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> “We’re reinforcing this sense of powerlessness … when we could be asking harder questions, like: Why are we creating institutions where students don’t want to
by dpflan 7y ago
> “We’re reinforcing this sense of powerlessness … when we could be asking harder questions, like: Why are we creating institutions where students don’t want to show up?”
This is a great rebuttal. The tracking app of focus, SpotterEDU, was made to target student athletes and reduce truancy. But the founder has an odd history and this just smells of a money grab under the guise of helping students. The professors who lay laurels on the application because attendance is up need to assess performance of their classrooms with the app and those from the past without it to really make a statement.
- joe_the_user 7y agoIn the early 80s at several large universities I knew of, it wasn't uncommon for attendance at lectures to be effectively optional. The student was expected to do the homework, pass the midterm and final and maybe participate in discussions in a small section with a TA or graduate student. This varied from class to class, of course. Still, this was an incentive for a given professor to make their lecture interesting and useful enough that students wanted to attend.
- cortesoft 7y agoThis reminds me of when I was at university 20 years ago.... I had a friend who was paid to follow a basketball player to class and make sure he went. The player didn't even know he was being followed, my friend reported his info directly to the athletic department. Always stuck out to me as an example of how ridiculous college sports are. I guess now they have just automated that job.
- QuesnayJr 7y agoThe app sounds like a dystopian nightmare, but this rebuttal is equally bad. Students are adults. If they don't want to show up, then they can not show up. If they can't muster the internal motivation to go to college and do the work, then that's on them.