Last modified: October 09, 2020
Thank you for participating in the University of Southern California, USC Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy (the “School”) Doctor of Physical Therapy online program (the “Program”). This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) describes how the School’s technology partner, 2U, Inc. (“2U,” “we,” or “us”), located at 7900 Harkins Road, Lanham, Maryland 20706, United States, collects, uses, and discloses information from and about you when you participate in the Program via 2usc.dpt.usc.edu (the “Learning Management System”), as well as your ability to control certain uses of that information. It also describes certain data protection rights which apply, subject to applicable law, including a right to object to some of the processing that 2U carries out. More information about your rights, and how to exercise them, is set out in “Accessing and Managing Your Personal Information” below.
2U shares your personal information collected by the Learning Management System with the School. To learn how the School processes your personal information, please visit their privacy policy.
2U respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through our compliance with this Privacy Policy. By accessing or otherwise using the Learning Management System, you agree to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into the LMS Terms of Use), and to 2U’s collection, use, and disclosure of your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy, where such agreement is permitted by applicable law.
We regularly review our compliance with this Privacy Policy. Whenever we receive a formal complaint, we make best efforts to contact the person who made the complaint to attempt to resolve his or her concerns. If you have any questions about the use of your information, or the contents of this Privacy Policy, please contact us at privacy@2U.com.
2U collects information from you when you choose to provide it to us. For example, we collect your information when you submit information about yourself in the Learning Management System, when you interact with content on the Learning Management System, or otherwise contact us or provide information to us through the Learning Management System or otherwise. The information we collect includes personal information – such as your name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, prior educational background information, assignments that you submit via the Leaning Management System, the content of any communications that you exchange via the Learning Management System – and non-personal information.
2U collects and processes information as directed by the School, such as class assignments and exams. In some cases, we require your personal information in order to perform a contract or to comply with a legal obligation.
When you visit the Learning Management System or interact with e-mails that we send to you, we passively collect information from you, including your internet protocol address (“IP address”), browser type, operating system, device identifier, device model, software version, or mobile or ISP carrier information. We also use cookies and other technologies to collect information about your visit to the Learning Management System, such as using cookies to authenticate you during your Learning Management System session. “Cookies” are small files which may be stored on your computer during your use of the Learning Management System and contain data about your use of the Learning Management System. We use session cookies (which expire when you close your browser) and persistent cookies (which expire after a specified period) to enable functionality of the Learning Management System, including for authentication, placement site notifications, and dashboard functionality. Please see 2U’s Cookie Policy for details about how we use cookies and other tracking technologies and how you can control the cookies set on your browser.
You may adjust your browser or operating system settings to limit tracking or to decline cookies. If you choose to limit tracking or decline cookies, however, you may be unable to access certain areas of the Learning Management System. Check the “Help” menu of your browser or operating system to learn how to change your tracking settings or Cookie preferences. Learn more about the use of cookies or other tracking technologies and your choices regarding the use of information collected this way by certain Service Providers (as defined below). On your mobile device, you can adjust your privacy and advertising settings to limit tracking for advertising or control whether you receive more relevant advertising. Note that our systems may not recognize Do Not Track headers or requests from some or all browsers. Please see our Cookie Policy for more information or to opt out.
Where permitted by law, we collect or receive information about you from other sources with which you interact (e.g., Facebook or LinkedIn), companies that are our partners, or other entities within the 2U family of companies to update or supplement the information that you provide or that we collect automatically. We use this information to help us maintain the accuracy of the information we collect, to target our communications so that we can inform you of products or services offered by the 2U family of companies that may be of interest to you, and for internal business analysis or other business purposes.
We combine the information we receive from and about you via the Learning Management System and from the School to help us tailor our communications to you and to improve the Learning Management System.
Failure to provide certain information may make it difficult or impossible for you to access some services through the Learning Management System, including to register for and complete a Program. You will need to ensure that personal information submitted to us is accurate and up-to-date. For example, we need a current email address to communicate with you about the Program in which you are enrolled.
We do not direct the Learning Management System to, nor do we knowingly collect any personal information from, children under the age of 16.
We process your personal information for the following purposes:
To fulfill our contract with the School and to provide our services, including;
To set up and manage accounts and profiles;
To verify your identity;
To communicate with you and respond to your requests, comments or complaints;
To keep our records accurate and up to date;
To personalize your experience on the Learning Management System and in any Program in which you choose to enroll and to help us to better respond to your individual needs;
To improve and enhance services provided on behalf of the School;
To provide the products and services you have requested;
To protect the security and functionality of the Learning Management System, including:
Monitoring customer accounts to prevent, investigate and/or report fraud, misrepresentation, security incidents or crime, in accordance with applicable law;
Using personal information you provide to investigate any complaints received from you or from others about our Learning Management System or our products and services.
To conduct 2U’s business and pursue our legitimate interests to ensure that we conduct our business in line with our objectives, to improve and develop our products an services, and keeping our records accurate and up to date, including:
To contact you for our legitimate business purposes;
To invite you to take part in market research;
To develop new products or services or to conduct analysis to enhance current products and services;
Where permitted by law, to communicate with you about other programs and products provided by the 2U family of companies that may be of interest to you;
To review the usage and operations of the Learning Management System and to analyze and improve the Learning Management System (we continually strive to improve the Learning Management System based on the information and feedback we receive from you);
We conduct balancing tests for the data processing we carry out on the basis of our legitimate interests. For more details on the balancing test we have carried out, please contact us at privacy@2u.com. You may also have the right to object to our use of your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interests as described at the outset of this policy.
Where you give us consent, including:
where consent is required by applicable law, sending you direct marketing in relation to our relevant products and services, or other products and services provided by 2U and the 2U family of companies;
on other occasions where we ask you for consent, using the data for the purpose which we explain at that time.
For purposes that are required by law, including:
in response to requests by government or law enforcement authorities conducting an investigation;
using personal information in connection with legal claims, compliance, regulatory and investigative purposes as necessary, including disclosure of such information in connection with legal process or litigation.
For reasons not described in this Privacy Policy where the reason is compatible with the purpose for which we originally collected your information and where such use is lawful.
We use de-identified aggregate or anonymized information to help us analyze the use of the Learning Management System. Where permitted by law, this Privacy Policy does not limit our use or disclosure of de-identified aggregate, pseudonymous, or anonymous information, and we reserve the right to use and disclose such information to our partners, advertisers, and other third parties in our discretion.
2U shares your information with other entities or individuals in the following limited circumstances:
The School: We share your information with the School in order to process your information (such as your participation in the Program, your academic materials, your assignments, and your preliminary grade information) and to fulfill our contracted responsibilities to the School. Once 2U shares your information with the School, 2U does not maintain control over the School’s use of your information. We also share de-identified aggregate, pseudonymous, or anonymous information with the School for their own research and analytics purposes. The School’s use of your information will be subject to its privacy policy.
The 2U Family of Companies: Where you have expressed interest and given your consent, we share your information within the 2U family of companies to provide you with information about other educational programs.
Service Providers: We share your information with third parties that provide business, professional, or technical support functions for us. In particular, we use third-party providers for website hosting, maintenance, marketing services, courier services, certification services, business operations, payment services, and identity verification services (“Service Providers”). These Service Providers are only given access to your information to the extent necessary to process your information and/or provide services to 2U, and they are prohibited from using or sharing your information for any other purposes.
Your Employer: We may share your information with your employer in the event that the employer is paying for your Program. Information disclosed in this case shall include Program performance information, unless otherwise expressly agreed in writing with 2U.
Legal Matters; Safety: We access or share your information to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request; in connection with an investigation on matters related to public safety; as permitted by law; or otherwise as required by law. We disclose your information to protect the security of the Program, the Learning Management System, servers, network systems, and databases. We also disclose your information, as necessary, if we believe that there has been a violation of our Terms of Use (including investigation of potential violations thereof), any other legal document or contract related to the Learning Management System, or the rights of any third party.
Fraud; Security: We access and disclose your information to detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or other technical issues.
Consent; Other: We share information with third parties when we have your consent, or otherwise as described to you at the point of collection.
Sale or Transfer of Business or Assets: 2U may sell or purchase assets during the normal course of our business. If another entity acquires us or any of our assets, information we have collected about you may be transferred to such entity. In addition, if any bankruptcy or reorganization proceeding is brought by or against us, such information may be considered an asset of ours and may be sold or transferred to third parties. Should such a sale or transfer occur, we will use reasonable efforts to try to require that the transferee use your information in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy.
International Transfers: We transfer personal information from the European Economic Area (“EEA”) to other countries, including the United States and South Africa. Where information is transferred outside the EEA to a third party in a country that is not subject to an adequacy decision by the EU Commission, data is adequately protected by Standard Contractual Clauses, an appropriate Privacy Shield certification or a vendor’s Processor Binding Corporate Rules. A copy of the relevant mechanism can be provided for your review on request to privacy@2u.com.
We are committed to protecting the security of your information. We maintain what we believe to be appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure your information and to prevent unauthorized access, maintain accuracy, and ensure appropriate use of your information. The accuracy, safety, and security of your information also depend on you. Where we have given you – or where you have chosen –a password for access to certain parts of the Learning Management System, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask that you not share your password with anyone. Even though we do our best to protect your information, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure, and we cannot guarantee our security measures. We are not responsible for any unauthorized access to or acquisition of your information.
We retain your personal information for as long as we have a relationship with you. We also may retain your personal information for longer period of time which enables us to:
Once you create a profile on the Learning Management System, you may access and/or update your personal information through your user profile.
In some instances, you may be eligible to (a) ask us for a copy of your personal information; (b) correct, delete, or restrict processing of your personal information; and/or (c) obtain the personal information you provide to us in a structured, machine readable format. In addition, you may have the right under applicable law to object to the processing of your personal information in some circumstances.
Your rights regarding your personal information may be limited in certain circumstances, for example, if fulfilling your request would reveal personal information about another person or would infringe the rights of a third party (including our rights), or if you ask us to delete information which the School is or we are required by law to keep or have compelling legitimate interests in keeping. We will inform you of the relevant exemption upon which we rely when responding to any request you make.
Our use of certain personal information is necessary for us to provide information to you about the Program or to provide services to you through the Learning Management System or otherwise. If you choose not to provide this personal information or request that 2U delete or restrict the processing of this personal information, you may not be able to participate in the Program, and we may not be able to provide you with other services, including those provided through the Learning Management System or advertised about the Program.
If you believe your rights regarding your personal information have been infringed upon, or you wish to access or delete your information as described in this section, please contact us as set forth in the “Additional Information” section below. If you are located in the EEA or Switzerland and have unresolved concerns, you also have a right to lodge a complaint with the applicable Data Protection Authority.
You have specific rights relating to the disclosure of any personal information that you provide to us and/or education records that we may create about you under the Family Education Rights & Privacy Act (“FERPA”). You may also have specific rights under FERPA related to accessing and/or updating your personal information. Certain records may be excluded from education records made available for inspection, within the bounds of the law and our confidentiality undertakings with third parties. You may also request amendment of education records that you believe are inaccurate, misleading or in violation of your rights. If you would like to inspect and review your education records pursuant to FEPRA, you may submit a request to the School’s FERPA office.
Where applicable, 2U acts as a Data Processor in the course of processing personal information to provide the Learning Management System on behalf of the School, which is the Data Controller of such personal information. In some instances, however, 2U determines the purposes and means of processing personal information, as described in this Privacy Policy, for the following purposes: conducting internal analytics for the development and improvement of 2U’s products and services; marketing 2U-powered products and services; and to the extent required by applicable laws and regulations (the “2U Controller Processing Activities”). See “How We Use Your Information” above. For the purposes of the 2U Controller Processing Activities, 2U acts as a Data Controller and does not act as a Data Processor on behalf of the School. For the purposes of EU or UK data protection law, you can find a list of 2U data controllers here.
You may also have the right to file a complaint with the Data Protection Authority in the European Union country in which you live or in the UK, if applicable. To make a data subject request pertaining to your personal information processed by 2U, use 2U’s Data Request Form.
For the purposes Article 27 of the General Data Protection Regulation, the representative within the European Union/UK for 2U data controllers not established in the European Union is 2U (UK) LTD C/o Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP 40 Bank Street, Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom, E14 5DS, +44 20 3457 5774, privacy@2u.com.
The relevant Data Controller will be charged with making decisions regarding the purposes and means of processing of data under the terms of this Privacy Policy.
Any information you may disclose through the Learning Management System, such as on message boards, in chat rooms, or on other public areas on the Learning Management System, may be viewed by others, such as your classmates and faculty. Please exercise caution when disclosing personal information in these public areas. You are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of all information submitted to the Learning Management System, and you agree to only publish or share information about a third party with the third party’s consent.
Your content may be made available, and may be accessed, viewed, stored, collected, or used by other users of the Learning Management System, such as your classmates and faculty, subject to your restrictions and the Terms of Use . If you do not want 2U to store metadata associated with your content, please remove the metadata before uploading your content.
YOU ARE PROHIBITED FROM UPLOADING OR SUBMITTING ANY OF YOUR CONTENT THAT INCLUDES PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION (“PHI”) OR PERSONAL INFORMATION (“PI”) OF PATIENTS, SUCH AS PATIENT NAMES. BEFORE YOU UPLOAD OR SUBMIT ANY INFORMATION, PLEASE REVIEW AND REDACT ANY PHI OR PI OF PATIENTS. 2U has no obligation to pre-screen Your Content. By transmitting or submitting any information you affirm, represent and warrant that such transmission or submission does not contain PHI or PI of patients.
As used herein, the term “Personal Information” (or “PI”) means any information which can be used to identify a person, including: name, date of birth, mailing address, home phone number, cell phone number, e-mail address, credit card information, and/or Social Security number, and the term “Protected Health Information” (or “PHI”) means any information of a person related to health or medical status, including: PI when associated with names of doctors, health conditions, medicines, or prescription information and history.
The Learning Management System may also offer you the ability to interact with content provided by third parties not affiliated with 2U (“Third-Party Content”). Third-Party Content linked to or embedded on this Website is governed by the privacy policies of those third parties. Your use of Third-Party Content is subject to each site’s privacy policy, which may be different from ours. We have no control over the information that is collected, stored, or used by Third Party Content.”
We review this Privacy Policy from time to time and reserve the right to make changes to this Privacy Policy at any time. If we do make material changes, we will give notice via the Learning Management System features or by otherwise contacting you.
You may direct any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy to privacy@2u.com.
View the previous version of this Privacy Policy.