General information
Every natural person has a right to the protection of their personal data; this naturally also applies to students in the context of courses. This web page gives guidance on what you need to consider when using digital tools in teaching and how you can implement legal requirements.
Data is processed in line with the legal principles laid out in § 12 of our statutes on the collection and processing of personal data. You can find more information in the FAQs on data protection in online teaching on the Legal Affairs website.
1. Videoconferencing in teaching
Courses without active class participation
Is your course held as a videoconference that students simply listen to and do not actively contribute to, using a tool provided by the University of Konstanz? Then it is sufficient to provide the data protection information for the videoconferencing tool, e.g. as a link in the course information in ZEuS.
Courses with active involvement of students
If students actively participate in a videoconferencing session, their voice and usually also their image are transmitted. This means that personal data is processed, which is only permitted if it is necessary for the course.
Please consider whether active participation in your course is required. If not, you cannot demand that they transmit images or sound. If, however, your teaching concept includes interactive elements such as discussions, active participation is necessary. Please communicate this fact to the participants before the start of the lecture, preferably in the course information in ZEuS. In addition, you have to provide the data protection information for the videoconferencing tool used. You can simply add the link in the course information.
You no longer have to obtain your students' consent to data processing via the form provided by Legal Affairs, as the statutes on the collection and processing of personal data now provide the corresponding legal basis. You only have to announce that active class participation is required and link to the data protection information for the videoconferencing tool.
Recordings
If recordings from a camera, microphone, chat, list of participants or similar include students participating online or in the on-campus classroom, you have to get the written consent of each participant to this explicitly described data processing. This is a very important part of your documentation requirements! The students must be given the option of revoking their consent, ideally in a way that is as easy as giving consent. Implicit consent is not sufficient – consent must be explicitly given. We recommend two ways for obtaining consent:
- as part of the course registration via ZEuS (instructions in this pdf document)
- via ILIAS (instructions in this pdf document)
You can use the specifically created data protection information template, both for recorded videoconferences with active class participation as well as for students' video presentations. The template is available on the data protection web page from Legal Affairs.
Courses may be recorded with the consent of the lecturer(s) and may also be published under the conditions of § 12 para. 5 of the aforementioned statutes on the collection and processing of personal data. If the recording of participants cannot be avoided, the university's interest in publication will be weighed against the interests of the persons concerned.
2. Online exams
Please read the requirements for online exams, which also apply to partial exams and coursework (video presentations).
Regulations on video-based analysis for teaching and qualification purposes is laid out in § 13 of the statutes on the collection and processing of personal data More information is available on the Legal Affairs website.