Schools making iPads mandatory (not tablet computers...iPads) technopoly anyone?

01/21/2011

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Teachers update parents childs indoctrination progress on Facefuck

09/09/2010

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360 cameras in your bedroom if you want a university degree

06/11/2010

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Exams come to the bedroom with new invigilation software 

New technology allows students to sit tests at home while computer lock, webcam and microphone ensure they can't cheat


Exam technique: Hundreds of students may no longer have to sit an exam together. Photograph: Rui Vieira/PAIt has long been said that exams should be sat in comfort – in loose-fitting clothing and with a glass of water handy.

Now scientists have taken this a step further and found a way for students to take tests from their bedrooms at any time of day or night.

At least one UK university – the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff – is experimenting with the technology, which has built in anti-cheating software, and dozens of others will be offered the service this summer. It has been developed by the US firm Software Secure Inc and works through a unit that students plug into their computers.

Once a student feels ready to sit the written exam, the technology takes a fingerprint to check their identity and a 360-degree webcam and microphone kick into action. Throughout the exam, these pick up whether the student is trying to cheat by receiving help from others. The computer also "locks down" so that the student cannot search the internet or their files for answers.

University invigilators can then watch the footage, whenever they choose to. Some may decide to watch each individual student taking their exam, while others will only view a sample of candidates, or speed through the footage to check nothing looks suspicious.

The technology, called Securexam Remote Proctor, is already used by New York University's law faculty, the University of West Alabama and other US institutions. It will be offered to universities later this month at an international plagiarism conference hosted by Northumbria University.

The University of Wales Institute, Cardiff is already looking into using the technology for its overseas students.


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Studense to get RFID'd at North Arizona University

05/17/2010

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READ MORE @ INSIDE TECHNOLOGY SPECTRUM
I must admit that on more than one occasion, I cut some of my university classes, which on retrospect, may not have been for the best of reasons. Since class attendance itself didn't count towards my grades, the only penalty I incurred was if I couldn't understand later what had been taught during the lecture. Some classes you didn't dare cut for that very reason.

At Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, Arizona, the administration has instructed that next semester professors should seriously consider counting class attendance  as part of the course grade for their freshman and sophomore classes, says this Arizona Republic article.

The administration's reasoning is that students who attend classes and participate are generally more successful than those that don't. The administration says that it wants to reduce the drop-out rate of the university's lower classman, and cites various statistics to back up its objectives.

The fuss about attendance would probably not be a news item except that NAU intends to use RFID proximity card readers to automatically take attendance in classes of 50 or more freshman and sophomore students. NAU has used RFID-enabled student ID cards for years to allow its students access to their resident halls, purchase meals on campus, etc. In smaller freshman and sophomore classes, the professors would manually take class attendance.

Many NAU students don't like the idea, and some privacy advocates have expressed reservations, too.

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