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Privacy Policy
What is Pearson Online Learning Services?
Pearson Online Learning Services is a division of Pearson Education, Inc. (“Pearson”, “we” or “us”) that partners with University of Maryland (“Institution”) to support select online educational programs (“Programs”). Pearson works in collaboration with the Institution to market and promote the Programs to prospective students, and thereafter may work with enrolled students to provide information, services and support.
What does this Privacy Statement cover?
This Privacy Statement explains the way Pearson collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected through the Programs. This Privacy Statement applies only to Pearson services and Pearson web pages/sites (“Webpages”) related to the Programs, including online contact forms that you may complete to request information about the Programs. Other websites and programs, including the Institution’s websites linked from Webpages, may have their own privacy policies and practices.
What personal information does Pearson collect through the Programs? How does Pearson use that personal information?
Information Requests. If you complete a contact form on a Webpage or otherwise request help or information from us, we will collect personal information so that we can contact and communicate with you, address your requests and provide information and messages to you about Programs that may be available. This information may include contact information, such as your name, email address and phone number, together with your question or request.
Cell Phone – Text Messaging and Calls. If you provide your cell phone number to us and indicate that we may contact you by phone or text message, we may call you and send your text messages to share information related to the Programs and to provide enrollment and educational program support to you. Message, call and data rates of your carrier may apply. You may opt out of receiving these calls and text messages at any time by telling us in a phone call or following the opt-out instructions contained in the text message. You are not required to provide your cell phone number or consent to receiving phone or text messages in order to receive information and support through the Programs.
Enrollment Support. If you contact or work with an enrollment advisor, we may collect personal information so that we can help you explore eligible educational options and apply for enrollment in eligible Programs. The personal information may include information about your employment history and educational background, such as employers, work experience, schools, areas of study, grades, transcripts and other educational records, together with any information that you may choose to share or that may be requested in the application and enrollment process for eligible Programs.
Educational Program Support. If you enroll in an eligible Program, we may collect personal information for the purpose of providing Program support services to you. These support services may include course selection and registration assistance, degree audits and assistance to help you be successful and stay on track to complete a Program. The personal information may include information about your coursework, grades and other educational records, together with any other personal information that you may choose to share or that may be requested to enable us to provide appropriate support.
Feedback. Pearson may provide you with the opportunity to respond to surveys and to evaluate and provide feedback on the Programs. Pearson may use that information to respond to you about your feedback and to address any issues that you may identify.
De-Identified Data. Pearson may de-identify and aggregate information collected in connection with the Programs and use it to maintain, support and evaluate the efficacy of the Programs; conduct educational research; develop new products and services; and for other purposes. Unless required to do so by law, Pearson will not attempt to re-identify such de-identified data.
Does Pearson use personal information for marketing purposes?
Pearson may use personal information in order to provide messages and information about eligible educational programs and services that may be available from the Institution, Pearson, or other institutions of higher education. If you do not want to receive further emails from us, you may unsubscribe at any time by following the opt-out instructions contained in an email from us.
How does Pearson protect personal information?
We use appropriate commercially reasonable data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure or destruction of personal information.
Does Pearson share or disclose personal information?
Except as specifically stated in this Privacy Statement, it is our policy not to share or disclose personal information collected through the Programs with third parties other than affiliates of Pearson and other companies and organizations who perform work for or with us under contract and are committed to protect the privacy of personal information in a manner consistent with this Privacy Statement. These affiliates, companies and organizations may also contact and communicate with you, address your requests and provide information and messages to you, on our behalf, about other educational programs, products, or services that may be available.
We may disclose personal information: (a) with your consent; (b) to the Institution; (c) to your employer; (d) in response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law; (d) as otherwise required or permitted by law; (e) to protect the security and safety of you and other persons, our systems and the data we hold, consistent with applicable law; (f) in connection with a sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of our company or its assets; (g) to address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities; or (h) in order to enforce the Institution’s Terms of Service or any contract that we or the Institution may have with you.
Can personal information be accessed or corrected?
You may contact us to request a list of the information we have stored on our system about you by emailing us at admissions@onlineprograms.umd.edu. To correct or update any information you previously provided to us, please call or email the enrollment advisor you are working with in regards to your Program of interest.
Do Pearson Webpages for the Programs collect additional information or use cookies? Do they respond to “do not track” signals?
Cookies and Related Technologies. Our Webpages related to the Programs may use cookies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, personalize content and control security. You have a variety of tools to control the use of cookies, web beacons and similar technologies, including browser controls to block and delete cookies. You may choose to disable or block these technologies, but that may prevent or limit the functionality of the Webpages.
Application and System Logs. Pearson may automatically collect log data related to interactions with our Webpages in order to ensure availability and security. This log data may include browser type, type of computer/device and technical information about the means of connection to the Webpages, such as operating system, internet service provider and IP address. Log data is collected and used to monitor the health of the websites, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and address security issues and appropriately scale computing resources.
Web Analytics. Pearson may use third-party web analytical services, including Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics, to collect anonymous visitor information. Such information may include IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies and collect IP addresses to gather web trend information. Pearson may use web trend information for system administration, to identify problems and to improve service. For further information about Google Analytics, and for links to Google’s Privacy Policy and an opt-out tool for Google Analytics, go to http://www.google.com/intl/en/analytics/privacyoverview.html. For further information about Adobe Analytics, for links to Adobe Analytics’ Privacy Policy and opt-out tool for Adobe Analytics, go to http://www.adobe.com/privacy/analytics.html.
Do Not Track. Do Not Track (DNT) is a proposed mechanism for allowing website visitors to control the collection of certain usage data. Although there has been research into the development of a standard to support the use of DNT signals, there is no adopted standard to follow. The Webpages do not currently respond to Do Not Track signals.
Is this Privacy Statement subject to change?
This Privacy Statement may be revised from time to time through an updated posting. Pearson will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Updates may be made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If Pearson reasonably believes the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of your personal information, Pearson will endeavor to notify you by email or another appropriate way.
What is Pearson’s contact information?
To contact us about this Privacy Statement, please email us at admissions@onlineprograms.umd.edu.
