Schools and education agencies manage vast amounts of digital data every day. This includes emails, cloud files, and student records, making eDiscovery tools a necessity should compliance or legal requests arise. From there, these essential tools can simplify the eDiscovery collection process by organizing data, protecting privacy, and helping schools with compliance so they can focus on education and not repetitive tasks.
You may not realize that educational institutions have what feels like an insurmountable amount of data. This begs the question: Where is it all stored?
The vast majority of it is stored across a variety of platforms. Teachers send emails, students upload assignments to various Learning Management Systems (LMS), and administrators share documents through cloud drives.
However, should a lawsuit, public records request, or internal investigation arise, all of this information becomes subject to the discovery process. The issue is that managing this vast information across multiple systems and platforms can be overwhelming. This is why the right approach is an absolute must; it requires the right technology that allows education agencies to handle eDiscovery and retention confidently and efficiently, while maintaining compliance and, above all, protecting student privacy.
For starters, cloud collaboration lets IT, legal, and administration departments work together in a secure, efficient manner. It doesn't matter where employees are located -- teams can work collaboratively without duplicating efforts.
Since eDiscovery tools operate in the cloud, they require very little setup. It's important to have guided workflows to help non-technical users adapt to these programs. This ensures all employees can access these platforms with ease.
Schools and districts don't rely on a single communication tool or data source. This is how they differ from traditional businesses.
During discovery, a case might involve emails in eDiscovery from staff or messages within an LMS like Canvas or Blackboard. However, another case might rely on documents shared through Google Workspace or Microsoft 365.
When an education agency doesn't have proper information governance software, it can be extremely difficult to find relevant information, as it might be stored across a variety of systems. Since each platform stores data differently, it can feel even more challenging as education agencies are forced to sift through multiple formats, permissions, and retention policies. This means manual searches aren't just time-consuming -- they're inconsistent and prone to human error.
Since data is in emails, LMS chats, shared drives, administrative databases, and more, it's essential to keep all information in one centralized location. Without this level of organization, it's nearly impossible to manually review information.
AI speeds up review so schools and education organizations can focus more on students and less on administrative tasks. Since it automatically identifies relevant materials, it can seamlessly group similar content. It even learns from user behavior, working to save time on challenging tasks.
In order to make discovery in education easier, the best thing you can do is to centralize everything. This is where modern eDiscovery platforms come into play. They're able to automatically and seamlessly connect across a variety of data sources.
From there, they can pull:
This information is then grouped into one central location. What's great about this approach is that reviewers can search for data and analyze it in one convenient place. This means they don't have to toggle between a variety of confusing platforms.
When there's one centralized place to review data, hours of manual work are prevented, and no piece of critical information is overlooked due to human error.
Even better, when data is stored in one spot, it's easier to notice patterns. This means connections between a teacher's email, a student's submission, or even a corresponding administrative note become clearer. When data is spread across multiple platforms, it's simply not possible to recognize these patterns with the same level of accuracy.
The question is, "Can one platform really manage data from so many sources?"
Yes. Modern eDiscovery tools are designed with Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Blackboard, Canvas, and other systems in mind. This means they integrate with these systems and put data into one dashboard.
Education data management is some of the most important -- and most sensitive -- work an organization handles. For example, emails may contain personal information about students, along with disciplinary records. They may also include health details protected under FERPA or HIPAA laws.
This is why you need a strong discovery platform. The best tools include:
The result is a level of protection that ensures only authorized reviewers are accessing sensitive materials. Additionally, as an added precaution, this ensures that every action is traceable.
Protecting privacy -- especially that of a child -- isn't just about following regulatory requirements. It shows the school's commitment to integrity and protects both students and staff members.
What protects the privacy of student education records? Some tools focus on redaction, audit logs, and permission controls to help keep personally identifiable information (PII) secure and protect student education records. They also meet disclosure obligations.
To learn more, schedule a demo today.