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from the 1984-was-not-a-"how-to"-manual dept.
When Syracuse University freshmen walk into professor Jeff Rubin's Introduction to Information Technologies class, seven small Bluetooth beacons hidden around the Grant Auditorium lecture hall connect with an app on their smartphones and boost their "attendance points." And when they skip class? The SpotterEDU app sees that, too, logging their absence into a campus database that tracks them over time and can sink their grade. It also alerts Rubin, who later contacts students to ask where they've been. His 340-person lecture has never been so full.
"They want those points," he said. "They know I'm watching and acting on it. So, behaviorally, they change."
Short-range phone sensors and campuswide Wi-Fi networks are empowering colleges across the United States to track hundreds of thousands of students more precisely than ever before. Dozens of schools now use such technology to monitor students' academic performance, analyse their conduct or assess their mental health.
But some professors and education advocates argue that the systems represent a new low in intrusive technology, breaching students' privacy on a massive scale. The tracking systems, they worry, will infantilise students in the very place where they're expected to grow into adults, further training them to see surveillance as a normal part of living, whether they like it or not.
In response we have:
How to (Hypothetically) Hack Your School's Surveillance System:
This week, hacktivist and security engineer Lance R. Vick tweeted an enticing proposition along with a gut-punch headline: "Colleges are turning students' phones into surveillance machines, tracking the locations of hundreds of thousands," read the Washington Post link.
Vick countered with an offer to students:
If you are at one of these schools asking you to install apps on your phone to track you, hit me up for some totally hypothetical academic ideas on how one might dismantle such a system.
We're always up for hacker class, so Vick supplied Gizmodo with a few theories for inquiring minds.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 29 2019, @10:05PM (6 children)
I saw these types of comments when Slashdot ran this story, also. It's not as simple as you make it out to be.
It's definitely important that the instructor be enthusiastic about the course and be able to explain the material clearly and simply. While that definitely makes a difference, even the most attentive students have limited attention spans and will lose focus over the duration of a lecture. Students are more likely to attend if they feel they're actually learning and they're being prepared for the course assessments. Passive learning isn't a particularly effective way to teach students.
It's much more effective to have shorter periods of passive learning punctuated by active learning exercises. This can be as simple as posing a problem to students in class and asking them to collaborate with other students to solve it. Peer instruction is quite effective in helping students learn. The instructor can assess in real time whether students are understanding the material with student response systems like clickers. Students learn more through active learning than through passive lectures. Breaking up the monotony of passive learning also increases student attention during the periods of lecturing.
Another common recommendation is that students are more likely to take active learning exercises seriously if credit is attached to them. This is as simple as asking students to submit their answers online while also retaining a copy for their reference. Of course, giving credit for the active learning exercises also effectively mandates attendance. I suppose the instructor could excuse any students from the active learning exercises if they miss class, only calculating the grade based on assessments they were present for. However, is it really the responsibility of the instructor to be accommodating of students who decide they don't want to attend class?
Should attendance be mandatory for classes that teach solely with passive learning? Perhaps not. But active learning is far more effective at teaching students. Active learning generally does require that students attend class. As I noted, there are reasons to attach credit to those exercises. Additionally, requiring students to submit their responses provides useful feedback to the instructor.
It's worth noting that this is very different from an attendance grade. Students are expected to attend class, but receive points for the work they do in class. These in-class exercises should also generally prepare students for homework assignments and exams. A good instructor, one who incorporates active learning, should care about whether students are attending to participate in the active learning exercises.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 29 2019, @10:38PM (5 children)
If someone demonstrates that they understand the subject matter by passing the exams and assignments, then that is what ultimately matters. That's the entire goal.
What works for some (attending class) might not work for others, so one-size-fits-all solutions shouldn't be imposed via an authoritarian decree. Forcing people into boxes is in opposition to education and individualism.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 29 2019, @11:45PM (2 children)
“That's the entire goal.”
No. It isn’t.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 30 2019, @02:17AM (1 child)
You're obsessed with compliance and conformity, not learning. If someone can demonstrate they know the material, that's all that should matter. You are interested in promoting conformity and assimilation, not education.
Just because "international students" struggle to understand the material doesn't mean people like me should have to suffer through going to class. I don't want to sit in a room with a bunch of "international students" just because some administrator wants to push their leftist ideas. Make no mistake, higher education is all about indoctrinating youth with leftist ideas.
And the "international students" you reference in your other comment are really a bunch of dark-skinned morally and intellectually deficient freeloaders who want to mooch off of America before destroying it. Niggers, kikes, towelheads, wetbacks, pakis, dune coons, curry niggers, chinks, and all other darkies hate America. The darkies hate us, which is why I hate all of them. My hate is strong and I'm damned proud of it. In fact, my hate is getting stronger as I talk to you people.
Those of you who have been indoctrinated with leftist propaganda in college will certainly accuse me of being racist. However, I'm not racist, nor is there anything racist about my comment. There is no valid reason that American taxpayers should be paying to educate chinks and curry niggers, who have nothing to contribute to our country. It is inexplicable that leftists want to educate sand niggers in American schools, the same bastards who killed thousands of Americans in the cowardly 9/11 attacks. Americans should not be educating the next generation of terrorists.
Attendance is about conformity, just like leftists want everyone to conform to their warped worldview. I don't want to sit through some professor pushing leftist propaganda when I already know the material and can learn more by reading the textbook than by listening to his nonsense. I have far better things to do than listen to the leftists in the ivory tower insisting that I conform with things like liking niggers and believing that humans are causing global warming. It's my right if I don't like niggers and nobody has any business demanding otherwise. And it's obvious to anyone with a clue that the sun is responsible for global warming and human activity is a drop in the bucket compared to solar activity.
Stop pushing your leftist propaganda in these comments. It's clear that you've been spamming this story with your demands of conformity and attendance in class.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 30 2019, @03:46AM
Good christ you’re a loonie.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 29 2019, @11:48PM (1 child)
Nope, the only group I see where that makes sense is with international students who may not have the necessary language skills. Skipping classes is shooting yourself in the foot in virtually all other cases. Even if the prof is just reading out of the textbook, at bare minimum, you're gaining insight into what's going to be on the test and what's important.
The lectures haven't been the sole source of information in at least a century, the prof is there to limit the rate of information to something manageable.
As far as individualism goes, what a load of bollocks. If you think sitting through lectures is a box, you have no business going to college as it's a waste of your money and their resources. The phone is definitely not cool, but if you can't figure out how to take the information from the course and make it your own, then you're too fucking stupid to accomplish anythng.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 30 2019, @05:08AM
Except if you already have an understanding of the material.
Acting as though everyone must do so is trying to force everyone into a box.
The point is, maybe someone has already done so, and thus don't necessarily need to attend the classes.