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Sounds like a big ol' waste of money on technology that will insist on being maintained and repaid and replaced at the the cost of even more money. Some people have no foresight.
I see this as a new trend in college, and I completely disagree with it. IMHO, independence should be applauded and encouraged, not reprimanded. In fact, I sort of thought that was the whole point of schooling--to produce capable citizens who can function without anyone's assistance. To penalize someone for self-sufficiency and managing his/her life on his/her own terms completely defeats the purpose of college.
I also agree that students would attend class if the lectures were more interesting. A lot of profs these days just go over the assigned reading and really don't contribute anything that is so vital that a student must attend each and every class.
I will use myself as the example. I recently took an intro level class (I already have a B.A and am now going for another) where points were deducted off of the final grade for every class missed. Now, this class was ridiculously easy (at least for me it was) and I have to drive an hour to and from campus for each class. I never scored below a 93% on any of the tests; on the last test, I scored a 98% (one wrong) and I had missed three classes re: the material that was on the test. The prof's lectures were very boring and even pedantic. There was no discussion or questions allowed by the prof, who just went over the reading in class by expanding upon it with personal anecdotes. Suffice to say, I didn't miss much when I missed class, and there were a lot of students who didn't attend class.
And yet, students were penalized for missing classes. I'm even a little concerned that I will get a B in this class b/c I missed five classes, despite knowing the material inside and out. However, the worst part of the scenario was that the prof mass e-mailed the class a couple of times, complaining about the lack of attendance, even though she forgot to pass around the attendance sheet on several occassions as well. Moreover, the tests were always directly related to the material in the book. So, students were essentially forced to go to class not b/c they benefited from listening to the prof but, rather, in order to appease the prof's ego. I can honestly say that I learned nothing from that prof and that everything I learned was from reading the book. Not every student/person needs to be micro-managed by a prof. Honestly, it felt more like high school than college.
So, in sum, poor attendance=poor teacher. In situations like these, the fault lies with the porf, not the students. Even if a student fails a class, that is (and should always be) his/her choice, and it should always be related to the material, not attendance.
Students at Northern Arizona University will have a hard time skipping large classes next fall because of a new attendance monitoring system.
The new system will use sensors to detect students’ university identification cards when they enter classrooms, according to NAU spokesperson Tom Bauer. The data will be recorded and available for professors to examine.
As a student, I certainly fought for my right not to attend class. As a working adult with a business degree, I now see things a little differently. Schools are judged by the market based on their students' performance. As well, now that tuition is so expensive, another metric that is getting a lot of scrutiny is the percentage of students who graduate in 4 years. We all know that not going to class is tied to performing poorly in school, which not only brings the students' transcripts down, but the school's reputation as well. Since Northern Arizona University is a tier 4 school, they've got to do something if they want to preserve their enrollment, research grants, and endowment in the long term.
As a student, I certainly fought for my right not to attend class. As a working adult with a business degree, I now see things a little differently. Schools are judged by the market based on their students' performance. As well, now that tuition is so expensive, another metric that is getting a lot of scrutiny is the percentage of students who graduate in 4 years. We all know that not going to class is tied to performing poorly in school, which not only brings the students' transcripts down, but the school's reputation as well. Since Northern Arizona University is a tier 4 school, they've got to do something if they want to preserve their enrollment, research grants, and endowment in the long term.
Maybe you are right, but I have never heard of the 'market' being based on student performance outside of retention and graduation rates. Neither of which has to do with skipping class, within reason.
Performance in college is largely based on the individual student. Besides, just because a student is in class does not mean that student is paying attention.
College students are expected to be adults, and while I have had professors who work attendance into the course grade, they all agree that it is the students business to attend class or not. As they say, you pay to be there, not the other way around.
And to mention, the article says that NAU would allow the individual profs to use, or ignore, the attendance information gathered by the sensors. That statement alludes to ulterior motives at play, otherwise there is no reason to install such a system.
If the sensor system is solely for the purpose of attendance, what is next? Truancy officers for (adult) college students?
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