as social security numbers. While we may gather demographic information in the aggregate with respect to individual Schools or School Districts, we do not seek nor do we collect information on an individual basis. Similarly, we do not seek or collect free or reduced lunch status with respect to individual Student Users. We do not operate the Services or the Site with the goal of making a profit. We do not collect or store payment information of any kind from our users or make any commercial use whatsoever of the information we collect from or about our users, including Student Users.
See “How We Share Your Information” below for more information on the limited ways in which we share School and Student Data. See “Children’s Privacy” below for more information on how we collect and use the personal information of children under 13.
Protecting the privacy of Student Users who are under the age of 13 (a “Child” or “Children”) is especially important to us. For that reason, OER Project strictly limits the use of our Site and Services to Student Users who are directed to use the Site by their associated School. We require Schools to provide any required notice to parents of the School’s use of third party service providers like us, and to obtain any required consent and authorization for our limited collection of Student Data relating to its Student Users who are Children, as permitted by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”).
Please contact us at help@oerproject.com if you believe we have inadvertently collected personal information of a Child so that we may delete such data as soon as possible. If you are a Student User, or a parent of a Student User, please contact your School if you have questions about the School’s use of educational service providers like us.
3. YOUR CHOICES ABOUT YOUR INFORMATION
Account Information and Settings: Schools may update account information and modify the Services of Virtual Classrooms available to Student Users, through their participating Teacher Users, by signing into the pertinent Teacher User account(s). Schools and Teacher Users can opt-out of receiving promotional emails from us by clicking on the “unsubscribe” feature at the bottom of each email. (Student Users do not receive promotional emails.) Please note that all users receive Service-related messaging, which are required to operate their respective user accounts and related Services, which cannot be opted out of without deleting the user account.
You May Decline Optional Requests: We may request that Schools provide or consent to our collection of additional information that is optional for use of the Services, such as Student User or Teacher User educational surveys about the Site and Services. Schools are free to decline these requests.
Optional Forums: We may, from time-to-time, make available to Schools, through their Teacher Users, optional community forums for Teacher Users. While community forums on the Site and Services are designed to enhance collaboration among participating Teacher Users, Schools and their Teacher Users are free to choose not to engage in the sharing or posting of information through such forums. Technical safeguards exist to prevent Student User accounts from participating in community forums.
Teacher User Account Information: Schools and Teacher Users may update, correct, or delete their associated Teacher User account information. Most changes can be made on the Teacher User account settings page.
Requests from Students: We ask that Student Users direct all questions and concerns regarding Site use to their associated Teacher User, who will assist them on behalf of their School.
4. HOW WE STORE AND PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION
How Long We Keep User Information: We may retain or dispose of any information we collect, at our discretion and without notice, subject to applicable law and any written agreement we may have with your School. We may maintain anonymized or aggregated data, including usage data, for analytics purposes. If you have any questions about data retention or deletion, please contact us at help@oerproject.com.
Keeping Information Safe: We use certain physical, managerial, and technical safeguards designed to preserve the security of the personal and other information we maintain in connection with your use of the Site and Services. Other security safeguards include, but are not limited to, data encryption, firewalls, and physical access controls to our buildings and files. While these measures are helpful to safeguard your personal information after we receive it, no transmission of data over the internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.
Unauthorized Disclosure: If there is any disclosure or access to any personal information of Teacher Users by an unauthorized party, we will promptly notify the affected Teacher Users as required under applicable data breach statues and otherwise respond in accordance with those statutory requirements.
5. OUR INFORMATION SHARING PRACTICES
No Sharing for Commercial Purposes: As a non-commercial venture, OER Project does not seek to profit in any way from your use of the Site or Services, or by sharing your information with others. We do not sell or rent Student Data with anyone for marketing purposes. The limited instances in which we share user information, including any personal information, are for the purposes of providing, improving, and promoting the Site and Services as described herein.
Sharing with Third Party Applications: Some features on our Site or Services may enable Schools to “turn on” third party applications, such as Clever or Google Classroom, for the benefit of their Student User’s education. We do not facilitate the sharing of any Student Data with third parties on the Site or via the Services. Please remember that this Privacy Policy applies to our Site and Services only, and not to other services or third-party applications, which may have their own privacy policies. Schools should carefully read the privacy practices of each third-party application before agreeing to engage with the application through the Site or Services.
Sharing with Service Providers: We may share information with our trusted third-party service providers strictly for the purpose of carrying out their work for us. Contractors and service providers who may have access to Student Data when performing their services are subject to confidentiality and data security requirements.
Aggregated or Anonymous Sharing: We may share information in an aggregated and/or anonymous form that does not reasonably identify an individual or School. For example, we may use and share aggregate or anonymized survey response information with educational researchers to study and improve our Site, user functionality, and Services offerings.
Legal Requirements: We may be required to share information with law enforcement or other third parties when compelled to do so by court order or other legal process, to comply with statutes or regulations, to enforce our Terms of Use, or if we believe in good faith that the disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property or personal safety of our users. We will notify affected parties (e.g., Teacher Users or Schools) in the event of a government or legal request for their information, unless otherwise prohibited by law or court order.
Change of Control: We may transfer your personal information in the event of a transfer or restructure the operational ownership of the Site. In such case we will provide you with notice and an opportunity to opt-out of the transfer of personal information.
The Site and Services contain links to other websites. Any links to third-party external websites that we may provide on the Site or Services are vetted for age-appropriate content. However, we are not responsible for any of the content of such linked third-party websites. We are also not responsible for the privacy practices and the terms and conditions of use for any external websites. The linked sites may collect personal information from you, which is not subject to our control. The data collection practices of linked sites will be governed by each site’s privacy policy.
California Minors: Should we provide you the ability to publicly post information on the Site or Services, and you are a California resident who is under 18, you may request removal of your content that you are unable to delete by using the contact information provided in the “Privacy Questions” section at the bottom of this Privacy Policy. When requesting removal please be specific about the information or content you want removed and provide the URL for each page on the Site or Services where it is located. We are not required to remove any content or information if: (a) federal or state law requires us or a third party to maintain the content or information; (b) the content or information was not posted by you; (c) we anonymize the content or information so that you cannot be identified; (d) you don’t follow our instructions for removing or requesting removal; or (e) you received compensation or other consideration for providing the content or information. REMOVAL OF YOUR POSTED CONTENT OR INFORMATION FROM THE SITE OR SERVICES DOES NOT ENSURE COMPLETE OR COMPREHENSIVE REMOVAL OF THAT CONTENT OR INFORMATION FROM OUR SYSTEMS OR THE SYSTEMS OF OUR SERVICE PROVIDERS. We are not required to delete the content or information posted by you; our obligations under California law are satisfied so long as we anonymize the content or information or render it invisible to other users and the public. Also, some content and information you post that has been copied or reposted by a third party is outside of our control and will not be removed.
California Shine the Light Law: California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits California residents to request and obtain from companies once a year, free of charge, a list of the third parties to whom they have disclosed personal information (as defined under that statute) of that California resident, for direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year and the categories of personal information that was disclosed to them. We do not disclose the personal information of any of our users for direct marketing purposes.
If you are accessing the Site or Services from a location outside of the United States, please be aware that this Site and our Services are housed on servers located in the United States, and the information we collect (including through cookies) is processed and stored in the United States, which may not offer the same level of privacy protection as the country where you reside or are a citizen. BY USING THIS SITE AND PROVIDING INFORMATION TO US, YOU CONSENT TO THE TRANSFER TO, AND PROCESSING OF, ALL INFORMATION IN THE UNITED STATES ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR USE OF THE SITE.
9. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
We may modify or update this Privacy Policy from time-to-time, so you should review this Privacy Policy periodically. If we change this Privacy Policy in a material manner, for example if we seek to use personal information in a materially different way than we had previously, we will provide notice to participating Schools such that they will have sufficient time to evaluate the change. Of course, you or your School can always opt-out of the change by deleting your account or discontinuing your use of the Site and Services.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or other matters that relate to it, you may contact us by sending an email to: help@oerproject.com.