With the rising cost of higher education, new research is being done in order to come up with ways to ensure that students are getting the most bang for their buck — including making sure they’re attending class. Most recently, researchers from Missouri University of Science and Technology have come up with an app that uses facial recognition as a way to monitor attendance.
In order for the app to work, the instructor scans the room with his or her phone to capture everyone’s image at the beginning of each semester. Then when each class starts, they do the same thing. The app then logs the data of attendance automatically.
Zhaozheng Yin, the professor leading the research, feels it will make attendance-tracking easier. “My class is about 40 students. It will take a few minutes and the students find it boring. It’s maybe 10 percent of the total time,” he said.
As a college student, I understand why attendance is important. In order to do well and get the most out of the education you are paying for, you must be in class. I am a student who rarely skips class — I just can’t do it. This semester, I had to miss two days of my sociology class and, with a test looming, I have never felt so unprepared even though I read the chapters and reviewed the PowerPoints. There is something about being in the classroom that allows you to learn even more and this app could be used to punish you for not being in class (if poor grades aren’t enough for you).
I also see why this type of technology would be effective for professors. Like Yin said, it will save time, which ultimately gives students more value for what they paid for. In a time where education costs are consistently questioned, this is what it boils down to.
But with all of this in mind, I strongly think that this type of technology does not belong in a college classroom.
First, a facial recognition app tracking our attendance is not needed. As college students, WE are responsible for getting up every day and going to class — not our professors. We should face the reality that we are adults now and have to be accountable. Maybe an app like this might be able to teach us accountability because it would show us there are consequences for not attending class, ultimately making us accountable. But if you are in college, you should already know this and want to practice it — not be forced into complying.
Additionally, Yin is now looking at ways for parents to receive the data to check if their child is attending class. College is the first time many of us are living on our own; if our parents can watch our every move and keep tabs on us when it comes to being in class, how are we ever going to learn to function on our own as adults?
Besides my personal opinion on college students and their responsibility to be in class, I think this technology presents many potential problems. First, how reliable is the facial recognition software? I wear contacts, but some days I wear glasses — would the software be able to account for this or would I be marked absent? In classrooms, not everyone can see the whiteboard at all times meaning they’re not always visible. This could be a problem when checking to see who’s there. Like with everything technology, there is always a risk of something going wrong — how reliable will this app be?
If professors and schools are going to institute this app, I can see the benefits because it simplifies the process of attendance and has the potential to save time. However, when it comes to the maturity of their students, institutions shouldn’t rely on technology to teach a lesson about life — that sort of thing comes from human interaction alone.
Written by Emily Mein. Emily attends St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y. Sharing information or a person’s story with people is why she loves writing. She can never get enough of Twitter, pasta and Syracuse basketball.
