Privacy Policy
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Noodle Partners, Inc. (“Noodle” or “we” or “us”). Noodle manages online academic programs for our partner colleges and universities.
Because Noodle values your privacy, we have created this Privacy Policy to explain how we collect information from and about you when you use our websites and applications (including the websites and applications associated with academic programs we manage for colleges and universities) and their features and services, whether appearing on a website, a mobile application, or any other device or technology (“Noodle Technology”) and how we may disclose and use that information.
This Privacy Policy specifically applies to the website at online.shrs.pitt.edu which provides information about the University of Pittsburgh’s online Master of Science in Health Informatics program (the “Program”). It does not apply to any other portion of the www.pitt.edu website(s) or any other programs offered by the University of Pittsburgh (the “University”).
This Privacy Policy applies to all users of Noodle Technology.
This Privacy Policy applies to Noodle’s collection and use of personally identifiable information, which is information that can be used to identify or contact a specific person, such as a full name or email address, as well as our practices for handling non-personally identifiable information, such as user preferences and services usage information.
By using Noodle Technology, you agree to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, please leave this site immediately and do not use or access Noodle Technology.
COLLECTION OF INFORMATION
We collect information to provide services to all of our users and to improve our services. We store the information we collect with unique identifiers tied to the browser, application, or device you’re using.
We may collect the following information from and about you:
- First Name and Last Name
- Email Address
- Phone Number
- Zip Code
- Program of Interest
- Level of Education Attained
- Whether or not you’ve taken an Admissions Exam
- Years of work experience
Information from Social Media and Other Sites
You may have the option to access Noodle Technology through a social media service (e.g., Facebook) or another third-party site. If you access Noodle Technology in this way, we may collect information about you from that service or site, which may include the username associated with that service or site, your name, profile picture, email address, gender, birthday or friends lists, your likes, preferences, searches, comments and posts, and any other information or content of yours collected by that service or site. All information from and about you that is collected from social media services and third-party sites in this manner may be used and disclosed by Noodle in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Application Data
Should you start an application for the Program, the application information may be collected by Noodle or the University. If collected directly by the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Pittsburgh’s Privacy Policy applies to the collection of application data. The University of Pittsburgh’s Privacy Policy may be viewed here. The University of Pittsburgh will share some or all of the application data with Noodle. If the application information is collected by Noodle, then we will share some of the application data with the University of Pittsburgh.
Activity Information
When you access and interact with Noodle Technology, we may collect certain information about those visits, such as your searches and preferences as well as technical information about your computer and its operating system, your internet browser, your internet protocol address, your navigation path (including your navigation on Noodle Technology and the domain names of the sites from and to which you link), and other information about your software and hardware. If you access Noodle Technology from a mobile or other device, we may collect certain information including the unique device identifier assigned to that device, geolocation data, your wireless service provider, operating system, browser type and other transactional information for that device.
Cookies
Cookies are small bits of data that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer through your browser that enables the site or service provider to recognize your browser and remember certain information about you. We may use cookies and other tracking technologies (such as pixel tags, ad tags and web beacons) to collect information to help us understand your interactions with Noodle Technology, such as pages you have visited, content you have viewed, search queries you have run and advertisements you have seen. Third parties that support Noodle Technology by serving advertisements or providing services, such as allowing you to share content or tracking aggregate usage statistics, (e.g., Google Analytics tracking and Google AdWords may also use these technologies to collect similar information. Noodle does not control these third-party technologies and their use is governed by the privacy policies of the third parties using such technologies. Your browser may permit you to disable these technologies. However, doing so may prevent you from using certain parts of Noodle Technology.
Information from Other Sources
We may supplement the information we collect through Noodle Technology with information from other sources, such as information that you submit to Noodle directly by email, telephone or other means (e.g., information you provide to Noodle’s customer service team) and publicly available information from social media services, commercially available sources and information from our affiliates or business partners.
USE AND DISCLOSURE
When information collected from or about you does not identify you as a specific person, Noodle may use that information for any purpose or share it with third parties who may use it for any purpose. When information collected from or about you is personally identifiable (your “Personal Information”), Noodle and our service providers may use and disclose that information in the following ways:
To provide and personalize the Noodle Services
We use your Personal Information to provide our service and their features to you, including: to improve those services and their features; to personalize and to improve your experience with Noodle Technology by delivering content you will find relevant and interesting, to provide you with customer support, and to respond to inquiries.
To provide you with customer support
Noodle may make your Personal Information available to our and the University of Pittsburgh customer support teams, who may contact you to provide you with more information about the Program, assist you with the application process or answer your questions.
To share with the University of Pittsburgh
Noodle will share some of your Personal Information with the University of Pittsburgh, who may use it:
To allow service providers to assist us in providing and managing or services
Noodle may make your Personal Information available to certain third party service providers solely for the purpose of helping us with our business operations, such as data processing and marketing and technology service providers.
To allow social sharing functionality
By logging in with or connecting your Noodle Technology account with a social media service or third-party site, you are authorizing us to share your Personal Information with the social media service or third-party site provider and other users and your friends on that service or site and you understand that use of such shared information by the social media service or third-party site provider will be governed by its privacy policy. If you do not want your Personal Information shared in this way, please do not connect your social media service or other third-party account with your Noodle Technology account and do not participate in social sharing on the Noodle Technology.
To deliver relevant advertisements
Noodle and our service providers may use your Personal Information to deliver relevant information to you when you use Noodle Technology or another service. As noted above, third-party networks may use cookies and similar technologies to collect and track information such as demographic information, inferred interests, aggregated information, and activity, including but not limited to information about your visits to websites to display advertisements more tailored to your interests and to provide you the most relevant advertising. If you wish to know more about this practice or would like to know more about your options, you can visit the Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”) web-site. The NAI is a cooperative of online advertising companies who are committed to responsible practices and consumer protection.
To contact you
Noodle may periodically send you promotional materials or notifications related to the Program and related products or services. These emails are meant to be useful to you while helping us improve our user experience. However, if you want to stop receiving promotional materials, you can follow the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email. If you want updates but prefer to keep your email inbox uncluttered, you should check out our Twitter feed and Facebook page. There are certain service notification emails that you may not opt-out of, such as notifications of changes to Noodle Technology or policies.
To share with our Noodle Affiliates
Noodle may share your Personal Information with our affiliates for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
To protect the rights of Noodle and others
There may be instances when Noodle may disclose your information, including situations where Noodle has a good faith belief that such disclosure is necessary in order to: (i) protect, enforce, or defend the legal rights, privacy, safety, or property of Noodle; (ii) protect the safety, privacy, and security of users of Noodle Technology or members of the public; (iii) protect against fraud or for risk management purposes; (iv) comply with the law or legal process; or (v) respond to requests from public and government authorities.
To complete a merger or sale of assets
If Noodle sells all or part of its business or makes a sale or transfer of its assets or is otherwise involved in a merger or transfer of all or a material part of its business, Noodle may transfer your Personal Information to the party or parties involved in the transaction as part of that transaction.
USER CONTROL OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Personally identifiable Information
Please do not submit to us or post on Noodle Technology any personally identifiable information that you do not want us to collect. In particular, we ask that you do not send us, and you do not share, any sensitive information, such as social security numbers, on or through Noodle Technology. Please keep in mind that, although you are not required to provide any personally identifiable information that we request, in many cases, if you do not provide us with the requested information, we may not be able to provide you with certain services or respond to any questions you may have.
Receiving electronic communications from us
If you no longer want to receive emails from us on a going-forward basis, you may opt-out of receiving these emails by following the unsubscribe instructions in the email. We will process your request within a reasonable time after receipt. However, we are not responsible for removing your personally identifiable information from the lists of any third party who has previously been provided your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy or your consent.
Canceling your account
While your account is active, we retain your Personal Information. If you cancel your account by following the instructions set forth in the Terms of Use or if we terminate your account for any other reason, we may continue to retain your Personal Information for reasons including, but not limited to, complying with our legal obligations or our internal security policies, meeting regulatory requirements, for fraud detection, improving our site and services, or enforcing this Privacy Policy. Remember that even after your account is cancelled, copies of some information from your account may remain viewable in some circumstances, for example, where you have shared information with a third-party application or web site or where you have posted your Personal Information publicly on the Noodle Technology. In addition, because of the nature of caching technology, your account may not be instantly inaccessible to others, and there may be a delay in the removal of the content from elsewhere on the Internet and from search engines.
SECURITY
The security of your information is very important to us. Noodle implements a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your Personal Information. However, due to the inherent open nature of the Internet, no data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be secure. As a result, while we take measures to protect your Personal Information, we cannot ensure or guarantee the security of any information you send to us or that we store on our servers. Your use of Noodle Technology demonstrates your assumption of this risk.
DATA TRANSFERS
Your information will be processed by us primarily in the United States and, if you live outside the United States, your information will be transferred there. Some of our data process providers may maintain servers around the world, and your information transferred to servers located in other countries. Data protection laws vary among countries, with some providing more protection than others. Regardless of where your information is processed, we apply the same protections described in our Privacy Policy.
LINKED SERVICES
Noodle Technology may contain links to third-party services and sites. Noodle is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such third-party services and sites and unaffiliated companies. Once you leave our Noodle Technology websites and apps or click a link to a third-party website or app, you will be bound by, and should review, the applicable privacy policy of the other site or service.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Noodle Technology may contain links to our presence on various social media platforms. We do not operate or control these platforms. You should be aware that personally identifiable information which you voluntarily include and transmit online in a publicly accessible blog, social network or otherwise online may be viewed and used by others. We are unable to control these uses of your personally identifiable information, and by using such services you assume the risk that the personally identifiable information provided by you may be viewed and used by third parties.
OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Protection for Children
Noodle Technology is not targeted to children, and we do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children younger than 13 years of age. If we become aware that personally identifiable information from a child younger than 13 years of age has been collected without the consent of such child’s parent or guardian, we will delete such information from our database without requesting permission to do so.
Updates to Privacy Policy
We may modify this Privacy Policy. Please look at the date below to see when this Privacy Policy was last revised. Any changes to this Privacy Policy will become effective when we post the revised Privacy Policy on the Noodle Technology. Policy changes will apply only to information collected on and after the date of the change.
This Privacy Policy was last revised on June 4, 2019.