Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
washingtonpost.com
Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
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Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#2I'm a college student myself (my university, as far as I'm aware, has no system such as this). As far as I'm concerned, it's both an insidious creep of social-credit policy and a gross invasion of student privacy. It treats us as children rather than as the adults we are, and seems to me to be a sign of the re-infantalization of colleges. Many generations ago, when the age of majority was for the most part higher, colleges acted in loco parentis for their minor undergraduates. It was during the twentieth century that college students came to be recognized as real adults. But now it seems that the coddling has in many ways increased, and some find it fit again, as one sees here, to surveil us like children.
Further, while there have been obvious benefits of technological advancement, they have in large part erased informal procedures and social understanding in favor of a rigid and unforgiving process. For example, my assignments are now largely due at midnight, at a very particular second: submit a nanosecond late at your own penalty. Whereas in the past the common practice of most professors would be along the lines of "get it in my mailbox by 4 p.m.", or something like that, but with the informal understanding that at 4:00:00.0...1, the door of the mailbox would not close and chop off your hand. And exceptions to rules were easier to get before the arbiter of the rules became a severe and unfeeling one.
Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#3Schools and colleges should ideally be a place for creativity, free thinkers and open by default.
Using surveillance and improving attendance through fear tactics is not going to help. You will get their physical presence but not their involvement.
I wonder how long it will take for students to start placing check Bluetooth devices in all places they are expected to be present and remotely switch them at desired times. I hope this happens and defeats this unethical forced surveillance by colleges.
Alternatively, I would encourage student counselors spend a little more time with students and assist them to monitor themselves. Motivate the youngsters to better regulate themselves and grow up to be independent and responsible adults.
Note: On Android, there is an app named Tasker. You can automate your phone with it. Schools could start maintaining shared Tasker profiles that can help students stick to some well defined and commonly followed routines. This is giving control back to the student and coaching them about the merits in planning and sticking to plans.
Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#4Not sure if this is still the case or not but at Maryland circa. 2007-2010 it was school policy that no class could have attendance factored into the grade. If you wanted to skip every class and only show up for exams, that was your choice. Privacy implications aside, I feel that this should be the case everywhere since college is effectively a business transaction. What you decide to do with the product after you've paid should be entirely up to you.
Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#5I'm a college student myself (my university, as far as I'm aware, has no system such as this). As far as I'm concerned, it's both an insidious creep of social-credit policy and a gross invasion of student privacy. It treats us as children rather than as the adults we are, and seems to me to be a sign of the re-infantalization of colleges. Many generations ago, when the age of majority was for the most part higher, co…
I don't think those informal understandings should stay so informal. If it's the fact that having your paper due by 4:20 is fine, then let it be 4:20, although the midnight deadline is likely something most people wouldn't do if they had to collect submissions in person, and so in this scenario we have automation possibly enabling more flexibility in student schedules. If students need extra room to pass the bar and it is a meaningful relaxation of rules, then let it be known so that the matter can be studied.
Why? Because empathy at scale works in ways which breeds hostility among groups and it creates an unhealthy incentive to compete over a teacher; it's not really reasonable to expect people to be immune to race or class or sex. Further, if the rules are strict then people need to know rather than _some_ people getting the discretionary treatment and others not.
Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#6What's wrong with an attendance sheet?
Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#7How hard would it be to make a device that spoofs everyone's phone?
Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#8I'm a college student myself (my university, as far as I'm aware, has no system such as this). As far as I'm concerned, it's both an insidious creep of social-credit policy and a gross invasion of student privacy. It treats us as children rather than as the adults we are, and seems to me to be a sign of the re-infantalization of colleges. Many generations ago, when the age of majority was for the most part higher, co…
This never happened to me at any age. So maybe it's not about age. Maybe it's about generation.
Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#9What's wrong with an attendance sheet?
A classmate can sign it for you.
Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#10""Several students said they didn’t mind a system designed to keep them honest. But one of them, a freshman athlete at Temple University who asked to speak anonymously to avoid team punishment, said the SpotterEDU app has become a nightmare, marking him absent when he’s sitting in class and marking him late when he’s on time.
He said he squandered several of his early lectures trying to convince the app he was present, toggling his settings in desperation as professors needled him to put the phone away. He then had to defend himself to campus staff members, who believed the data more than him.""
This is downside of tech, false positive and negatives
Also, couldn't you just buy a cheap burner phone and hand it to a friend to take to class for you? Just because the phone is there doesn't mean the person is.