Writing in the Chronicle, Lee Gardner provides details on several types of student surveillance now being implemented on college campuses. Colleges are increasing student surveillance as part of their new initiatives in data analytics.
One of the surveillance strategies emerging is tracking the campus locations frequented by students, sometimes by cell phone app, sometimes by wifi router, and sometimes by card swipes. Campus officials believe that understanding how students use campus spaces may help them make campuses more inviting and also provide insights as to the patterns of successful students that they can use to advise other students.
The practice of tracking students is not without controversy, however. Although there seems to be little resistance to tracking from students themselves, faculty and others on campus are more wary of the growing level of student surveillance. One concern is that colleges may be grooming students to become used to surveillance which could lead them to be less mindful about similar impositions in other realms when they leave school. Overall, the article presents an interesting balance of different views on surveillance using the very concrete example of college campuses.
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