What Are Cookies Anyway?

Cookies are small text files that get stored on your device when you visit a website. They help the site remember things about you — like your login status or your language preference. Think of them as digital sticky notes.

Some cookies disappear when you close your browser (we call those session cookies). Others stick around longer (persistent cookies) so the site can remember you next time you visit.

We also use similar technologies like local storage and pixels. They work a bit differently under the hood, but they serve similar purposes — helping the site work properly and giving us insight into how people use it.

What We Track and Why

Essential Tracking

Some tracking is absolutely necessary for the site to work. Without these, you wouldn't be able to log in, navigate between pages properly, or access secure areas. These can't be turned off because the site literally wouldn't function without them.

Functional Tracking

These make your experience better by remembering your preferences. They're not strictly necessary, but they save you from having to reset things every time you visit.

• Your preferred language setting
• Video player volume and caption preferences
• Course filter selections you've applied
• Whether you prefer light or dark mode in our code editor

Analytics Tracking

We track how people use the site so we can figure out what's working and what needs improvement. This helps us understand things like which learning modules are most popular or where students tend to get stuck.

We use tools like Google Analytics for this. The data is anonymized — we see patterns and trends, not individual people. For example, we might notice that students struggle with a particular physics concept, which tells us we need to add more explanation there.

Marketing Tracking

These help us show relevant ads to people who might be interested in our courses. If you visit our site and then see an ad for our game design program on another website, that's marketing tracking at work.

We also use these to measure whether our ads are actually working — like whether someone who clicked an ad eventually enrolled in a course.

Specific Technologies We Use

Managing Cookies Through Your Browser

Most browsers let you control cookies through their settings. You can block all cookies, delete existing ones, or get notified before a cookie is set.

Just be aware that blocking all cookies will break parts of the site. You won't be able to log in, and things like course progress won't save properly.

Mobile browsers have similar settings, usually found under Privacy or Site Settings in your browser menu.

Third-Party Tracking

Some of the tracking on our site comes from third-party services we use. For example, when we embed a YouTube video in a course module, YouTube may set its own cookies.

We try to minimize third-party tracking where possible, but some of it is unavoidable if we want to use certain tools. These third parties have their own privacy policies that explain how they handle data.

How Long We Keep Tracking Data

Different types of tracking data stick around for different amounts of time. Session cookies disappear as soon as you close your browser. Other cookies might last for a year or two.

Analytics data gets aggregated and anonymized pretty quickly. We keep raw analytics for about 26 months, then it gets automatically deleted. Marketing tracking typically expires after 180 days.

You can always delete cookies from your browser manually if you want to clear them before they expire naturally.

Changes to This Policy

We update this policy occasionally when we change how we use tracking technologies or when regulations change. The "Last Updated" date at the top tells you when we last revised it.

If we make significant changes, we'll let you know through a notice on the site. But it's a good idea to check back here every once in a while anyway.