Trust, privacy, and participation

What Language Commons is for

Language Commons preserves practical language-teaching knowledge: what an instructor tried, in what context, what happened, and how the practice changed.

What not to submit

Do not enter student names, IDs, grades, identifiable writing, health information, or other personally identifiable student information.

How evidence is described

Instructor perceptions, student feedback, learning artifacts, assessment results, published research, and peer review are different evidence types. Language Commons does not treat an instructor rating as proof of learning effectiveness.

Evidence status is a description, not a score: Idea means it is proposed or newly documented; Field-tested means it has been tried; Repeated means it has been tried more than once; Adapted means it has been changed for a context; Evidence-informed means it is supported by documented evidence; and Peer-reviewed means colleagues have reviewed it. Outdated signals that the record needs review.

Implementation maturity is separate: it describes whether a practice is an idea, tried once, repeated, or adapted. A practice can be mature in use without having strong evidence, and vice versa.

Visibility

Practices can be public to the portal or limited to a department. Experience reports are reviewed before they contribute to public aggregations.

Responsible technology use

Tool notes should identify accessibility, privacy, account, cost, and institutional-review considerations. External AI analysis is server-side and should receive only curated, non-identifying evidence.