"An app created to track the attendance of ‘less academically inclined’ college athletes is under fire, after over 40 schools have begun using the technology to monitor students campus-wide, according to the Washington Post …
… School officials give SpotterEDU the students’ full schedules, and the system can email a professor or adviser automatically if a student skips class or walks in more than two minutes late. The app records a full timeline of the students’ presence so advisers can see whether they left early or stepped out for a break …
… some schools have taken things further - assigning “risk scores” to students based on factors such as whether they are going to the library enough." …
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/colleges-track-hundreds-thousands-students-using-their-phones
My initial reaction was that this is way too big brother-ish, especially since we are talking about young adults. But, if the information is used to help bolster student success, improve mental health, and be sure fewer fall through the cracks, maybe there are some positives.
I know my D has a couple of profs who do track attendance to class (manually). They will use that information as a boost for anyone on a grade cusp at the end of the semester. Same with doing extra credit projects, going to review sessions, office hours, etc…
The only thing I know about is that clicker thing that my son had first year to answer questions and attendance. That seemed to go away the second year. But there was a programming class that was moving to fast and my son ended up not going to the class at all. He instead took out the video of the class and this way he could get the material at his own pace. Then used the discussion groups to answer questions.
For my daughter’s small Lac, it would be very obvious she wasn’t there.
What happens if you attend class but forget your phone or don’t want the distraction? Is there a microchip (or ankle bracelet option) that can be implanted in your arm or worn?
Maybe it can also give you a slight shock when Prof X goes into hour two of a nasally and monotone dissection of the Iliad ?
I guess for athletes it can be part of the deal for the scholarship. But known and disclosed as a requirement.
This is ludicrous and nanny state nonsense.
This is one of those stories that makes me want to burn all the technology and go raise goats somewhere in the backwoods.
I wonder if they considered the fact that at colleges where students earn participation points by weighing in on questions with a “clicker” some students worked out arrangements with friends where they covered for one another by carrying both devices when one of them wasn’t in class?
The Orwellian creepiness of this aside, the underlying premise is flawed and insulting. The operating assumption is that student-athletes are more likely to cut class. Are there any hard stats to support this? In fact, I have read several reputable studies that show that student-athletes may be more engaged and may actually do better than non-athletes. From experience, this may be true in part due to the natural focus and industry student-athlete’s carryover to academics from their sport. In any case, tracking young adults in this way is wrong. It is also a highly ‘gameable’ system, e.g., have my friend carry my cell phone to class.
Hopefully the colleges are telling the kids if they are doing this, what they’re tracking, and why - and students should be given access to their personal data AND have the ability to correct errors/omissions. I can understand tracking attendance in class if that is going to make a difference in the grade. However, tracking visits to the library doesn’t seem necessary, unless perhaps the kid is on academic probation. Systems should so account for students’ needs and preferences.
Hopefully colleges will tell applicants if this is something they routinely do, so potential students can opt out of applying if the culture is too “big brother”.