My main takaway and how I will apply this information, as an online instructor, is to treat all student information in a confidential manner and will not provide any information regarding my students and any information related to their classes to anyone other than the school officials with whom I work at the institution where I teach.
I would rather err on the side of not giving out any information vs. taking a risk of violating FERPA. That said, if I find myself in a situation where someone other than an official at the school where I teach requests information regarding one of my students, my response will simply be that due to privacy policies and FERPA and I am not at liberty to provide what they are requesting.
