E-learning and LMS blog articles

The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) came into effect on 25^th May 2018.

If you are unfamiliar with GDPR, the guide at the Information Commissioner’s Office website is a good starting point: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/

The GDPR extends current Data Protection legislation and penalties for non-compliance can be severe (potentially the higher of €20M or 4% of global turnover).

There are numerous areas to be addressed to achieve GDPR compliance. One of them is to consider how software used in your organisation supports Data Controllers and Data processors meet the compliance requirements.

Moodle software developments to assist with compliance

Moodle HQ have a set of features now in development which will assist in meeting compliance needs for:

• Onboarding of new users
• Privacy statements
• The tracking of consent
• Handling of subject access requests.

Moodle state that the features will initially be implemented as plugins, with the following functionality:

1. The onboarding process of new users, including:

a. Displaying all required privacy statements

b. Listing and requesting consent for all 3rd-parties who may receive user data

c. Establishing a process for consenting minors

d. Capturing and recording each specific consent given by a user.

2. Processes to comply with subject access requests for a particular user, including:

a. A request to retrieve all user data on Moodle

b. A request to erase all identifiable user data on Moodle

c. A request to modify user data.

The initial release of these developments will be as plugins, currently expected in March 2018.

The plugins will be compatible with Moodle 3.3 and 3.4. There are no current published plans to provide support for earlier versions.

Note that the plugins are a supplement to implementing to the broader set of requirements to achieve compliance.

It is planned that the plugins will become part of the standard Moodle 3.5 expected on 14^th May 2018.

How to check your current version of Moodle

You can check if your site will be compatible with Moodle's plugins by checking your Moodle version.

You can do this by logging in using an administrator account and follow the below steps to check your current version.