Student Safety and Privacy with Makers Empire

Designed to be a Safe Environment for K-8 Students

At Makers Empire, we take student privacy and safety very seriously. We believe that children deserve to create in a safe environment where teachers and parents can control how information is shared.

Makers Empire complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) , the CAN-SPAM Act and Makers Empire’s Privacy Policy. We have participated in the Safer Technologies for Schools Assessment process and meet the minimum required ST4S standards – Feb 2021.

Makers Empire’s products and plans for school customers and home users include in-built features and tools to help keep students and their data safe. We strive to take a leadership role with regards to student safety and privacy and constantly iterate our products, tools and resources to help maintain a safe community for all.

COPPA-Compliant Makers Empire Privacy Policy

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) sets the rules and standards for websites and apps that provide services to children in the U.S. As outlined on our COPPA page we comply to the following:

Users can visit our site anonymously.
Add a link to our Privacy Statement policy from our home page.
Our Privacy Statement includes the word ‘Privacy’, and can be easily be found on the page specified above.
Users will be notified of any changes to our Privacy Statement.
Users can change personal information by logging in to their account.

Meets the Safer Technologies for Schools (ST4S) Assessment

The ST4S Assessment has been developed to enhance the security, privacy, interoperability and online safety of software applications and services commonly used by Australian schools. The goals and standards of ST4S are shared by all Australian education jurisdictions – including state, territory, Catholic and independent school sectors – for the benefit of the whole education community. Makers Empire has participated in the ST4S process and meets the minimum required ST4S standards for safety and security.

Schools Control Privacy Settings For Students

Schools can choose privacy settings for their students. Student designs (including the username of the designer) and comments can be shared:

only within a class;
only with designers within a school;
only with designers from other schools; and
publicly i.e. with the whole community via the Makers Empire Gallery;

App users can choose to make their specific designs public or private within the app by choosing ‘showing’ or ‘hidden’ when publishing their design.

Learn more via our help article: what are my options re student privacy?

Students Must Abide by the Acceptable Content Policy

Our acceptable content policy provides guidelines for appropriate user-generated content in the Makers Empire app, what constitutes user-generated content, prohibited material and how we manage unacceptable content. Makers Empire protects users from unacceptable content with a variety of built-in tools. Learn more about our acceptable content policy.

Comments in the Makers Empire app contribute to an engaged community, providing useful feedback for designers. Makers Empire protects users from negative or unwanted comments with a variety of built-in tools. Users can also moderate comments left on their designs. Learn more in commenting policy and view help article: what can I do re: negative comments?

Students Must Agree to The Maker Promise

When new users open the Makers Empire 3D design app, the Maker Promise displayed asks them to promise to abide by three rules when using Makers Empire:

No violent designs. No weapons;
No bad language. No bullying;
Be creative. Be positive. Be respectful.

In the three months following the introduction of the Maker Promise, the number of reported designs fell by 53% and the number of moderated users dropped by 83%. While these changes may be due to a number of factors, early indicators are that the Maker Promise is effective in helping to set expectations and promote positive behaviours.

Custom Solutions for Enterprise Partners and School Districts

For enterprise customers, corporate partners and trusts partnering with us on multi-school projects, we offer customised safety enhancements:

Data privacy agreements (DPAs) – Makers Empire has the ability to be assessed against and meet required student privacy agreements as well as the ability to sign and comply with individual data privacy agreements as required by schools and school districts. We have signed individual privacy agreements as required by state education departments and school districts like Denver Public Schools and the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Custom SSO integrations – if you require your students and/or teachers to login to Makers Empire via your specific teaching or student platform beyond our current Google Classroom, Schoology, Clever, Apple and Microsoft integrations, we can build custom integrations to deliver this.
Custom student data storage – if you have specific requirements regarding storage of your students’ data speak to us and we will work with you to find a solution that meets your needs.

7 Ways To Teach Responsible Digital Behaviours with Makers Empire

Makers Empire provides many opportunities for teachers to emphasise e-safety and provide authentic opportunities for students to practice safe and responsible digital behaviours in a protected, child-friendly environment. Check out top 7 ways to teach responsible digital behaviours using Makers Empire to help students become safe and effective digital citizens.