Procedure for requests for Canvas log data or other academic data held by IT to investigate activity

Details on how IT staff should handle requests for Canvas and related academic data by university staff

Scope of what requires a request and/or approval:

Data the instructors or staff can see with the existing tools in Canvas (and other interfaces) with their existing role is something we can help them identify, gather it up, provide context to it, etc.  When it moves beyond what they can already see, to specific log data and things that are considered PII, such as IP address and similar things, that is when the data steward and advanced processes are required.

Process expectations:

Ideally a request for any University data related to student activity in a system would go first through the Office of the Vice President for Academic Success and Student Affairs, the Provost office and Academic Affairs leadership, and/or the Honor and Integrity office (https://www.k-state.edu/honor/) and process. 

If it comes to IT via a ticket or email, initial response is to ask if they have contacted Honor and Integrity office to start the process.  Then, if discussion with those units and/or the Honor and Integrity proceedings call for it, that data can be requested from IT by that office, or in some cases OGC.  This prevents unnecessary data requests or log pulls. And it prevents sharing the data with individual faculty members directly if possible.

In these cases, the approval is inherent from those leadership units.   A TDX ticket is required to record the interactions and approvals.

Tthe other path, and just as common, is after their own internal discussion, an instructor or academic leader like a dept head asks IT directly for data from Canvas or other services. In those cases, it requires a 3 step process:

1.  A TDX ticket is required to record the interactions and approvals.

2. Share the request with the CIO for review with Provost or OGC for approval to retrieve the info. If raw log data is requested to be provided directly the the faculty member, make sure that is clear in the approval details.

3. Provide the data to leadership for review and approval to share. It may not always be appropriate to share the raw data with the staff so plan to summarize and clarify it and include only the needed/requested information.