NextThought Privacy Policy
To help ensure a rewarding online experience for our users, we provide you with this Privacy Policy that describes the information practices of NextThought and the NextThought Service (“Service,” “Site,” or “Platform”), including how we collect, use, and disclose personal information. Personal information means data that allows someone to identify or contact you, including, for example, your name, address, telephone number, email address, as well as any other non-public information that is associated with or linked to any of the foregoing data. This Privacy Policy describes the treatment of information provided or collected on all linked pages owned and operated by NextThought, where it is posted.
This Policy is referenced in and is an integral part of the Terms of Service governing the NextThought Site. Please take a few minutes to review our Terms of Service, if you have not already done so.
You must be a registered member to view Provider Content and User Generated Content on the Platform or to share any User Generated Content with other Site users. “Provider Content” refers to text, images, links, videos, and other resources or materials that NextThought preloads onto the Site. “User Generated Content” includes highlights, notes, comments, chats, answers, votes, text, images, links, videos, other resources, materials or other user inputs that Users post or transmit on the Site.
We collect two basic types of information: data that you provide (personal information that you input) and data collected via technology (“Platform Collected Information”). We may use both types of data to create Anonymous Data.
NextThought requires certain personal information to enable registration, including your name and email address. If you participate in a course of study with an educational institution through the Platform, or if your course of study is subsidized in part or in full by a third party with whom you are affiliated (“Sponsoring Organization”), then this information might be provided on your behalf by that institution. On certain Sites, we collect birthday information so that we may properly handle the online collection of information from users under 13, in accordance with applicable law. Other data that you provide by populating profile information or by using Platform features, including all chats, posts, images, or other user inputs, is not required for Service usage and therefore is considered to be disclosed publicly and provided voluntarily.
In the event that you purchase a product or service through NextThought, including but not limited to licenses to electronic books, courses, or other content, we may collect transaction information, such as your postal address or certain payment information. We use a third-party intermediary to manage credit card processing, and your credit card information is securely transmitted to them directly. Your full credit card number is never transmitted to or viewed by anyone at NextThought. (However, we are given and may print a portion of your credit card information on your receipt to let you know what credit card you used to make a purchase.) Except to process your credit card information for current or future purchases through the NextThought Store, this intermediary processor is not permitted to store, retain, or use your billing information. If we ever terminate the agreement with our current vendor, information may be transferred to another certified payment processor.
We may also collect some information that you don’t type in yourself (Platform Collected Information). We collect this information through the use of cookies and other software technologies. Like other Internet services, we automatically gather this data and store it in data stores each time you access the Site. The username that you use to log in to the system is stored in cookies on your computer. If you turn cookies off, you will not be able to use our Platform.
Internal Operations of the Site
Our servers collect such information as your IP address, the type of computer operating system you’re using, which device and web browser you’re using, the frequency with which you visit parts of the Platform, and other usage or technical data. This information is used to ensure the internal operations of the Site.
Customized Learning Experience
In order to customize your learning experience within the Service, we may also collect information about your usage (such as assessments taken, videos watched, or progress made through courses). This data may be stored and analyzed in order to best tailor the Service to your individual needs. If you participate in a course of study with an educational institution or Sponsoring Organization through the Platform, this data may be shared with that organization to facilitate teaching and evaluation.
We may create Anonymous Data records from personal data and Platform Collected Information by excluding information that makes the data personally identifiable to you. We may use this Anonymous Data to inform the development of the Platform. Furthermore, we reserve the right to aggregate and disclose Anonymous Data to third parties at our discretion.
User feedback and usage trends provide valuable information about the quality of the Service. We reserve the right to review and monitor data on the Platform for internal purposes, such as to troubleshoot issues, ensure the safety of our users, enforce our Terms of Service, or to improve the quality of the user experience.
If you contact us with feedback or questions, report a problem, or otherwise request information from us, we may use the information you provide to inform the development of the Service and/or to respond to you. Any questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, feedback, or other information that you provide to NextThought in reference to the Service are non-confidential. We may use these submissions for any purpose, including for promotional purposes.
To provide the Service we must share some personal information with third parties who perform services on our behalf. These third parties are required not to use this information other than to provide services requested by us and are bound by confidentiality agreements with regard to any of your personal information. By using our Site, you expressly consent to the sharing of your personal information with our contractors and third-party service providers for the sole purpose of providing our products and services to you.
We may send you information about your account (“Informational Emails”), such as password resets or notices of changes to the Service. We may also send you promotional information (“Promotional Emails”) about NextThought, such as announcements about new features or the availability of Platform content. You may unsubscribe from Promotional Emails by following the opt-out instructions in those emails, by opting out at the time you create your account, or by sending an email to compliance@nextthought.com with a request to unsubscribe from the mailing list. If you opt out, you will still receive Informational Emails.
We neither rent nor sell your personal information. In addition to the third-party services mentioned above required to operate the Site or communicate with you about it, we also may share personal information with the organizations, educational publishers, or content development partners whose content you interact with. If you participate in a course of study with an educational institution through the Platform, we may share with the operators of that course any information deemed necessary for instruction, evaluation, or analysis. Similarly if your access to a course of study is through a Sponsoring Organization, then we may share with that organization any information deemed necessary for the purposes of evaluation and/or analysis.
We reserve the right, to the extent permissible by applicable laws, federal and/or state regulations, and/or valid court order, to disclose any information posted by any user, including children, as necessary to enforce our Terms of Service, to ensure the safety and security of our users, to protect our rights and those of our content providers, and to comply with the legal process, if we believe in good faith that such disclosure is required by law.
We retain the personal information collected on this Site as long as necessary to provide the services, products, and information associated with their use or to fulfill the purposes for which they are needed, or as permitted by applicable law. All data is logged on our servers, which may be hosted by a third-party provider.
We have taken reasonable steps to secure your information from anyone who is not authorized to have such information. To the extent permitted by applicable law, we cannot be held responsible for any unauthorized person illegally obtaining that information.
We will protect data to the extent necessary to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”), as indicated to us by our educational partners.
Communicating with other members of the NextThought community are features of the Platform. Please be aware that any personal information you choose to share may be viewed by other Platform users and used by other members to send you unsolicited messages. Furthermore, communications in the form of highlights, notes, comments, posts, chats, answers, votes, or other inputs that you share with other users are considered to be publicly disclosed to those users. Always use caution when giving out any personally identifying information about yourself through the act of discussions, chats, or other communication channels. To the extent permitted by applicable law, NextThought is not responsible for the personal information you choose to share within these messages or through the channels provided as a service of the Platform.
Some NextThought Sites have educational content intended for use by children. Those Sites are age-gated, so that we can limit information collection and Site features for users under 13, until we collect proper parental consent. Where we intend to collect personal information from children, we take steps to protect their privacy, in accordance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, including:
For additional information about our practices regarding children’s personal information, please read our Children’s Privacy Policy.
If we become aware that we have inadvertently received personal information from a user under the age of 13 other than in a legally permissible situation, we will delete the information from our records as soon as we discover it.
We reserve the right to interpret, add, delete, or modify all provisions contained in this Privacy Policy at any time without notice. Any changes to our Policy will be posted in this privacy statement. If we make material changes in the way we use personal information or children’s personal information, we will notify you via email and/or by posting an announcement on the Site. Your continued use of the Service following changes to the Privacy Policy will be deemed to constitute your acceptance of such changes. Please check the Site for changes.
If you have questions or wish to send us comments about this Privacy Policy, please send an email with your questions or comments to compliance@nextthought.com or write to us:
NextThought, LLC
Attn: Compliance
301 David L. Boren Blvd, Suite 3050
Norman, OK 73072-7340
Please be assured that any personal information that you provide in communications to the above email and postal mail addresses will not be used to send you promotional materials unless you expressly request it.