Let’s consider two recent, related pieces in the University of Miami newspaper.
The first announces the appearance, in selected classrooms, of a new technology called SYNCHRONEYES.
Synchroneyes is the sort of thing universities all over the country are spending your tuition dollars on.
Instead of doing something about disruptive in-class laptop use that costs nothing ”” banning them ”” many universities are starting an expensive war with them.
Synchroneyes marks a major escalation in the classroom technology battle: The professor as spy-master.
With Syncroneyes, the professor can “view all the computer screens in the classroom and redirect the student’s attention if they digress from the lecture topic.”
Elegantly put. Let’s see this interaction in practice.
How does this technology work? Does it mean that I can sit inside my office, and see what’s on the computer screen in another business across the hallway? Sounds like a major security breach.
This is very disturbing!! This type of technology can be easily expanded throughout the campus. The student goes to a website that isn’t approved of, and then shut the computer down. I was reading a couple weeks ago about legislation to remote control the thermostat in your home, all in the name of energy conservation. This article also reminded me of the remote control device to stop the cars of people who were behind on their car note. Some people nearly had serious accidents because the car was shut down while they were in the middle of heavy traffic!
These tyrannical, anti-freedom, big brother tactics need to be resisted. The public needs to stop being fooled by “reasonable†sounding solutions. We should chip sexual predators so we can keep your children safe. Sounds reasonable. We need to place cameras up on street corners to help prevent crime and have documentation on accidents. Sounds reasonable. We need to deny health care to the old and those who eat bad foods. Sounds reasonable, after all why should they be a burden on the system. Perhaps we should kill the old, the poor and other “useless eaters.†They really are a burden to society. They don’t contribute to society. Does this sound reasonable?
One day, we are all going to wake up and find ourselves in a trap of our own creation. And we will be unable to get out.
-Vincent
Makes me nostalgic for the good old days when we’d get called on for sleeping in class. The best revenge was being able to come out of the half-dozing state and answer the professor’s question about the material being discussed.
Being absorped in a computer screen while a professor lectures is rude, and professors have the right to say, “Not in My Classroom.”
However, we should not have to resort to spy technology to teach manners. Professors should say, “No laptops in the class unless they are being used to take notes.” If students defy the rule, then they are gone.
Simple.
“Instead of doing something about disruptive in-class laptop use that costs nothing — banning them — many universities are starting an expensive war with them”
Playing video games, watching YouTube, surfing the Internet, and exchanging instant messages are all rude and (for nearby students) potentially distracting.
Yet banning laptop computers does not, in the smart-alecky words of this article, “cost nothing.” Many students prefer to take notes on their computers and should be free to do so. I would ban computers only if teaching the sort of course (e.g., thermodynamics) in which one could not take meaningful notes via computer.
I disapprove of enabling a professor to read all the computer screens in a classroom and “redirect the student’s attention if they digress from the lecture topic.” It would be enough for the professor to be able to spot-check the general appearance of students’ computer screens. You don’t need close focus to distinguish Word from solitaire or Grand Theft Auto.
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“Synchroneyes is the sort of thing universities all over the country are spending your tuition dollars on”
More verbal flatulence. I doubt most professors have heard of Synchroneyes before now.
The article doesn’t point out that this is software that has to be installed on every student’s computer before the professor can exercise his or her godly powers. See here for what seems to be the actual product page.
The scheme will only work if the students are using school-issued laptops that have this software pre-installed, or if the school can somehow require them to install the package on their own laptops as a condition of connecting to the network. And in either case, I’d be surprised if the savvier students didn’t figure out how to cripple it immediately.
In a sense, though, I think this kind of effort has a beneficial effect: official surviellance teaches people how to avoid surveillance, and that’s an extremely useful life skill.
My Electrical Engineering had a simple answer to the use of computers and cell phones when I went to college. First of all computers and cell phones were left outside of of the room preferably locked away in the students lockers. Hand calculators were allowed but a copy of the program used had to be submitted to him at the close of the test. Very simple reason. The professor would award partial credit for a test question if mistakes were found in the program used. If no program was available he could only say – “sorry I can’t give anything but a no credit on your answer”. This stopped most if not all sneaking in scan cards for their calculators.
Yea ive been wondering how to shut down this program while in school. Do i need a speacial program or some sort? If you know how to shut it down or control and block the teacher from getting on your computer because I’ve been talking to someone about a speacial event thats going on here where im staying at but the teacher thinks I’m just messing around and talking to peole but I’m not. If you have any information on that please post a reply about it