Are you protecting your learners’ data?

How do you store your learners’ data?  

In our digital world, assessment evidence, feedback and grades may only exist in digital form. When this data is not properly backed up, learners can lose access to the evidence they need to complete or be awarded their qualification. The following scenarios, while hypothetical, highlight what’s at stake when we fail to protect our learners’ data.  

The importance of submitting evidence: Sam’s story 

Sam registered with a private training provider for a qualification that took two years to complete. Assignments were uploaded to the provider’s online portal where they were assessed and feedback given. No paper copies were kept. Eighteen months into the course, Sam was on track for a distinction and only had three more nits to complete. Unfortunately, the provider then went into administration without warning. All systems were immediately locked, and Sam had no access to their marked assignments or the feedback received. Sam did not keep local copies, so they had no evidence of their achievement. 

Sam tried contacting the appointed administrators but was advised that they did not have access to any operational systems. Nobody from the provider was responding to emails or phone calls. 

The importance of data security: Jack’s experience 

Meanwhile, Jack was registered on an intensive course with a different Provider to prove workplace competency. Jack was uploading evidence of skills from the workplace to his employer’s network drives. There was a range of written work, emails, audio and video recordings, witness statements from his line manager and even marketing materials he had produced. One month away from completing the course, his employer suffered a cyber attack. Most of his portfolio of evidence could not be accessed by him or his provider, and what was accessible had been corrupted. 

What lessons can we learn from these examples?  

Sam and Jack had been working hard to achieve their qualifications and are understandably distraught that all their evidence had been lost.  

Sadly, cases like Sam and Jack’s are increasingly familiar. 

The awarding organisation (AO) did not ask providers to submit learner unit grades during the course. Instead, grades were submitted at the end. 

No interim external quality assurance sampling had taken place as the AO had arrangements to only sample once the course had ended.  

As no unit grades had been submitted to the AO and no interim EQA sampling had been done, the awarding organisation had no evidence on which to award the learners. The learners had no access to their own evidence and were left in limbo. 

How Open Awards helps protect learner achievement 

Open Awards encourages providers to submit unit grades to the basket via the Portal on a regular basis. This is not submitting results for certification but locking them in so that learner achievement is recorded in more than one system. All grades uploaded via the Portal are backed up every night. Additional unit grades can be added on a regular basis. 

For qualifications which take a long time to complete, those that demonstrate competency and licence to practise qualifications, Open Awards has adopted an approach of conducting interim sampling of units where grades have been submitted via the Portal. This not only allows us to confirm that assessment and IQA is being conducted effectively but also provides reassurance that learners have had work externally quality assured at various points in the course, not all at the end. 

This approach has also been adopted for providers demonstrating higher financial risk profiles and those without robust cyber security arrangements. 

If Sam and Jack had been Open Awards learners, we would have monitored the performance of their providers during the course. Unit grades would have been recorded via the Portal, and we would have completed interim sampling to assure ourselves of the quality of assessment and IQA decisions.  

We may have been able to apply special considerations to award them some or all of their qualification achievement. However, neither Sam nor Jack were registered with Open Awards. As such there was nothing to show for their work and the AO was unable to help. 

Conclusion: Protecting learners through good data practice 

These cases demonstrate the importance of ongoing working relationships between AOs and their providers. The external environment is changing, and with it, so do the challenges of ensuring that learners are not disadvantaged by matters outside their control. 

At Open Awards, we work with providers to reduce risks of learners leaving with no achievement. Please speak to us at enquiries@openawards.org.uk to find out more about how we can support you and your learners from being disadvantaged through no fault of their own. 

Key takeaways: how providers can protect learners’ data  

• Do not rely on a single system to store learner evidence 

• Submit unit grades regularly, not just at the end of a course 

• Ensure learner data is securely backed up 

• Take cyber security seriously, especially where employer systems are used 

• Engage consistently with your awarding organisation 

• Support interim external quality assurance where appropriate 

• Consider the learner impact when designing systems and processes