Welcome to Ascend (the "Service"), a platform developed and operated by ApexID ("we," "us," or "our"). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our Service available via our website (including https://ascendeducation.co) and any related services. Please read this privacy policy carefully. By using the Service, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not access or use the Service.
1. Information We Collect
We may collect information about you in a variety of ways. The information we may collect via the Service includes:
a. Personal Data Provided by You
Personally identifiable information, such as your name, email address, and any other information you voluntarily provide to us when you register for the Service, create or participate in activities, fill out forms (e.g., participant information forms for activities), or otherwise interact with the Service. If you register using Google Sign-In, we will collect information that Google provides to us, such as your name and email address, as permitted by your Google privacy settings.
b. Activity and Usage Data
When you participate in activities, we collect your responses, scores, feedback received, and metadata related to your attempts (e.g., submission times, time taken if applicable). If enabled by the activity creator for specific assessments (e.g., `assessment` or `simulation-assessment` activity types), we may also collect keystroke counts and paste counts during your attempt. This data is used for assessment integrity and to provide insights to the activity creator and, optionally, to you. Participation in such activities where these features are enabled implies consent to this specific tracking for that assessment. We recommend activity creators inform their participants if these features are enabled.
c. Derivative Data (Automatically Collected)
Information our servers automatically collect when you access the Service, such as your IP address, your browser type, your operating system, your access times, and the pages you have viewed directly before and after accessing the Service. This can also include data collected by Google Analytics if you have consented to its use (see "Tracking Technologies & Cookies" below).
d. Data from Firebase and Google Services
Our Service utilizes Firebase (a Google service) for backend services. This includes:
- Firebase Authentication: For user sign-up, sign-in, and account management. This service collects identifiers like email addresses, passwords (hashed), phone numbers (if used for auth), user agents, and IP addresses for security and session management. Firebase Authentication uses cookies for session management, which are essential for the service.
- Cloud Firestore (Firebase): For storing application data, including user profiles, activity content (questions, rubrics, simulation configurations), activity attempts (responses, scores, feedback), and assessment invites. This data is stored securely and subject to your Firestore security rules.
- Google AI (Genkit for Gemini models): When AI feedback or simulation features are used, your input (e.g., student responses, simulation dialogue) is processed by Google's AI models (like Gemini) via Genkit. This processing is subject to Google's AI terms and privacy policies. We do not store inputs to these models beyond what is necessary for the activity attempt record.
These Google services may collect certain information as described in Google's Privacy Policy and their specific service terms.
2. How We Use Your Information
Having accurate information about you permits us to provide you with a smooth, efficient, and customized experience. Specifically, we may use information collected about you via the Service to:
- Create and manage your account.
- Provide, operate, and maintain the Service, including educational activities and simulations.
- Generate and deliver AI-powered feedback on your activity responses.
- Process your responses and display results to you and to activity creators.
- Communicate with you, including sending emails regarding your account, activities, or important service updates (e.g., assessment invitations via Resend).
- Monitor and analyze usage, trends, and interactions to improve your experience with the Service (e.g., via Google Analytics, if consent is given).
- Ensure the security and integrity of our Service, including detecting and preventing fraud or misuse.
- Comply with legal obligations and enforce our terms and policies.
3. Disclosure of Your Information
We may share information we have collected about you in certain situations. Your information may be disclosed as follows:
a. By Law or to Protect Rights
If we believe the release of information about you is necessary to respond to legal process, to investigate or remedy potential violations of our policies, or to protect the rights, property, and safety of others, we may share your information as permitted or required by any applicable law, rule, or regulation.
b. Third-Party ServiceProviders
We may share your information with third parties that perform services for us or on our behalf, including data analysis (e.g., Google Analytics, subject to your consent), email delivery (e.g., Resend for assessment invitations), hosting services (Firebase/Google Cloud), customer service, and AI model providers (e.g., Google for Genkit AI features). These providers are authorized to use your information only as necessary to provide these services to us and are subject to their own privacy policies and data processing terms.
c. Educators and Activity Creators
If you are participating in an activity created by an educator or another user, your responses, scores, feedback, collected participant information (name, custom fields), and any assessment-specific tracking data (like keystroke/paste counts, if enabled by the creator for that activity) will be visible to the creator of that activity for educational, assessment, and feedback purposes.
d. Business Transfers
We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.
We do not sell your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes.
4. Lawful Basis for Processing (GDPR)
If you are in the European Economic Area (EEA), we process your personal data under the following lawful bases:
- Consent: We may process your data if you have given us specific consent to use your personal information for a specific purpose (e.g., when you sign up, when you consent to optional cookies via our cookie banner, or when you agree to specific data collection for an activity like keystroke tracking if such a mechanism is implemented). For unauthenticated users participating in activities, your continuation to use the service and submit information after being presented with this policy and any activity-specific disclaimers, including the cookie consent banner, constitutes your consent where applicable.
- Performance of a Contract: We process your personal data to provide the Service to you, as per our Terms of Service.
- Legitimate Interests: We may process your data when it is reasonably necessary to achieve our legitimate business interests, such as improving our Service (including through analytics based on consent where required), provided that your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
- Legal Obligations: We may process your data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject.
5. Your Data Rights (GDPR and other applicable laws)
Depending on your location, you may have certain rights regarding your personal data. These may include:
- Right to Access: You have the right to request copies of your personal data. Registered users can view their profile information on their Account page. For other data access requests, please contact us at privacy@ascendeducation.co.
- Right to Rectification: You have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate or complete information you believe is incomplete. Registered users can update their profile information via their Account page. For other corrections, please contact us.
- Right to Erasure (Right to be Forgotten): You have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions. Deleting your account via the Account page removes your Firebase Authentication record. However, this action does not automatically delete all associated data in our Firestore database (e.g., activities you created, your attempts). We are committed to enhancing our data deletion capabilities. To request full erasure of your data, please contact us at privacy@ascendeducation.co. We will process such requests in accordance with applicable law and inform you of the scope and limitations of the deletion.
- Right to Restrict Processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
- Right to Object to Processing: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions (e.g., processing based on legitimate interests).
- Right to Data Portability: You have the right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected (that is subject to this right and processed by automated means) to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.
- Right to Withdraw Consent: If we are relying on your consent to process your personal data (e.g., for optional cookies or specific tracking features), you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time (e.g., by changing your cookie preferences as described in our Cookie Policy).
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at privacy@ascendeducation.co. We will respond to your request within the timeframes required by applicable law.
6. Tracking Technologies & Cookies
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to access or store information. Firebase services (like Firebase Authentication) use cookies for session management and functionality, which are generally considered strictly necessary. We also use a functional cookie (`sidebar_state`) to remember your sidebar display preference.
Additionally, if you provide consent via our cookie consent banner, we use Google Analytics to help us understand how our Service is used. Google Analytics may set cookies on your browser or read cookies that are already there. For more detailed information about the cookies we use, their purposes, and how you can manage them (including withdrawing consent for optional cookies), please see our Cookie Policy.
You can opt-out of Google Analytics tracking by using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
7. Data Security
We use administrative, technical, and physical security measures to help protect your personal information. Firebase provides robust security for its backend services. While we have taken reasonable steps to secure the personal information you provide to us, please be aware that despite our efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and no method of data transmission can be guaranteed against any interception or other type of misuse.
8. Data Retention
We will retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy and to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies. User account information is retained as long as the account is active or as needed to provide services. Activity attempts are retained as part of the educational record associated with the activity creator, or until deletion is requested by the user (subject to legal and operational constraints) and processed according to our policies and your rights. We are working on features to allow creators more control over the retention of activity data they own. Your cookie consent preferences are stored in your browser's local storage.
9. Policy for Children
Our Service is not intended for direct use by children under the age of 13 (or a higher age if stipulated by local law, e.g., 16 in some GDPR contexts) without verifiable parental consent, or consent provided through an educational institution or guardian. We do not knowingly solicit information from or market to children under this age threshold directly. If an educator or institution uses our Service with children, they are responsible for obtaining any necessary parental consents in compliance with applicable laws such as COPPA (in the U.S.) or GDPR-K (in the EEA). If you become aware that we have collected personal data from a child without legally-required consent, please contact us so we can take appropriate action.
10. Third-Party Websites
The Service may contain links to third-party websites and applications of interest that are not affiliated with us. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these external sites.
11. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.
12. Contact Us
If you have questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, or to exercise your data rights, please contact us at:
ApexID
Email: privacy@ascendeducation.co