Dr. Sejal Foxx and Team Selected for NC Collaboratory Grant

The team composed of Drs. Florence Martin, Callie Edwards, and Rebekah Davis at NCSU; Sejal Foxx, and Chao Wang at UNCC were one of 20 selected to be funded by the NC Collaboratory Grant. Their research project entitled, “Keeping Students Safe in the Digital World: Examining Monitoring Technologies Used by K-12 Schools During the Pandemic” received a grant in the amount of $297,953. Below is the description and purpose of the research project.

Public Information Summary COVID-19 compelled teachers and students to shift to digital teaching and learning promoting the use of educational technology. During the pandemic, North Carolina General Assembly utilized ESSER III State reserve funds to help districts and charter schools monitor student internet activity and help identify and protect young children from related threats such as violence, self-harm, and suicide; child pornography, online predators, and sexual content; cyberbullying or other forms of online abuse; and drug or alcohol abuse. While intuition is that such monitoring software can protect children from various types of attacks, a comprehensive evaluation is still lacking on their effectiveness and the tradeoff between the protection and the sacrifice of children’s privacy. This research study brings together researchers with expertise in educational technology, cybersecurity, school counseling, and program evaluation to examine the effectiveness and impact of the use of software applications to monitor student internet activity.

The USCC congratulates Dr. Foxx (as well as Drs. Florence Martin, Callie Edwards, Rebekah Davis, and Chao Wang) on this accomplishment and on being selected for this competitive grant!