If you use originality reports, Google doesn’t save the content that you submit for the report and doesn’t assume ownership of your content. That content belongs to you and your students. Our responsibility is to keep your data more secure. We search for what is publicly available on the web and we don’t permanently store originality reports.
G Suite for Education and Assignments meets these rigorous compliance standards:
- FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)
- COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998)
- Student Privacy Pledge introduced by the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF)
- ISO/IEC 27018:2014 (Data standards)
To learn more about how Google protects your data, go to the Privacy and Security Center.
Accounts
Do institutions have to enroll in G Suite for Education?
Yes. Only instructors using G Suite for Education accounts can turn on originality reports for assignments.
Can I receive student assignments in a Google Drive associated with a personal (@gmail.com) address?
No. You can receive student assignments only in a Google Drive associated with your G Suite for Education account.
Why can students turn in work from their personal (@gmail.com) Google Accounts?
We recognize that students, for various reasons, prefer to create assignments in their personal Google Accounts.
For student choice and ease of use, we allow students to submit assignments from the Google Account where they created the files. This simplifies the student workflow, avoiding account changes and file ownership issues.
Is it FERPA compliant to allow students to use personal (@gmail.com) Google Accounts to turn in and receive returned assignments?
Yes. The student makes the choice to use a personal Google Account.
FERPA applies to assignments while they’re being handled by an educational institution. This law is why we require instructors to receive, store, and grade assignments within institutionally provided G Suite for Education accounts.
Privacy
How does Google ensure data privacy?
Our Privacy Policy describes how G Suite for Education collects, uses, and shares information. For more information, go to the G Suite For Education Privacy Notice.
Are student assignment files saved to a global repository?
No. Google doesn’t save assignment files to a global repository.
However, instructors or the institution may copy student submissions to the institution’s Google Drive, which contains data owned and controlled by the institution.
Originality reports are automatically deleted after 45 days.
Does originality reports check against external institutions? If so, can those instructors see my students’ assignments?
No. Google doesn’t store student work in a repository to check against external institutions. Instructors in other institutions can’t see your students’ assignments.
We’re working to provide institutions with a private, institution-owned repository of student work. You can then use this repository for future originality reports.