student privacy and research consent

This page contains important information about your use of SwayBeta (hereafter, 'Sway'). Please read it closely.

Summary of key points

• This research aims to improve the quality of student discussions

• Your participation is voluntary, and you may discontinue at any time

• Your school email is used for verification and login purposes only

• Your chats are encrypted and private by default

• Your data is not used for training artificial intelligence (AI) models by default

• You control what information is shared with your instructor

• You can delete your account at any time

Detailed Information

Use of your email address

We use your school email to:

• Verify your enrollment at a participating school

• Allow you to login to Sway

• Allow you to reset your password

Information shared with your instructor

By default, your email and preferred first name are NOT visible to your instructor.

If you allow your instructor to verify that you have used Sway, then they can:

• Verify that you completed an assignment

• View your scores from Sway quizzes

• View metadata about your platform use (e.g., message counts, chat durations)

• View non-identifying results of natural language processing on your chats (e.g., whether you and your partner remained on topic)

However, under no circumstances will Sway present your messages or show how they were classified to your instructor.

Chat privacy and research use

Your chats are saved in an encrypted format on our server. Messages you send are only decrypted (readable) when:

• You use the app or

• You allow the use of your de-identified message contents for education research

When your messages are de-identified, no information about you is stored with the message contents. Messages are not linked to your identity and are never used to train commercial AI models. If you allow research use, you can later revoke permission by updating your choice under settings.

Sharing chats with your instructor

• Because only you and your discussion partners can access your chats, to share a chat record with your instructor, you must export it as a PDF file. Instructions will be provided

• If your instructor wants to review your chat, they will tell you how they would like you to submit the PDF export

Account deletion

• You can delete your account at any time (this cannot be reversed)

• We recommend checking with your instructor before deleting your account

Third party message processors

• Your message contents are processed using application programming interfaces (APIs) from OpenAI and Anthropic

• Data sent to OpenAI and Anthropic might include your preferred first name

• OpenAI and Anthropic delete data transmitted over their API within 30 days

• OpenAI and Anthropic do not use your message contents to train their models or improve their service

SMS notifications

Currently, this platform does not support push notifications. However, you can choose to receive notifications through SMS messages. Getting notifications on your phone can make it easier to coordinate with your chat partners on assignments. If you do not enable SMS notifications, you can still get notifications through email.

If you opt in to SMS notifications, your phone number will be shared with our U.S. messaging provider Twilio. It will not be shared with any other parties. If you decide to disable SMS notifications, you can either send STOP from your phone or adjust your settings.

Data we can access

When we view your information, you are identified by a random ID that is not connected to your email address or preferred name. We can view your:

• Survey and quiz responses

• Metadata about your platform use (e.g., message counts, chat durations)

• Feedback you provide to us by clicking thumbs up or down on content that we generate for you or by using other feedback functionality

• Non-identifying results of natural language processing on your chats (e.g., whether you and your partner remained on topic)

Platform analytics

We collect anonymized data on how you interact with the platform. 

• This data includes information such as the time spent on different pages, navigation patterns, and interactions with platform features

• The data is collected in an anonymized format, and your personal information is not linked to this usage data

• The purpose of this data is solely to analyze platform performance and improve future versions of the platform.

Risks and benefits

While the precautions described in this document should protect your privacy and put what you share in your hands, no system is perfect and there is always a risk of breach of confidentiality. 

Ample evidence indicates that scaffolded discussion can help students better understand course materials and develop their ability to engage in constructive discussions of challenging topics. We therefore expect AI-scaffolded discussions to provide you with educational benefits.

Cost and compensation

Accessing the platform requires an internet connection; however, because the platform only receives and transmits text data, any additional fees you may incur should be negligible. You will not receive any compensation for participating.

AI limitations and accuracy

Sway uses AI models that are generally reliable for their intended purposes.

However, like all AI systems, these models can occasionally:

• Produce incorrect or inconsistent information

• Misunderstand context or nuance in complex discussions

We recommend:

• Critically evaluating AI-generated content

• If you notice any concerning AI behavior, report it to your instructor directly or through the app's feedback feature.

Principal Investigator

Dr. Simon Cullen
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh
(412) 268-8568
cullen@cmu.edu

Institutional Review Board

If you have questions about your rights as a research participant or if you want to report concerns about this study, you should contact:

The Office of Research Integrity and Compliance at Carnegie Mellon University.
Email: irb-review@andrew.cmu.edu
Phone: 412-268-4721

Voluntary participation

Your participation in this research is voluntary. You may refuse or discontinue participation at any time without loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled.

SELECT ALL THAT APPLY:

▢ I have read and understood the above information

▢ I am at least 18 years old

▢ I allow my instructor to verify that I have completed Sway assignments

▢ I allow educational research use of my anonymized message contents