In order to support teaching and learning at VIU, personally identifiable data about employees and students is collected and stored by the learning technologies in use at VIU. Access to and use of this data is governed by the Use of Information Technology policy (45.01) at VIU for all employees. This page provides some information about the specific data collected by VIUBlogs. This page is designed to help instructors at VIU make informed decisions when using technology at VIU. If you have any concerns or questions about privacy, security, or compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), please contact Privacy.Officer@viu.ca.
VIUBlogs is VIU’s multisite WordPress installation. Employees and students can use VIUBlogs to create websites, blogs, and ePortfolios. This service is currently hosted on local servers on VIU’s Nanaimo campus. The VIU IT team manages the server infrastructure and automated backups of the VIUBlogs site. All other administration is done by CIEL.
Data Required for Account Creation
User accounts for VIUBlogs are created automatically the first time a user logs in to VIUBlogs. When a VIU employee signs into VIUBlogs for the first time, the following information is pulled in from VIU’s official systems to create the account:
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First and last name
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VIU email address
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VIU username
When students log into VIUBlogs, the only information automatically imported is their student number. In order to be added to other people’s sites or blogs, students will need to add an email address to their profile. They may also want to add a nickname or name so that their student number is not attached to posts and pages they author on a VIUBlogs site.
Data Collected During Use
Any data you input on a VIUBlogs site will be saved until you or a system administrator deletes that content or site. All VIUBlogs users can choose to add a profile picture and other personal information to their profile in addition to adding images, videos, audio files, and text to pages and posts on the site.
If you choose to enable an analytics plugin on your VIUBlogs site, the plugin will gather anonymized information about site visits and page views. If you visit another user’s site where an analytics plugin has been enabled, your visit to the site and movement through any site pages may be recorded as part of that data.
Data Access
All information on your VIUBlogs site(s) and your profile are stored on servers on the VIU Nanaimo campus and can be accessed if needed by the VIUBlogs site administrator. Depending on the settings you choose for your site, the information in your pages and posts may be visible publicly on the internet or may be restricted only to members of the VIU community or those you manually add to your site.
If a site uses an analytics plugin, information about site visits and page traffic will be stored on the Google Analytics platform. This data does not include any personally identifiable information.
Data Retention
VIUBlogs site data will be retained as long as the site is in active use. Sites that have not been updated for more than one year will be flagged as inactive. Inactive sites will be archived for one year and then permanently deleted from the VIUBlogs network.
When a student or employee leaves VIU, they will need to export their site content and move it to a new host in order to retain their site.
If you are the administrator of a site that you no longer need, you can submit a request to have your site permanently deleted by emailing LearnSupport@viu.ca. If there are multiple listed site administrators, CIEL staff will try to contact all site admins prior to deleting the site. Users who do not have an email connected to their VIUBlogs account or who no longer have an active VIU email cannot be contacted for approval. In order to avoid having your site removed without notification, please ensure your VIUBlogs profile contains a current email address.