Data We Collect About You

When you join our learning community, we gather different types of information to create your personalized educational journey. Some of this data you provide directly—like when you sign up for an account or enroll in a course. Other information gets collected automatically as you navigate through our platform and engage with course materials.

We want you to understand exactly what we're collecting and why it matters for your learning experience. Here's a breakdown of the information categories we work with:

Registration and Profile Information

• Account credentials including your chosen username, email address, and encrypted password that allow you to access your personalized dashboard. We never store passwords in plain text—they're always hashed using industry-standard encryption.
• Personal identifiers such as your full name, date of birth, and preferred language settings that help us customize your learning environment. This information also allows us to issue certificates and track your academic progress accurately.
• Profile customization data including your uploaded profile picture, bio, educational background, and learning goals that make your experience more personal. Sharing this information is optional, but it helps instructors understand your background and peers connect with you.

Course Interaction and Learning Data

• Enrollment records showing which courses you've joined, when you enrolled, and your current progress through each module. We track this to ensure you can pick up right where you left off and to provide instructors with insights about class engagement.
• Performance metrics capturing your quiz scores, assignment submissions, project uploads, and test results. This data forms the foundation of your academic record and helps us identify areas where you might need additional support or resources.
• Engagement patterns including video watch time, reading completion rates, forum participation, and time spent on various learning activities. Understanding how you interact with content allows us to recommend relevant materials and improve course design.
• Communication content such as messages you send to instructors, comments on course discussions, peer review feedback, and questions posted in forums. These interactions create a collaborative learning environment and help build our educational community.

Technical and Device Information

• Device characteristics like your operating system, browser type and version, screen resolution, and device model. This helps us ensure our platform displays correctly and functions smoothly across different devices and configurations.
• Connection details including your IP address, internet service provider, and general geographic location (country and city level). We use this to detect suspicious login attempts, prevent fraud, and comply with regional content licensing requirements.
• Usage analytics covering pages visited, features accessed, click patterns, navigation paths, and session duration. These insights guide our development priorities and help us understand which platform features provide the most value to learners.

Payment and Transaction Data

• Billing information such as your name, billing address, and payment method details necessary to process course purchases and subscription fees. We work with trusted payment processors who handle sensitive financial data according to PCI-DSS standards.
• Transaction history documenting your purchase records, invoice details, refund requests, and payment status. Maintaining accurate transaction records protects both you and us in case of billing disputes or account inquiries.

How We Use Your Personal Data

Every piece of information we collect serves a specific purpose in delivering and improving your educational experience. We don't collect data just for the sake of having it—each use case ties directly to providing you with reliable, personalized online learning services.

Delivering Educational Services

Your data powers the core functionality of our platform. We use your account information to authenticate your identity, grant access to enrolled courses, and maintain your learning progress across devices. When you submit assignments or take quizzes, we process that data to calculate grades, provide feedback, and issue certificates upon course completion. Your communication preferences determine how and when we send course updates, deadline reminders, and important platform notifications.

Personalizing Your Learning Experience

One size doesn't fit all in education, which is why we analyze your learning patterns to tailor recommendations. By examining which courses you've completed, topics you've shown interest in, and subjects where you excel, we can suggest relevant new courses and learning paths. We also adjust content difficulty and pacing suggestions based on your performance data. This personalization extends to the interface itself—your preferences influence everything from notification frequency to dashboard layout.

Improving Platform Quality and Development

Aggregate usage data reveals how learners interact with our platform and where improvements are needed. We analyze which video segments get rewatched most frequently, where students commonly struggle, and which features go unused. This information guides our product development roadmap and helps instructors refine course content. We're constantly testing new features and learning formats—your engagement data helps us measure what works and what doesn't.

Maintaining Security and Preventing Fraud

Your account security depends on our ability to detect unusual activity. We monitor login patterns, IP addresses, and access times to identify potential unauthorized access attempts. If someone tries to log into your account from an unfamiliar location or device, we may require additional verification. We also use data analysis to identify and prevent fraudulent transactions, account sharing violations, and automated bot activity that could compromise platform integrity.

Legal Compliance and Protection

Sometimes we process data because we're legally required to. This includes maintaining records for tax purposes, responding to valid legal requests from authorities, and complying with educational regulations in different jurisdictions. We also use data to enforce our terms of service, investigate policy violations, and protect the rights and safety of our learning community.

Information Collected by Third Parties

Running a modern online education platform means integrating with specialized external services that enhance functionality beyond what we could build alone. These third-party tools help us process payments, deliver video content, analyze platform performance, and provide customer support. While we carefully vet these partners, they operate under their own privacy policies and may collect information directly from you.

Payment Processors

When you purchase a course or subscription, your payment information passes through secure payment gateways that handle transactions on our behalf. These processors collect and process your credit card details, billing address, and payment authorization data according to strict financial industry standards. We receive only the information necessary to complete your enrollment—like transaction confirmation and billing name—but never see your full credit card number or sensitive financial details.

Video Hosting and Content Delivery

Course videos and multimedia content are delivered through content delivery networks that optimize streaming quality based on your location and connection speed. These services may collect information about your viewing behavior, including which videos you watch, playback quality settings, and buffering occurrences. This data helps them optimize content delivery and helps us understand how learners engage with video materials.

Analytics and Performance Monitoring

We use analytics services to understand how people use our platform and identify technical issues. These tools track page views, feature usage, error rates, and performance metrics by collecting device information, browser characteristics, and navigation patterns. The insights help us prioritize improvements and ensure the platform runs smoothly across different devices and network conditions.

Communication and Support Tools

Our customer support system and email delivery services are managed by specialized platforms that handle ticket management, live chat, and message routing. When you contact support or receive emails from us, these services process your messages, conversation history, and contact preferences. They may also track email open rates and click-through statistics to help us improve our communications.

Security of Your Information

Protecting your data isn't just about technology—it's about creating multiple layers of defense that work together. We've built our security approach around the principle that no single measure is perfect, so we combine technical safeguards, organizational policies, and ongoing vigilance to keep your information safe.

Technical Security Measures

All data transmitted between your device and our servers travels through encrypted connections using TLS protocols. This means even if someone intercepts the data in transit, they can't read it. Your password never touches our systems in readable form—we use one-way hashing algorithms that transform it into an irreversible string of characters. Our databases employ encryption at rest, protecting stored data even if physical storage media were somehow compromised.

We've implemented strict access controls that limit which team members can view different types of data. Engineers working on course delivery systems don't have access to payment information, while financial staff can't browse through course content or student work. Each access point requires authentication, and we maintain detailed logs of who accessed what information and when.

Infrastructure and Network Protection

Our platform runs on secure cloud infrastructure with redundant systems spread across multiple geographic locations. Firewalls filter incoming traffic to block malicious requests, while intrusion detection systems monitor for suspicious patterns that might indicate an attack. We regularly patch and update all systems to address newly discovered vulnerabilities. Automated backups ensure we can restore your data quickly if something goes wrong.

Organizational Policies and Training

Every team member who handles user data receives privacy and security training as part of their onboarding. We've established clear policies about data handling, and employees must acknowledge these policies regularly. Our development team follows secure coding practices and conducts code reviews to catch potential security issues before they reach production. We also limit data retention—information that's no longer needed for active business purposes gets deleted according to defined schedules.

Monitoring and Incident Response

Security isn't a one-time setup—it requires constant attention. We continuously monitor our systems for unusual activity, unauthorized access attempts, and potential data breaches. If we detect a security incident, our response team follows established protocols to contain the issue, assess the impact, and notify affected users when appropriate. We also conduct regular security audits and penetration testing to identify weaknesses before attackers can exploit them.

Cookies and Tracking

Like most websites, we use cookies and similar technologies to make our platform work properly and to understand how people use it. Cookies are small text files that get stored on your device when you visit our site. They help us remember your preferences, keep you logged in between sessions, and gather insights about platform usage.

Essential Cookies

Some cookies are absolutely necessary for the platform to function. These handle your login session, remember your language preferences, and maintain your shopping cart during checkout. Without these essential cookies, you wouldn't be able to access your account or navigate the platform effectively. You can't disable these through our settings because they're fundamental to the service.

Analytics and Performance Cookies

We use analytics cookies to understand how visitors interact with our platform. These track which pages people visit most, how long they spend on different sections, and where they encounter problems. The information is aggregated and anonymized—we see patterns across thousands of users, not individual browsing histories. This helps us identify popular features, discover technical issues, and make informed decisions about improvements.

Preference and Functionality Cookies

These cookies remember choices you make to give you a better, more personalized experience. They might store your video playback speed preference, dashboard layout customization, or notification settings. If you clear these cookies, you'll need to set your preferences again next time you visit.

Managing Your Cookie Preferences

Most web browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings. You can typically choose to block all cookies, accept only certain types, or receive notifications before cookies are set. Keep in mind that blocking cookies may limit your ability to use certain platform features. Our cookie preference center lets you adjust non-essential cookie settings without diving into browser configurations.

External Website Links

Throughout our courses and platform, you might encounter links to external websites, resources, and tools. Instructors sometimes reference outside materials, and we may link to partner organizations or complementary services. While we try to link only to reputable sources, we don't control these external sites or their privacy practices.

When you click a link that takes you away from Aaouelim, our privacy policy no longer applies. Those websites operate under their own terms and privacy policies, which may differ significantly from ours. We encourage you to review the privacy statements of any external site before providing personal information. We're not responsible for the content, security practices, or data handling of third-party websites, even if we've linked to them.

Special Provisions

Children's Privacy

Our platform is designed for adult learners and students who have reached the age of majority in their jurisdiction. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or the applicable age in your region) without verified parental consent. If you're under the required age, please don't create an account or submit personal information without involving your parent or guardian.

International Data Transfers

Online education means serving students across borders. Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries where our servers or service providers are located, including regions with different data protection laws than your home country. When we transfer data internationally, we take steps to ensure it receives adequate protection through legal mechanisms like standard contractual clauses.

Changes to This Policy

Privacy practices evolve as technology and regulations change. We may update this policy periodically to reflect new features, legal requirements, or operational changes. When we make significant modifications, we'll notify you through email or a prominent platform notice. Continuing to use our services after changes take effect means you accept the updated terms.

Contacting Our Support Team

Questions about how we handle your data? Concerns about your privacy? Want to exercise your data rights? Our support team is here to help. We've established clear processes for handling privacy inquiries, data access requests, and security concerns. Whether you want to review what information we hold about you, correct inaccurate data, or delete your account entirely, we'll guide you through the process.

When you reach out with privacy questions, we may need to verify your identity before discussing account-specific details or making changes. This verification protects you by ensuring we don't accidentally disclose your information to someone else or process unauthorized requests. Response times vary depending on request complexity, but we aim to address privacy inquiries promptly and thoroughly.