Co.Exist | ideas + impact: Cameras in the classroom are usually trained on the teacher. Watch, and you’ll see what works, the thinking goes. Bill Gates showed off one classroom Flip cam setup in a TED Talk earlier this year. Afterwards he said: “One day we’d like every classroom in America to look something like that.”
But engineers at SensorStar Labs in Queens, New York, have an idea that takes the recorded classroom to Big Brother levels: cameras for every student's face, and an algorithm to analyze the footage.
16 comments:
Everyday, computers get closer and closer to becoming human. With this new feature, the software can tell when students are daydreaming and the like. Though it can be somewhat easy for us to recognize when our peers aren't paying attention, it's a big step for computers to then realize it. I don't really see any real use for this software, but it is rather incredible. I can kind of see how it could be used for law enforcement, but its uses seem kind of minimal. I would be interested in seeing my stats though, of how long I am actually paying attention.
I feel like this is a little bit of an invasion of privacy...Students will always daydream or drift off during lessons. Human brains are built that way. The brain makes associations with things that the kid already knows, and those associations take the mind off down a train of thought. Funny enough, these associations are what will allow the kid to remember what the teacher is talking about. Sure he/she will have missed the parts after the initial daydream trigger, but he/she will remember that trigger really well.
Another problem with the face recognition thing is that if the kid looks down to look at his notes, then it looks like he is not paying attention. I have to look down at my paper to organize and format my notes in the outline form I want. Does that mean that I will be blamed for not paying attention every time I take notes? That's a little silly.
Wait a minute. What? This technology is absolutely ridiculous. If a teacher needs a "facial recognition" software to tell if their students are spacing out and not paying attention, I think something is wrong. We as humans learn the most about the way a person is feeling by their body language. It has been said that more than 50% of what we know about a person comes from their body language and expressions. Don't get me wrong, I think that this is an incredible software, but I do not see a use for it in the world. I don't believe that we should go this far. Technology is getting too close to being a human. The further we go towards this, the worse we are going to be with human interaction.
Personally I think this is an awful idea. Does it really take facial recognition software for teachers to know who is paying attention in class? Not only is this an invasion of privacy, it is totally unnecessary in a classroom environment. Teachers should be competent and aware enough to do this themselves, not rely on software to do their job. Part of the problem comes down to the way it will be used. Is it really just for making sure students are engaged or could it be used to punish those who don't pay attention? Even though this is innovative technology, I don't think it has any place in education.
Is this serious an idea that is being worked on? It is beyond ridiculous, to have cameras focused on children in classrooms. This is an incredible invasion of privacy towards every child in the classroom. Why. Does a teacher need to look at a recording of their students during class, they are staring right at their faces the entire time they teach. A teacher should be able to see if the class is gaining anything from the lecture right there in the classroom, not later on watching it on a computer. Personally I hope this idea does not make it off the ground, I would not want this in my classrooms or in the classrooms of the younger generations.
I'm conflicted on this. I don't really see this as an invasion of privacy. If this data is something that only the teacher is accessing, then he's just seeing a graphical summary of what he already saw in class that day. A classroom isn't a private setting, and the way we act during a lecture is something that the teacher and all of our classmates can already see; I don't think that adding a camera and computer to the equation changes much. It undeniably is creepy to have technology recording your behavior, but it's not an invasion of privacy.
I think that it's a great idea, but applying it would be difficult. While this is meant as a tool for the teacher to improve their lesson plan and teaching methods, I could see the technology being turned around as a way to monitor and evaluate the student, which I think would be problematic.
Like the article, I’m skeptical of how this particular technology actually augments the learning process. While it could be useful to poll students and their interest in the course material, how much change can this raw data actually allow. Students, regardless of age, are naturally going to be more interested in some subjects than others. No method of teaching is going to keep all (or even the majority of) students engaged at all times. Perhaps those who would need this tool to keep students engaged shouldn’t be responsible for the education of others.
If this programs is used to playback only the notes of when people were and were not engaged I think it could actually be useful especially in a large lecture setting. But if this program is suggested to use recorded video for a professor to watch I am not comfortable with that idea. I personally feel that camera recording should not be allowed in the classroom. If we begin filming and recording what happens in the classroom I believe it will cause both students and teachers to become more self conscious about voicing their opinions and create a restricted environment and one of the best things about our school (I feel) is the amount of experience our professors bring to the classroom and it would be a shame to see professors in a position where they no longer feel comfortable to share their experiences and their opinions.
If a teacher can't tell if their own students are paying attention, that teacher seriously needs to rethink their career path. This technology is unnecessary and too easily could be turned into some kind of big-brother surveillance mechanism. What would be next- cameras attached to the kids to record why they were late for class? Even weirder is the bit about asking parents to check "yes" or "no" to literal surveillence cameras on their children. In addition, all this would teach children would be that they have to pay attention because someone is watching them, not because the lesson is important and they need to actually absorb the information. I hope no one actually takes this idea seriously and that is it never implemented.
In theory I think this is a good idea, but I also think that in practice this will do more harm than good. Maybe this will help students pay more attention because they are bound to act differently if they know they are being watched, but this also feels like every helicopter mom's dream. not only can they always watch what their child is doing when they're at home but now they're proof of how "angelic" they are in school. I have a feeling that after a while this software will stop being helpful for teachers and will help schools catch kids for passing notes or texting, bullying within a classroom (which would actually be a really good thing), or any other small problem that happens. Maybe that could be good, but if you take away a kid's phone, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll pay anymore attention. Also, what does this program say about kids who draw during class? Doodling helps me listen and if that reflected badly on my participation as a student and my teachers took away my sketchbooks or notebooks or whatever surface I am drawing on, they'd be sure to lose my attention out of spite and I'm sure many other kids would too. I think the data is a good idea, but I am very uncomfortable with the idea of recorded video of the students that teachers can access.
So, does there even need to be a teacher in the classroom anymore? Why don't we just make class consist of watching Youtube videos. This technology is ridiculous. People's ideas are getting closer and closer to an Orwellian distopia, where machines watch your every move and analyze who you are as a person. While this is already happening to some extent online and in high security situations, it should not be extended to the classroom. Kids daydream. Don't turn them into robots.
I hate this idea. First, it is an invasion of privacy. Having a computer watching you all day every day to tell if you are spacing out or thinking about other things or whatnot is an absolutely ridiculous idea. Second, your teacher should know if you aren't paying attention enough of the time to be able to understand the material. Third, I space out a lot by nature so the camera would probably be exceptionally threatening to me...
Everyone learns differently, so students shouldn't be pegged as good or bad based on how much a camera is reading that they are not paying attention. A student who takes diligent notes may do worse than a student who takes no notes at all. In the end it's more about brain function than seeming levels of attentiveness.
This is actually kind of creepy. I think that it is weird to constantly be watched during class. I don't think this is productive. It's like big brother. When it comes to education, I'm kind of a old school of thinking. I think that the parents should take a huge role in it and teaching there children that learning is important. It's not the teachers job to make the kids learn. It's the parents. The teacher is there to provide the information. The parents should instill in thier children a sense of respect for both teacher and learning.
This is actually kind of creepy. I think that it is weird to constantly be watched during class. I don't think this is productive. It's like big brother. When it comes to education, I'm kind of a old school of thinking. I think that the parents should take a huge role in it and teaching there children that learning is important. It's not the teachers job to make the kids learn. It's the parents. The teacher is there to provide the information. The parents should instill in thier children a sense of respect for both teacher and learning.
Personally this facial recognition program would be wasted on students like me. I already have the ability to be completely engaged in a lecture, and like the goldfish immediately begin thinking about an email I have to compose the second I'm out of class. The point is that sometimes people get distracted. So how are you going to be able to tell the difference between a student who is simply a dreamer or the fact that as a teacher the material you're lecturing isn't interesting or more rudely that the educator themselves just isn't keeping it together? I think that if teachers are concerned about losing students interested they should investigate new teaching trends or methods to keep the classroom more intereste ping, rather than snooping on the poor kid staring out the window dreaming about flying or swimming in jello.
This is kinda freaky. I mean on one hand it seems like a technology that aims to do good and help teachers understand how well their lesson is going. On the other hand this just feels like Big Brother. It's really seems like an invasion of privacy for the students. Do the students have a choice whether to be watched on camera?
I feel like this technology could be beneficial but maybe if it was used on something else. I’m not sure what exactly but something else.
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