Treating people like babies, results in people acting like babies. Treating people with respect and autonomy like adults, makes adults.
Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
241–250 of 293 posts
Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#242> logging their absence into a campus database that tracks them over time and can sink their grade. Fortunately, I attended a college (Caltech) that as institute policy did not take attendance and no part of the grade was based on attendance. The result was nobody was disruptive in class, because if students didn't want to attend, they didn't attend. I remember sitting in class as a freshman thinking about this and e…
I think, at least with my group of friends, those from private schools had more growing up to do in a shorter period because they came from schools that over-supported them, so they weren't prepared to be self sufficient.
Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
Workplace attendance tracking is certainly not universal. When I teach classes, if a student does not perform the requisite work to complete the course, I’ve no interest in their success. I am an instructor, not a motivator.
For the vast majority of jobs being absent a full work week without approval means you don't have a job the next week. Why does being an adult university student mean you can be absent for months and still succeed? It has nothing to do with adulthood. And why do we need instructors? Let's just give each student some textbooks and their exam schedule. If they can't succeed we're not interested in their success. The Da…
As a college student, you are paying to receive a service. The college fulfilled their obligation that you paid for. Your only obligation is to pay the bill that you agreed to. You are not obliged to make use of the services provided.
It's not the same situation at all.
Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#244Earlier quoted context omitted.
The proliferation of data platforms and fancy tools makes it easy to build dashboards, etc. One former colleague is doing a lot of research and statistics gathering by correlating use of campus swipe cards to grades and other academic warning signs. If they detect that you’re out late, using soda machines at 3am, bugging out for the weekend, etc they may trigger some of sort intervention.
An intervention for staying up late and leaving on the weekend? Is this a college or a daycare?
Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#245Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
For the vast majority of jobs being absent a full work week without approval means you don't have a job the next week. Why does being an adult university student mean you can be absent for months and still succeed? It has nothing to do with adulthood. And why do we need instructors? Let's just give each student some textbooks and their exam schedule. If they can't succeed we're not interested in their success. The Da…
In a job, you are being paid to perform a service. If you take the money and do not perform the service, you can expect negative consequences. As a college student, you are paying to receive a service. The college fulfilled their obligation that you paid for. Your only obligation is to pay the bill that you agreed to. You are not obliged to make use of the services provided. It's not the same situation at all.
Service providers can fire customers. If you pay for membership of a club but never attend functions, the club will end your membership.
If the service aims to provide a community or is invested in the success of its customers then it should fire customers who are not invested in their own success.
Not to mention how many students are not customers. They are sponsored by parents and scholarships and heavily subsidized. All these stakeholders have a vested interest in academic success. Tracking attendance is better for all of them.
Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
In a job, you are being paid to perform a service. If you take the money and do not perform the service, you can expect negative consequences. As a college student, you are paying to receive a service. The college fulfilled their obligation that you paid for. Your only obligation is to pay the bill that you agreed to. You are not obliged to make use of the services provided. It's not the same situation at all.
So the adult argument has fell through. Now it's about being a customer. Service providers can fire customers. If you pay for membership of a club but never attend functions, the club will end your membership. If the service aims to provide a community or is invested in the success of its customers then it should fire customers who are not invested in their own success. Not to mention how many students are not custom…
Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
You'll have to explain again how bad behaviour by US police generalises to professors. As far as I can tell this is simply a strawman. And even if it's not - the solution is to replace dickhead staff with reasonable human beings, not chain them with process so that everyone suffers.
Professors, like cops, have significant power within their sphere. And tenured profs can even go to the point of calling women, gay, and black people less than human. (Indiana University Prof Rasmussen) The key here is, surveillance shouldn't be used against the students who are of low power, but instead against those who decide if the students succeed or not - the professors. Trusting power is how one gets to signif…
Like I said, attendance at my University was not mandatory. We weren't treated like children.
For many lectures I felt reading the book would be a better use of my time and so did others.
Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most of those third-tier schools shouldn't exist in the first place. Immature, undisciplined students are just accumulating debt without learning much. They would be better off in community college or working for a while. Then once they gain a little more life experience some will figure out what they want to do and have enough motivation to return to school.
> Most of those third-tier schools shouldn't exist in the first place I disagree. I was offered admission to zero first rate schools, two second rate schools ($$$$$$ tuition), and my backup which is a third rate school (which I am attending for free). If my backup school didn't exist, I would either be without a degree, or my parents would have a significant dent in their retirement. I'm willing to put up with the BS…
Re: Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's likely a violation of the institution's academic honesty policy.
True, but it's a two-way street. An academic honesty policy seems predicated on the assumption that the system run by faculty is inherently honest. > [...] 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 desperatio…