Terms of Use for the Moodle Plugin

1. Scope of these Terms

These Terms apply to Process Feedback for Moodle: the local plugin (local_processfeedback), the assignment submission plugin (assignsubmission_processfeedback), and the Process Feedback report page at app.processfeedback.org when it is opened from Moodle.

Our other tools (browser extensions, other plugins, online document editor, online compiler, etc.) are governed by our general Terms of Use, and Process Feedback LTI by its own Terms of Use for LTI Users. Purchases of an institutional subscription are covered by our Terms of Sale.

These Terms are not a contract between Process Feedback and individual students or teachers. The institution decides to install the plugins on its Moodle site. These Terms describe how the plugins work and what is expected of the people using them. They do not ask a student or teacher to accept obligations personally, and they are not a condition of doing coursework.

Where a signed institutional agreement or Data Privacy Agreement (DPA) covers a subject addressed here, that agreement governs and prevails in the event of any conflict.

2. Who provides the plugins

Process Feedback, LLC publishes the plugins and operates the report page. How data is handled is described in our Privacy Notice for the Moodle Plugin. For anything else, reach us at contact@processfeedback.org.

3. Software license

Both plugins are free and open-source software, licensed under the GNU General Public License v3 or later. The source code is published on GitHub: local plugin and assignment submission plugin. Third-party libraries bundled with the local plugin are listed in its thirdpartylibs.xml file.

The GPL governs the institution's rights to use, study, modify, and redistribute the plugins, and nothing in these Terms limits those rights. As the GPL states, the plugins are provided without warranty, except where an institutional agreement provides otherwise.

The report page is not part of the plugins. It is a hosted web application operated by Process Feedback, and these Terms govern its use.

4. How access works

There are no Process Feedback accounts, usernames, or passwords. Users sign in to the institution's Moodle as usual.

• The site administrator chooses which courses use Process Feedback, separately for assignments and forums.
• Access follows Moodle roles and capabilities. Students use the plugins in enabled activities; users with grading permission see submitted process data.
• When someone is removed from a course or their Moodle account is suspended, their access through Moodle ends with it.

Questions about access, enrollment, roles, or permissions go to the institution rather than to us.

5. What the plugins do

Process Feedback records how a document is written (revisions, edits, paste events, and the timing of activity) so that the writing process is visible to the student who wrote it and, for submitted work, to their teacher.

While a student writes. Process data is held in the student's browser on the device in use. It does not follow the student to another device or browser, and clearing browser data deletes anything not yet downloaded or submitted. Students who write across several devices will have incomplete process data.

Submitted work. When both plugins are installed and Auto submit on assignment submission is ticked for an Online text assignment, the student's process data is submitted with the assignment and stored in the institution's Moodle. The setting is ticked by default on new assignments in enabled courses, and teachers can untick it. Submitted process data becomes part of the institution's course record and follows the submission's retention.

Reports. Students can open their own writing process report, and teachers can open reports for submitted work. Reports are built in the user's browser by the report page. The Writing Process Dashboard, which opens all submitted reports for an assignment together, is a beta feature.

Uninstalling. Uninstalling the assignment submission plugin permanently deletes all submitted process data in every course. Institutions are responsible for exporting anything they need to keep before uninstalling.

6. No AI

The plugins and the report page contain no AI features. Student work is never sent to any AI or machine learning system, and no institutional data is used to train a model.

It follows that:

• No automated determination is made about any student. Process Feedback produces no authenticity score, no misconduct score, no risk rating, and no flag asserting wrongdoing. Any academic integrity decision is made by institutional staff under institutional policy.
• Writing-process data is not used to identify individuals, to verify identity, or to build behavioral profiles.

7. Ownership of content

Students retain ownership of their original work. Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of student work to Process Feedback.

Institutions control the records the plugins create in their Moodle, including submitted process data and summaries.

We do not receive student work through the plugins, and we do not:

• sell, rent, or license student data;
• use student data for advertising, marketing, or targeted communications;
• use student data to train AI or machine learning models;
• use student data for research, benchmarking, or product analytics.

Our own materials. The Process Feedback name, logo, and report page remain ours. Consistent with our copyleft philosophy, our original published content is generally available under CC BY-SA 4.0 or an equivalent license. Our name, logo, and interface may not be used in ways that suggest affiliation or endorsement.

8. Acceptable use

When using the plugins or the report page, do not:

• attempt to access another person's process data or reports without permission under Moodle's roles;
• tamper with process data, or submit process data that misrepresents how a document was written;
• attempt to circumvent access controls, or interfere with the operation of the report page;
• use automated tools to extract content from the report page in bulk.

The institution's own acceptable use, academic integrity, and student conduct policies also apply, and are enforced by the institution.

9. Viewing a student's writing process

Teachers see submitted process data only for assignments they can grade in Moodle. A teacher's report shows the same writing-process record the student can see in their own report. There is no separate teacher-only analysis, score, or rating behind it.

Writing-process information describes how a document was written. It is descriptive evidence, not a judgment, and it may be incomplete if a student wrote on several devices or cleared their browser data. Institutions and teachers are responsible for interpreting it in line with their own academic integrity policies, and for giving students whatever process those policies require.

10. Updates, availability, and support

Plugin updates are published as new releases on GitHub. The institution decides when to install them. We notify institutional contacts of security releases so they can install them promptly.

The report page is updated by us and reaches all users immediately. We aim to keep it available, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation. Writing-process recording and assignment submission in Moodle keep working if the report page is unavailable; only viewing reports depends on it. Live status is published at status.processfeedback.org.

Support for students and teachers is provided in the first instance by their institution. Institutional administrators may contact us at contact@processfeedback.org. Bugs can be reported in each plugin's public issue tracker on GitHub.

11. Changes to the plugins and to these Terms

We may update the plugins, the report page, and these Terms. When we change these Terms, we post the updated version here and update the effective date above.

For material changes affecting data handling or institutional obligations, including any feature that would send data off the user's device, we notify institutional contacts in advance. We do not require students or teachers to accept updated terms as a condition of continuing their coursework.

12. Governing agreement and law

Where the institution has an agreement with Process Feedback, LLC, that agreement governs the relationship, including any dispute resolution, liability, and governing law provisions. These Terms do not create separate dispute resolution obligations for individual students or teachers, and do not require individuals to waive rights or agree to arbitration.

Process Feedback, LLC is organized in the United States and operates under the laws of the State of Missouri, except where an institutional agreement provides otherwise.

13. Contact

For privacy, security, accessibility, or general questions, reach us at contact@processfeedback.org. Students and teachers should contact their institution first, as the institution manages the Moodle site.