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🛡️ Robotel Inc. Data Privacy Concerning FERPA and COPA

Effective and Last Updated: 12/23/2025

In this document, we explain Robotel Inc.'s data privacy practices and how they relate to the USA Federal Law protecting students' data privacy, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

What data does Robotel's SmartClass collect about Students?

Robotel's SmartClass collects the minimum amount of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) necessary to provide our educational services.

  • Information Collected: We collect the user name and password provided by the student when entering a session. This is either added by the school or teacher or through integration with the LDAP or LMS system. This may be a student's first name, full name, student number, or a nickname, as entered by the school or teacher. We only use this information so that the student can correctly log in to the platform and perform the work assigned by teachers.
  • Other Educational Records: We also collect student assignment submissions, recordings, and any feedback or grades assigned to those materials by the teacher. This data is considered "Educational Records" under FERPA.
  • Directory Information: The collected user name may, in some cases, be considered a subset of "directory information".

Is the collected information disclosed to third parties?

Robotel's SmartClass uses third-party services, such as: DigitalOcean, HostGator, and Google Gemini to host the service, data, and leverage AI. (This is not a complete list)

  • Limited Sharing: Information is only shared with third parties to the extent necessary to provide the services to you and your students, and for the continuous development of our product's functionality and user experience. For example, we send the audio file to Gemini to grade, but they do not use the data in any way to educate their AI.
  • No Marketing or Commercial Use: Student data is never shared for marketing purposes. Our use of PII from education records is strictly limited to the purposes specified in our contract or agreement with the educational institution.
  • No Advertising: There is no advertising within the Robotel's SmartClass platform.

How is student data used?

Robotel Inc. understands that we are acting as a "school official" under the direct control of the educational institution, and we will only use student data for the purposes for which it was provided.

  • Primary Use: The main use of student data is to enable students to access folders of activities, perform the activities assigned by teachers, save their responses and allow teachers to grade and provide feedback on their work. Once the student or class is deleted by the teacher, the student data is also deleted. 
  • Product Improvement: Internally, we use teacher and student usage logs to develop and improve the Robotel SmartClass platform and the user experience.

What rights do parents and eligible students have regarding the data?

FERPA grants parents and eligible students (those 18 or older or attending a postsecondary institution) certain rights regarding Educational Records and Personally Identifiable Information.

  • Right to Access and Review: Parents and students enrolled in a class using SmartClass have the right to access, inspect, and review the student's Educational Records via student credentials.
  • Right to Challenge and Correct: They also have the right to challenge and request the amendment of the content of the record.
  • How to Exercise Rights: Requests for review or editing of data should be directed to your school administration. Robotel Inc. will work with the school/district to ensure requests are fulfilled.

Can a student opt out of data collection?

Students/parents have the right to opt out of the disclosure of directory information, and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) allows for opting out of marketing and commercial use of data.

  • Opting Out of Marketing: Robotel Inc. does not use student data for marketing purposes, so there is no need to opt out of commercial use.
  • Opting Out of the Service: Since all collected data is essential to providing the core educational service, a request to fully opt out of data collection confirms that the student will no longer be able to use Robotel's SmartClass. You may email your request to service@robotel.com.
  • Inability to Prevent Re-use: We are unable to prevent an opted-out student from using the product again unless Robotel’s service team is alerted to this and we can verify that the student is removed from the class. Either Robotel or the school must remove the student and the login credentials.

When is student data deleted?

Robotel Inc. adheres to data retention and destruction policies.

  • Teacher Deletion: Teachers can delete all student data responses associated with a specific learning session by deleting the session itself, which destroys all recordings in the system related to that session. Teachers can also delete individual student submissions, which destroys the data related to that specific submission.
  • School Administration Request: You can email your school administration at any time to request that your records be deleted.

If you have any questions regarding this policy, please contact us at service@robotel.com.