Privacy Statement for Student Users, Academic Institutions, and Faculty
At ProtoCommunications, we prioritize the privacy and confidentiality of our student users, academic institutions, and faculty. This Privacy Statement outlines our practices regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of information in compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) while considering the data privacy rights of academic institutions and faculty.
Information Collection and Use:
- We collect personally identifiable information (PII) from students, academic institutions, and faculty solely for the purpose of providing educational services and facilitating effective communication and collaboration. The types of information we collect may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Students: Name, contact information, academic records, interactions within the ProtoCommunications platform, assessment results, and learning progress.
- Academic Institutions and Faculty: Name, contact information, and communication records.
Consent and Authorized Use:
- We acknowledge the importance of obtaining appropriate consent from individuals before collecting or disclosing any personally identifiable information. By using ProtoCommunications, students, academic institutions, and faculty affirm that they have obtained the necessary consent or authorization to share the required information.
Use of Information:
- Information collected by ProtoCommunications is used solely for educational purposes and improving the educational experience. The purposes include, but are not limited to:
- Students: Providing access to online courses, study materials, educational resources, facilitating communication with faculty and academic institutions, monitoring progress and performance, and improving the ProtoCommunications platform.
- Academic Institutions and Faculty: Facilitating effective communication and collaboration with students, accessing student records, monitoring student progress, and fulfilling educational obligations.
Information Security:
- We implement robust security measures to safeguard all information collected from students, academic institutions, and faculty against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These security practices include encryption, access controls, and regular monitoring to maintain data integrity and confidentiality.
Information Sharing:
- ProtoCommunications may disclose information in the following circumstances:
- Students: Information may be shared with academic institutions and faculty who are contracted with ProtoCommunications to deliver educational services and support student learning.
- Academic Institutions and Faculty: Limited information may be shared with students and other authorized parties within the university or educational institution for educational purposes and effective collaboration.
- Third-Party Service Providers: We may engage third-party service providers to assist in operating the platform and delivering services. These providers are bound by contractual agreements to maintain the confidentiality and security of the information.
Rights and Choices:
- Students, academic institutions, and faculty have certain rights and choices regarding their personal information, including:
- Access and Amendment: Students, academic institutions, and faculty have the right to review and request amendments to their educational records in accordance with the provisions of FERPA.
- Consent and Authorization: Academic Institutions and faculty have the right to provide or withdraw consent for the use and sharing of their information.
- Data Retention: We retain information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Statement. Once information is no longer needed, we take steps to securely dispose of it.
Updates to the Privacy Statement:
- ProtoCommunications may update this Privacy Statement periodically to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. Students, academic institutions, and faculty are encouraged to review this statement periodically for any updates.
Contact Information:
- If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Statement or the handling of information, please contact us at contact@protocommunications.com.
By using ProtoCommunications, students, academic institutions, and faculty acknowledge that they have read, understood, and agreed to the terms and practices outlined in this Privacy Statement, which respects the privacy rights of all parties involved.
ProtoCommunications Accessibility Conformance Report
WCAG Edition
VPAT® Version 1 – June 2023
Name of Product/Version: Public Speaking 1.0
Product Description: Course content for 100 level college public speaking course.
Date: August 16, 2022
Contact information: contact@protocommunications.com
Notes: The ProtoCommunications website, and its subdomains, meets or exceeds WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1 Level AA guidelines, and some Level AAA guidelines.
Evaluation Methods Used: manual evaluation, Lighthouse developer tool
Applicable Standards/Guidelines
This report covers the degree of conformance for the following accessibility standard/guidelines:
| Standard/Guideline | Included In Report |
|---|---|
| Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, at http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-WCAG20-20081211/ | Level A (Yes)Level AA (Yes)Level AAA (Yes) |
| Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 at https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/ | Level A (Yes)Level AA (Yes)Level AAA (Yes) |
Terms
The terms used in the Conformance Level information are defined as follows:
- Supports: The functionality of the product has at least one method that meets the criterion without known defects or meets with equivalent facilitation.
- Partially Supports: Some functionality of the product does not meet the criterion.
- Does Not Support: The majority of product functionality does not meet the criterion.
- Not Applicable: The criterion is not relevant to the product.
- Not Evaluated: The product has not been evaluated against the criterion. This can be used only in WCAG 2.0 Level AAA.
WCAG 2.x Report
Note: When reporting on conformance with the WCAG 2.x Success Criteria, they are scoped for full pages, complete processes, and accessibility-supported ways of using technology as documented in the WCAG 2.0 Conformance Requirements.
Table 1: Success Criteria, Level A
| Criteria | Conformance Level | Remarks and Explanations |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A) | Supports | |
| 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded) (Level A) | Supports | |
| 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) (Level A) | Supports | |
| 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded) (Level A) | Supports | |
| 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A) | Supports | |
| 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence (Level A) | Supports | |
| 1.3.3 Sensory Characteristics (Level A) | Supports | |
| 1.4.1 Use of Color (Level A) | Supports | |
| 1.4.2 Audio Control (Level A) | Supports | |
| 2.1.1 Keyboard (Level A) | Supports | |
| 2.1.2 No Keyboard Trap (Level A) | Supports | |
| 2.1.4 Character Key Shortcuts (Level A 2.1 only) | Not applicable | |
| 2.2.1 Timing Adjustable (Level A) | Not applicable | |
| 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide (Level A) | Not applicable | |
| 2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below Threshold (Level A) | Supports | |
| 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks (Level A) | Partially Supports | |
| 2.4.2 Page Titled (Level A) | Supports | |
| 2.4.3 Focus Order (Level A) | Supports | |
| 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A) | Supports | |
| 2.5.1 Pointer Gestures (Level A 2.1 only) | Not applicable | |
| 2.5.2 Pointer Cancellation (Level A 2.1 only) | Supports | |
| 2.5.3 Label in Name (Level A 2.1 only) | Partially Supports | Most HTML automatically is labeled accurately. Some of the older content has had the title changed, and we are going through to update the label. |
| 2.5.4 Motion Actuation (Level A 2.1 only) | Not applicable | |
| 3.1.1 Language of Page (Level A) | Supports | |
| 3.2.1 On Focus (Level A) | Supports | |
| 3.2.2 On Input (Level A) | Supports | |
| 3.3.1 Error Identification (Level A) | Supports | |
| 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (Level A) | Supports | |
| 4.1.1 Parsing (Level A) | Supports | |
| 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A) | Supports |
Table 2: Success Criteria, Level AA
| Criteria | Conformance Level | Remarks and Explanations |
|---|---|---|
| 1.2.4 Captions (Live) (Level AA) | Not applicable | Currently there are no live events associated with ProtoCommunications |
| 1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded) (Level AA) | Supports | |
| 1.3.4 Orientation (Level AA 2.1 only) | Supports | |
| 1.3.5 Identify Input Purpose (Level AA 2.1 only) | Partially Supports | Instructions for input fields appear immediately surrounding input fields but may not always be programmatically determined |
| 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (Level AA) | Supports | |
| 1.4.4 Resize text (Level AA) | Supports | |
| 1.4.5 Images of Text (Level AA) | Supports | |
| 1.4.10 Reflow (Level AA 2.1 only) | Supports | |
| 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (Level AA 2.1 only) | Supports | The accessibility tool available on every page grants users “high contrast” and “negative contrast” modes that exceed the 3:1 contrast ratio for meaningful graphics |
| 1.4.12 Text Spacing (Level AA 2.1 only) | Supports | |
| 1.4.13 Content on Hover or Focus (Level AA 2.1 only) | Partially Supports | A mechanism to “dismiss’ additional content made visible upon hovering does not exist; however, content meets the “hoverable” and “persistent” requirements. |
| 2.4.5 Multiple Ways (Level AA) | Supports | |
| 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (Level AA) | Supports | |
| 2.4.7 Focus Visible (Level AA) | Supports | |
| 3.1.2 Language of Parts (Level AA) | Supports | |
| 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation (Level AA) | Supports | |
| 3.2.4 Consistent Identification (Level AA) | Supports | |
| 3.3.3 Error Suggestion (Level AA) | Supports | Errors in functionality (eg submitted an empty answer) are called out with suggestions (eg “Please select at least one answer”) however suggestions do not help users answer questions correctly |
| 3.3.4 Error Prevention (Legal, Financial, Data) (Level AA) | Supports | All financial submissions have automatic error prevention. The one exception that requires manual correction is when a student purchases content more than once, in which case an administrator corrects the error. |
| 4.1.3 Status Messages (Level AA 2.1 only) | Supports |
Table 3: Success Criteria, Level AAA
| Criteria | Conformance Level | Remarks and Explanations |
|---|---|---|
| 1.2.6 Sign Language (Prerecorded) (Level AAA) | Does not support | |
| 1.2.7 Extended Audio Description (Prerecorded) (Level AAA) | Not applicable | |
| 1.2.8 Media Alternative (Prerecorded) (Level AAA) | Partially supports | Video transcripts are posted directly below videos in most cases, or in links in the media player or directly below the video |
| 1.2.9 Audio-only (Live) (Level AAA) | Not applicable | |
| 1.3.6 Identify Purpose (Level AAA 2.1 only) | Partially supports | |
| 1.4.6 Contrast Enhanced (Level AAA) | Supports | The accessibility tool available on every page enables users to create high contrast or negative contrast to all content |
| 1.4.7 Low or No Background Audio (Level AAA) | Supports | |
| 1.4.8 Visual Presentation (Level AAA) | Partially supports | Background and text can be changed to two pre-set contrast settings but users cannot select any color. Content width cannot be changed. Content alignment cannot be changed. Text can be resized to 400% magnification without horizontal scrolling. |
| 1.4.9 Images of Text (No Exception) Control (Level AAA) | Supports | Exception: Most images do not contain text, except for some headers where that same text is also available in regular text font. t. |
| 2.1.3 Keyboard (No Exception) (Level AAA) | Supports | |
| 2.2.3 No Timing (Level AAA) | Supports | |
| 2.2.4 Interruptions (Level AAA) | Not applicable | |
| 2.2.5 Re-authenticating (Level AAA) | Partially Supports | If a user is logged out before completing a quiz, that quiz data is not stored and the user must restart from the beginning. User progress through a course is saved upon log-out, however the user’s place in the course (ex Unit 2 Lesson 5) may not be the user’s destination upon re-authentication |
| 2.2.6 Timeouts (Level AAA 2.1 only) | Not applicable | |
| 2.3.2 Three Flashes (Level AAA) | Supports | |
| 2.3.3 Animation from Interactions (Level AAA 2.1 only) | Not applicable | The only animated content is a roll-down feature that appears when a user re-enters a course, to let the user know what page was visited most recently. |
| 2.4.8 Location (Level AAA) | Supports | Breadcrumbs are available in some locations (e.g. user guides); a site map is available; visual indicators in the navigation menu show current location within the menu |
| 2.4.9 Link Purpose (Link Only) (Level AAA) | Partially supports | Most links are uniquely identifiable by the link text only |
| 2.4.10 Section Headings (Level AAA) | Supports | |
| 2.5.5 Target Size (Level AAA 2.1 only) | Not applicable | Accessibility tools exist to increase the size of text but not all links are greater than 44×44 CSS pixels by default |
| 2.5.6 Concurrent Input Mechanisms (Level AAA 2.1 only) | Supports | |
| 3.1.3 Unusual Words (Level AAA) | Partially supports | Glossaries are provided in some contexts, and inline definitions are provided in some other contexts |
| 3.1.4 Abbreviations (Level AAA) | Partially supports | The full text of an abbreviation is often provided in the first instance |
| 3.1.5 Reading Level (Level AAA) | Partially supports | Content does not often exceed a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score higher than 10. If it does, alternative content may be found in accompanying video/audio. |
| 3.1.6 Pronunciation (Level AAA) | Does not support | |
| 3.2.5 Change on Request (Level AAA) | Partially Supports | Some navigation links open new tabs to direct users to the appropriate sub-domain for their course |
| 3.3.5 Help (Level AAA) | Partially supports | Most of ProtoCommunicationsy is content and navigation, so it does not require context-sensitive help in most cases |
| 3.3.6 Error Prevention (All) (Level AAA) | Supports |
Legal Disclaimer (ProtoCommunications)
The information herein is provided in good faith based onProtoCommunications at the time of the review and does not represent a legally-binding claim. Please contact us to report any accessibility errors or conformance claim errors for re-evaluation and correction, if necessary.
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