blacksacademy.net
Introduction
Blacksacademy.net is a system for remote learning owned by Black's Academy Limited. When you use blacksacademy.net, you are trusting us with your information. We acknowledge that this is a serious responsibility. We are committed to keeping you and your family's information safe.This Privacy Policy is intended to help you understand what information we collect, why we collect it and how you can update, manage, export and delete your information.
Overview
As a member of the public, you use blacksacademy.net as either (a) a student or (b) a parent and/or person with legal responsibility for a student. A person with legal responsibility is here designated in this document a parent, but the website provides the possibility of selecting from several specific alternative descriptions of this role. No information is collected from children below the age of 13. The user with full control over the account of a student is designated the primary account holder. While it is possible for students from the age of 13 upwards to create and manage their own accounts, and to be the primary account holder of their own account, we strongly encourage any student between the ages of 13 and 18 to involve parental authority, and to transfer the primary account holder authority to a person legally responsible for him or her. No student below the age of 18 can have a tutor unless he or she has transferred the primary account to a person legally responsible for him or her. Hence, the only way in which a student between the ages of 13 and 18 can use the website, is for the purpose of self-study. The website also provides the facility for multiple persons with parental role to view information and/or receive reports regarding the student's progress, but there can be only one primary account holder for any given student. It is the primary account holder who decides which other users have access to the information of the student.Purpose
The purpose of blacksacademy.net remote learning system is to advance the educational attainment of the student as rapidly as possible, while providing the student with an educational experience that is effective, enjoyable, and motivating.
Types of student
At blacksacademy.net students may study either on their own, or with a tutor, or in a combination of both. A student who is his or her own primary account holder, and who has no tutor, is designated an independent student. Such a student may, for example, be an adult studying for an examination target such as GED or the Scholastic Aptitude Test. A non-adult student with a parent (or other parental authority) who is not his or her own primary account holder, may study on his or her own, or with a tutor. Blacksacademy.net provides a system whereby students and tutors may be paired. When a student works with a tutor this is designated coaching. The terms tutor and coach, and the terms tutoring and coaching may be used interchangeably.
Child-protection
At the request of the primary account holder, the student may be provided with a tutor. The pairing of students with tutors is a great responsibility. Where the student is below the age of 18, it involves the responsibility of child-protection.
Profiling of educational attainment
The purpose of the blacksacademy.net remote learning system is to provide a student with a highly effective educational program of study that is targeted to his or her specific needs. It is essential to this process that a profile of the educational attainment of the student is generated. This is achieved initially through the student taking a diagnostic test, and subsequently through on-going profiling of the student's knowledge. The profile creates a map of the concepts and skills that the student has experienced, and what level of attainment or mastery the student has in them. It provides a basis for a predication of grade in any external examination that the student is working towards. The blacksacademy.net algorithm targets the student with workouts, exercises and multiple-choice quizzes that are intended to rapidly advance the educational attainment of the student.
Session data
When a user signs into blacksacademy.net, this creates a session. To maintain the security of the system, blacksacademy.net gathers session data. Session data prevents unauthorised access to a user's account, by ensuring that the accountholder is logged in to the website. The website also has an automatic timeout facility.
While blacksacademy.net does gather session data, it does not gather any information about the browser activities of its users that could be used to offer other products. The only products offered by blacksacademy.net are those that blacksacademy.net provides, which are (a) access to an educational program devised by blacksacademy.net by chapter, and (b) coaching with a suitable tutor for an educational program devised by blacksacademy.net.
Blacksacademy.net contains no advertisements. Blacksacademy.net uses no third-party tracking.
Contact
Blacksacademy.net is an imprint of Black's Academy Limited.
By mail
Any questions about the privacy and other policies of Black's Academy Limited and/or Tapestry may be sent by mail to:
Peter Fekete Data Protection Officer Black's Academy Limited 61 Bridge Street Kington Herefordshire HR5 3DJ UK
Black's Academy Limited is registered as a private limited company in the United Kingdom, No. 11330280.
By contact form
Any registered user of blacksacademy.net, once he or she has signed in, may use the contact form provided on the website. Any issue may be raised on that contact form. We aim to reply to all enquiries within 24 hours.
Information we collect at registration
On immediate registration
A student or parent who first registers at blacksacademy.net is asked to provide the following information:
First Name, Surname, Email, Username, Password
The user is also asked to select a version of the website.
A parent is asked to select from a range of specific descriptions corresponding to the role of parent, before being invited to register a student. Registration of a student is presumed to be the main purpose of the parent when he or she registers him or herself; however, registration of a student is optional at initial registration and may be deferred. Registration of a student asks the parent or student for the same information as above. A parent is asked to confirm the version and to specify a relationship to the student from a range of options.
Use of alias
An alias is a name used other than the given legal name of a person. At blacksacademy.net, both the first name and surname may be an alias. If an alias is used, it may be changed at any time by the primary account holder. A user might choose to register first with an alias, and then change that alias to a legal name.
Username
A user of blacksacademy.net is identified uniquely by his or her username. Therefore, it is important for the user to store his or her username securely and only to share it with persons trusted by the user. Once registered, the username cannot be changed by the primary account holder. All other fields, with the exception of the field giving the date of registration of the user, can be edited by the primary account holder following the link "my account" provided in the side-panel once the user has signed-in.
Email address
The email address of a user is the primary means of communication between blacksacademy.net and the user of blacksacademy.net. Hence, the email address must be a valid email address to which the user has the legal right of access. On registration, a confirmation email is sent to the registered email address, and the user is required to confirm it. Only then can the registration process be completed.
Changing an email address
The email address of a user can be changed by the user, provided he or she is the primary account holder for the account. If a parent is the primary account holder of a student, then the student cannot change the email address. When the email address is changed the user should have access to the original email address which is registered at blacksacademy.net. If the user no longer has access to that email address, then the user should use the contact form provided on the website to explain the problem. Black's Academy will then contact that user and apply additional security checks before enabling the change of email address. A fee is charged for this service.
Email communication between blacksacademy.net and the user
Email communication between blacksacademy.net and the user is kept to a reasonable minimum and is used for the purpose solely of managing the educational program of a student. No marketing material or promotional material is sent by blacksacademy.net.
Blacksacademy.net is not responsible for any website not maintained jointly by blacksacademy.net in partnership with a partner school.
Multiple accounts with the same email address
A parent as primary account holder can choose to use his or her email address as the registered email address of a student. A single email address may be shared among different users. In this way, a parent as primary account holder on behalf of the student may opt to manage the email communication from blacksacademy.net with the student, and have those communications sent directly to him or herself rather than to an alternative student email address.
Password
The user may use any combination of the usual keyboard characters as a password. It is the responsibility of the user to devise a password that is sufficiently complex to ensure that it cannot be hacked. The password may be changed from the "my account" page by a process that requires a confirmation email sent to the user's registered email address.
Language versions
At the date given above, blacksacademy.net exists in two versions: (1) American English, with US Customary units of measurement, and (2) British English, with SI (System International) units of measurement. The user is requested to select the version at registration and this version is confirmed during the verification process. The version is defined for the student primarily. Hence, a parent may have two students (children), one using the American English version, and the other using the British English version. The language version of the parent is for information only. There is no prohibition against a single student having two accounts, one for American and the other for British English. This may occur, for instance, when a British student wishes to take an American exam such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Once selected, the language version cannot be altered. If an alteration is required, the user is advised to register a new account and start over. A range of examination targets are provided for all students, and all offered examinations, American and British, are available to all students; but a student registered for British English, for instance, will study for an American exam using non-customary units, and this may place the student at a disadvantage. However, it is an easy matter to create two accounts if needed, one for each version.
Parent designations
After confirming registration, a parent is required to select a specific designation from the following options: parent, guardian, sponsor, employer, trustee, custodian, teacher, supervisor, headmaster, director, manager, mentor, grandparent, aunt/uncle, other. A parent selecting the category "other" will be identified on the website with the designation "primary account holder". This selection may be edited at any time from the "my account" page. The options provide different descriptions of a relationship of trust that exists between the parent and a student. The purpose of a parent account, under any description, is to set up and manage the program of study of a student. When a student account is created by a parent, the parent is asked to describe the relationship from a corresponding range of options.
Additional optional fields
During the subsequent registration process, the user is invited to supply further information. All such information is optional, that is, strictly not required; it is provided by the user for the purposes of the user. For example, a parent may wish to receive telephone communication from blacksacademy.net with a view to a consultation about the needs of a student, to identify the best course to follow and/or to provide a tutor. This is possible by email communication, but the parent may wish to receive a call-back, and hence wish to supply one or more telephone numbers. Any information provided is held securely by blacksacademy.net and is not shared with any third party.
Optional fields are: Telephone 1, Telephone 2, Address, Communications, Notes
The communications field governs any information necessary to set up a connection between two users. A tutor, for instance, will require at least one such connection. Into this field may be entered such information as a Skype address or a Zoom page. Communication between tutors and students is described below. The information is supplied is optional and provided by the user (parent, student) for the purpose of furthering their aim to obtain effective coaching. The information is stored securely on the server(s) of blacksacademy.net and is not shared with any third-party.
Blacksacademy.net also records the date on which the registration was first made. This field cannot be edited but is displayed on the "my account" page.
Session data
When you log in, we collect your IP address. No other information, such as browser specification, is collected. While you are signed in, we collect information about the pages that you visit. This information is collected for diagnostic purposes. The main activity of blacksacademy.net is to create and update a profile of a student's cognitive understanding. We may also collect for diagnostic purposes the response of students to each problem presented. This enables us to understand the cognitive processes in learning better, and to maintain the pertinence and accuracy of our educational material. Such information we collect is targeted at analysis of the questions and problems we provide, rather than the activity of the student who attempts them.
We use this data (a) to maintain and improve our services, (b) to develop new services, (c) to provide personalised services by targeting learning experiences to the specific cognitive level of the student, (d) to measure the performance of our systems, (e) to communicate with you.
Managing, reviewing, and updating your information
Account settings can be edited and updated through the link in the user side-panel, "my account". The profile of the student is generated by the blacksacademy.net algorithm and cannot be directly changed by the student or parent. The account may be altogether removed by request from the "my account" page. Security checks are applied to this process to ensure that data that is deleted is not done so through fraudulent or malicious activity. For this reason, any deletion of data is not immediate or automatic, but a delay is applied so that it can be assured that the request is bona-fide. A fee may be charged for this service.
Services
Blacksacademy.net provides two related services.I. As publisher, blacksacademy.net provides educational material organised by chapter. The chapters are further organised into courses, which may include courses for examination targets. After an initial trial period, the user opts to pay for access to further chapters. Access to the chapters is paid for on a pay-as-you go basis. The user pays in advance for chapter credits which are then applied when a new chapter is opened. Payment is by the chapter, and not for the course. The possibility exists that a chapter may be part of the scheme of work of more than one course. However, if the chapter has already been paid for in one course, no additional charge is raised for its use in any other course.
II. Additonally, blacksacademy.net provides on-line coaching. After a trial lesson, the student or parent on behalf of the student pays in advance for further coaching by the hour. Coaching is billed in 15-minute time units to the nearest 15 minutes.
A student may use blacksacademy.net:
I. For self-study. In this case the student gains access to the program of study provided by blacksacademy.net by paying in advance for chapter credits which are then applied on pay as used basis. The relationship between the student and blacksacademy.net in such a case is like that of a reader to the publisher of a textbook.
II. To be coached by a tutor. In this case, payments are made on behalf of a student for that student to have access to the chapters on the same basis as I above, while also paying in advance for coaching. Anyone who is granted access to the student's account by the primary account holder may pay for the coaching; it is not necessary that the person who pays for the coaching is the same person as the student.
Communications
Communications between tutor and studentWhen a parent or independent student engages a tutor that parent or independent student gives consent to supply information so that a series of third-party methods of communication can be established.
I. Blacksacademy.net provide each tutor with a Whiteboard. A tutor pastes a problem from the blacksacademy.net website into the whiteboard and student and tutor work jointly on the problem. This whiteboard is supplied by an independent organisation; blacksacademy.net do also provide access through their own portal to any question being currently studied by the student, so that all tutoring may continue in the event that no whiteboard at all is available.
II. In addition to the whiteboard, communication is established between the tutor and the student by means of a third-party app, such as Skype or Zoom. By supplying contact details for such an application, the student and/or parent (acting as primary account holder on behalf of a student) consents to this communication.
Blacksacademy.net does not accept any liability for difficulties or interruptions of service provided by any third-party app used for the purpose of communication, such as Skype or Zoom.
In general, a coaching session between a tutor and a student of blacksacademy.net involves three apps running concurrently. (A) The blacksacademy.net portal, which is managing the course program and profile of the student. This should not be closed by the student during coaching, as it is used to update the information as to the position of the student when following a course or program of study. (B) The communication software, such as Skype or Zoom, used by the tutor and student to talk to one another. (C) The whiteboard, used by the tutor and student, to communicate the problem and share written solutions. By agreeing to engage a tutor, the independent student and/or parent acting as primary account holder on behalf of a student consents to this pattern of communication between tutor and student, and to the use of any other app that may be reasonably construed as facilitating such communication.
It is not a requirement of blacksacademy.net that all tutoring sessions are subject to video recording. However, in the event of dispute, blacksacademy.net may instruct a tutor to record a tutoring session. In this event, the permission of the primary account holder is obtained in advance. Nonetheless, blacksacademy.net do require a tutor to submit a report on every tutoring session made, and these reports are moderated. Additionally, session data of a tutoring session is recorded for a range of routine activities, such as working through problems in a chapter. (This is designated a workout.) The moderator is tasked with the responsibility to ensure that reports are accurate, and nothing is contained in a report indicative of anything other than the strict standard required of a tutor.
Payment for and management of services
Blacksacademy.net does not directly collect any debit/credit card or payment information for courses offered by blacksacademy.net. Payments for services of blacksacademy.net are processed by Stripe. When a user wishes to pay for a service, the user is transferred by blacksacademy.net to the Stripe payment gateway, where credit card information is collected, and payment is made. Stripe creates an invoice and provides blacksacademy.net with payment confirmation. On payment, the user returns directly to the blacksacademy.net website, and the services are immediately credited to the user. A series of records of all such payments is accessible from the user credits page, by means of links from the user side-panel. At the point of sale, blacksacademy.net is provided with information as to the payment made and the last four digits of the debit or credit card used. This information is not stored by blacksacademy.net but is available to blacksacademy.net through the account portal of Stripe. This information may be used to authenticate requests regarding the data of a student or parent stored by blacksacademy.net.Authentication of sensitive requests
The information provided by the user to Stripe when paying for a service offered by blacksacademy.net then provides the basis for authentication of any sensitive requests of the user. Since the usage of the blacksacademy.net without payment is limited to a trial period, this is deemed to provide sufficient information for authentication. For example, if a parent on behalf of a student requests deletion of the student's data, then blacksacademy.net may authenticate that request by reference to the payment details stored by Stripe.
Automated deletion of dormant accounts
An account is deemed dormant if it is not used for a continuous period of six months. The data of a dormant account may be deemed suitable for deletion by blacksacademy.net. In this event, the user is informed by email to his/her registered email address and asked to confirm the deletion. If the user confirms the deletion, or if there is no reply, the data may be deleted one month after the first notice was issued.
Management of services
The user (independent student or person acting on behalf of a student) pays in advance for either chapter credits or tuition hours via the Stripe payment gateway. Chapter credits and tuition hours are immediately credited to the account of the student and are not at this time transferrable between different students.
While chapter credits are not deemed used until the student opens a chapter that has not already been credited, payment for chapter credits is non-refundable.
Payments for tuition hours are used if and only when a tutor gives a lesson to a student. After a lesson, the tutor submits a report to the primary account holder of the student account. All reports are moderated first by a moderator appointed by blacksacademy.net. If the report is accepted by the moderator, it is forwarded to the primary account holder, who must then approve or reject the report and payment. Until the report is approved by the primary account holder, no charge is made against the tuition account of the student.
Trial lesson
Tutors of blacksacademy.net are required to give a trial lesson to a student. The duration of the trial lesson is at the discretion of the tutor, but it is normally expected to last one hour. The primary account holder must approve the report submitted for the trial lesson before any payments can be made by the primary account holder on behalf of a student in respect of that tutor.
Moderation of reports and quality control
The moderation of reports constitutes a quality control procedure of blacksacademy.net. The moderator is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that reports are accurate records of the lesson given, both as to content and time. To assist this process, blacksacademy.net automatically record session data for all lessons given, and this session data may be included in the report sent by the tutor at the discretion of the tutor. This session data is to ensure accurate reports and prevent disputes arising. In addition, the moderator monitors the relationship between the tutor and the student to ensure that it complies with professional standards and, should the student be below the age of 18, with child protection and safeguarding protocols.
On accepting a report
On confirming acceptance of a report and the lesson time, the time is immediately credited to the account of the tutor, and a fee raised by blacksacademy.net. Until that point, the payment in the tuition account is deemed to be the property of the primary account holder, who may request a refund. Blacksacademy.net may charge a fixed fee for processing a refund. When processed the primary account holder is refunded the balance in the tuition account less the fixed fee. Fees may be changed from time to time.
Locking of tuition
Once a tutor has raised a report and submitted a billing time, the account of the tutor is locked That is, a tutor may not continue tutoring a student until any open report and its associated billing time has been accepted by the primary account holder on behalf of the student.
The primary account holder is expected to read, acknowledge and either accept or reject all reports submitted by tutors on behalf of students. If the primary account holder fails in this responsibility, then no further tuition can take place.
On rejecting a report
If a report is rejected by the primary account holder, then a dispute is raised. The raising of a dispute immediately locks the account of the student with the tutor in question, but, in the first instance, with only that tutor. If a student has multiple tutors, then the student may continue lessons with tutors whose accounts are not locked.
The moderator is tasked with responsibility to resolve the dispute as quickly as possible, by getting in touch with both the primary account holder and the tutor to understand the dispute and unlock the tuition account. Possible outcomes include ‐ changing the billing time, submission of an alternative report, termination of the coaching provided by the tutor, and replacement of the tutor by another tutor. (This list is not intended to be exhaustive.) Only if the dispute is resolved, can the student continue being coached by that tutor.
Locking of a student account
Blacksacademy.net provide tutors in good faith. It is assumed that the primary account holder, by paying in advance for tuition is also acting in good faith and having accepted the trial lesson is prepared to pay for coaching provided by that tutor. Should the number of disputes raised at any one time be greater than two, then blacksacademy.net may opt to permanently lock the account of the student. No arbitrary decision shall be made, but each case reviewed on its own merits, and the decision explained to the primary account holder. In this event a full refund of any payment made on behalf of the student will be made, less a management fee.
Tutor definitions and transfer of credits
It is possible that two different tutors of a given student may have the same tutor definition. In that case, the primary account holder may opt to transfer unused tuition credits between the two different tutors. This is designated manual transfer. However, by default, all tuition hours are credited to the tutor definition and transferred automatically to any tutor who falls under that definition. This default setting may be changed to manual by the primary account holder from the credit summary page for the student.
Payments may not be transferred between different tutor definitions. If such a transfer is wanted by the primary account holder, then a refund must first be made, and a new payment for the different tutor definition made. It is the responsibility of the primary account holder to ensure that a student has sufficient tutor hours credited to his or her account so that the tutor may continue coaching that student, and that the number of hours held on credit is not so great as to exceed the likely demand for coaching between that tutor and the student.
Storage and transfer of data
Legal basis we have for storage and processing of your dataThe legal basis on which blacksacademy.net store your data is that of consent by you, subject to the law of contract. By registering an account, you consent to the storage of the relevant data requested. When a student undertakes a diagnostic test, the student gives consent to blacksacademy.net and its partner school to process that diagnostic and store the information about the diagnostic. This consent may be withdrawn by the primary account holder acting on behalf of the student at any time. When a payment is made on account on behalf of a student the payee gives consent to blacksacademy.net and its partner school to store the relevant information required to supply the service.
Location of data
At the date of this notice, all the information about users (students, parents) is stored on a server located in Utah, USA.
Cyberspace is defined to be a global domain within the information environment consisting of the interdependent network of information systems infrastructures including the Internet, telecommunications networks, computer systems, and embedded processors and controllers.
By accepting the end-user agreement, the user acknowledges that the physical location of the data provided by the user and generated by the blacksacademy.net algorithm may be anywhere in the world, and thus a part of cyberspace. The physical location of the data could depend upon the policies of the companies engaged by blacksacademy.net and its partner schools to provide servers.
Compliance
Blacksacademy.net complies with standard regulations governing the storage and transfer of data, and the privacy of its end-users. Data protection laws vary among countries, with some providing more protection than others. Regardless of where your information is processed, we apply the same protections described in this policy The data protection policy of blacksacademy.net and its partner schools are designed to comply with (1) the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union; (2) the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA); (3) the fair information practice guidelines developed by the U.S. Department for Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) (later renamed Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)), by a Special Advisory Committee on Automated Personal Data Systems; and (4) the United Kingdom Data Protection Act 2018.
These four provisions are deemed to be sufficient to protect the data privacy of all users, regardless of their location in the world.
Transfer of data
Blacksacademy.net is also engaged with partner schools. There are two kinds of transfer of user data: (1) between partner schools of blacksacademy.net, or (2) from a partner school of blacksacademy.net to another external organisation.
Transfer of data to non-partnering external organisations
As of date of this notice, it is not the policy of blacksacademy.net or any partner school of blacksacademy.net to transfer any user data whatsoever to another external organisation.
Should a user wish to transfer data in this manner, the user shall take direct responsibility for it, by, for example, downloading the data from the blacksacademy.net partner school site and transferring the data him or herself personally to the external organisation. Neither blacksacademy.net nor any of its partner schools accept liability for accidental damage resulting from any such activity of the user.
Should a partner school of blacksacademy.net be deemed to be in breach of this provision, then the liability for the breech resides solely with the partner school, which indemnifies Black's Academy Limited against legal redress resulting from breach of this provision.
Should this policy be updated, then the user will be notified and asked to agree to a revised end-user agreement.
Transfer of data between partnering schools of blacksacademy.net
The transfer of data of a user from one partnering school of blacksacademy.net and another is affected by receipt of written request by use of the contact form on the partner version of the blacksacademy.net website. Upon receipt of this request, blacksacademy.net shall authenticate the request from the primary account holder. The partner school that holds the data shall be designated the donor of the data and the partner school that is to receive the data shall be designated the recipient of the data. Blacksacademy.net shall obtain the consent in writing of both the donor and recipient of the data to the request for the data transfer.
A fee is charged for a data-transfer between partner schools. Payment of the fee is deemed to be further authentication of the request. On receipt of payment, blacksacademy.net shall effect the transfer from the donor school to the recipient school. The data is deleted from the donor school server and added to the recipient school server and database.
Legitimate interests
We process your information for our legitimate interests and those of third parties including partner schools while applying appropriate safeguards that protect your privacy. This means that we process your information for the purpose of:
• Providing, maintaining and improving our services to meet the needs of our users • Developing new products and features that are useful for our users • Understanding how people use our services to ensure and improve the performance of our services • Customising our services to provide you with a better user experience • Marketing to inform users about our services • Detecting, preventing or otherwise addressing fraud, abuse, security or technical issues with our services • Protecting against harm to the rights, property or safety of Black's Academy Limited, our partner schools, our users or the public as required or permitted by law, including disclosing information to government authorities • Performing research that improves our services for our users and benefits the public • Fulfilling obligations to our partner schools • Enforcing legal claims, including investigation of potential violations of applicable Terms of Service
Changes to this policy
We change this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will not reduce your rights under this Privacy Policy without your explicit consent. We always indicate the date when the last changes were published, and we offer access to archived versions for your review.