Changing student privacy responsibilities and governance needs: Views from faculty, instructional designers, and academic librarians

To explore various stakeholders’ understanding of student privacy and how protections for it are enacted on their campus, we conducted interviews with 27 faculty, instructional designers, and academic librarians at Very High Research Activity universities across the United States. Although there were no interview questions concerning the pandemic, participants noted an increase in awareness of student privacy issues as a result of moving instruction, instructional design, and library services into a completely online environment. Findings show diverse, complex student privacy landscapes on American campuses. Most participants did not perceive themselves as having agency in student privacy decisions on their campuses suggesting that these faculty, instructional designers, and academic librarians can improve communication among themselves and work together. More broadly, the findings suggest that governance structures could be improved to develop a more inclusive culture of student privacy.