Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

University Gives Away iPhones To Curb Truancy

Posted by timothy on from the give-me-lobster-and-I-won't-skip-dinner dept.

Norsefire writes "A Japanese University is giving away iPhones to its students to use the phones' GPS functionality to catch students who skip classes. The University claims students currently fake attendance by having other students answer for them during rollcall, they also said that while this can be abused by giving other students the phone, they are much less likely to do this due to the personal information, such as email, a phone generally contains."

22 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. There is always an easier solution... by Goalie_Ca · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Okay. Umm.. Who the fuck cares if students show up to class or not. At university we are old enough to decide if class is a waste of time or not. I skipped tons of classes during my undergrad degree and this enabled me to actually assignments that I wouldn't have otherwise had time for.

    --

    ----
    Go canucks, habs, and sens!
    1. Re:There is always an easier solution... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The article states that attendance at this university is a necessary requirement to graduate:

      Truants in Japan often fake attendance by getting friends to answer roll-call or hand in signed attendance cards. That's verging on cheating since attendance is a key requirement for graduation.

      Having said that, smart students would probably be able to figure out a way of disabling this 'feature' or spoofing it to show them as being in a different location pretty quickly. Also GPS often fails to get a usable signal in some buildings.

      So what?

      They just give the phone to whoever is going to be signing in for them.

      If they want to stop truancy, just give a quiz at the beginning of every class.

      Of course if what they're interested in is giving the students an education, stop taking roll and just crack down on academics.

    2. Re:There is always an easier solution... by rolfwind · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Okay. Umm.. Who the fuck cares if students show up to class or not. At university we are old enough to decide if class is a waste of time or not. I skipped tons of classes during my undergrad degree and this enabled me to actually assignments that I wouldn't have otherwise had time for.

      Japan isn't America. Apparently they care. Perhaps it's because universities have a limited number of spaces that they would prefer to give to successful students and truancy may correlate with success. It's been my observation that students who are truant a lot, even if successful and breeze by the first round of classes, tend to crash and burn later on as when they don't change their habits. Or it may be that some classes require a team effort and truant students disrupt that (but for whatever reason, the team is reluctant to report it.... or it counts against them anyway).

      There could be a lot of reasons. Your experience doesn't mean it takes into account everything.

      Anyway, this sounds like a technical solution to a human problem that will ultimately fail to a determined truant. Perhaps the teacher should enlist a trusted assistant and they work some system. Perhaps they should give out one ticket to each student with serial number at the end of each class as they walk out the door that will enable them to sign in on the "was here last time" sheet the next class. Then they just count tickets given out to signatures to ensure accuracy and that no one is cheating. Or something like that. Anyone without a ticket just signs a sheet indicating they were present that time but absent last time (and whatever preceding times).

      If they want to get fancy technologically, I guess they could use several retina scanners (to avoid traffic jams, fingerprints scanners would be duped too easily these days) that allow you to sign in at the beginning and then out of each class at the end.

    3. Re:There is always an easier solution... by Mad+Merlin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The article states that attendance at this university is a necessary requirement to graduate

      So? It's still a dumb requirement for graduation. Unless it's different over there, University is optional, paid for entirely by the attendee, and generally not started until one's about 18. There's absolutely no reason to make attendance part of the requirements for graduation, if you choose not to attend, that's completely up to you.

      --
      Game! - Where the stick is mightier than the sword!
    4. Re:There is always an easier solution... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      So? It's still a dumb requirement for graduation.

      Your opinions on the matter will not change reality, no matter how enlightened you are or how dumb you think it is. The facts are given: This is not your university, chances are this isn't even your culture, and attendance IS mandatory there.

      Some universities are harder than others.

    5. Re:There is always an easier solution... by Phroggy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Okay. Umm.. Who the fuck cares if students show up to class or not. At university we are old enough to decide if class is a waste of time or not. I skipped tons of classes during my undergrad degree and this enabled me to actually assignments that I wouldn't have otherwise had time for.

      Agreed. If your students can pass your class without showing up, you're wasting their time and you should figure out how to make your classes more valuable to them. They should be coming to class because if they don't they'll have a difficult time passing the final exam, not because you're tracking their cell phone.

      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
    6. Re:There is always an easier solution... by dov_0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think that attendance is often mandatory (certainly in tertiary studies that I've done in Australia it has been) because soaking in the subject during lecture, hearing questions answered and participating in group discussions are actually part of the educational process. It's not just about the essays or exams.

      --
      sudo mount --milk --sugar /cup/tea /mouth /etc/init.d/relax start
    7. Re:There is always an easier solution... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Last time I looked at the statistics from my university, there was a correlation between attendance and mediocre results. The worst students didn't turn up all the time, and failed because they didn't know the material. The good students didn't turn up all the time, and did well because they learned enough in the lectures they did attend to learn the rest on their own time.

      The purpose of a university is not to teach, it's to provide an environment where a student can learn, and to let them know what they should learn to be considered an expert in a particular field. There is a reason we don't call lecturers and professors teachers; the teacher in a university should always be the student. The lecturer is a guide on the path to education, not a leader.

      You don't need to go to lectures to be surrounded by people interested in the subject. When I was a student, I spent a couple of hours each day in a coffee shop on campus, and spent a lot of this time discussing various aspects of the subject with my peers. Part of university is learning to build your own structure, not requiring it to be rigidly enforced externally.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  2. Universities are for education... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    not babysitting.

  3. Re:Mmm by Cimexus · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Depends how you define 'better'. Japanese phones are certainly more feature-rich than the iPhone. However, they aren't always more elegant or usable (some of the interfaces on Japanese phones are pretty awful, to be honest).

    Besides, even if I had a 'better' phone, I still wouldn't refuse another phone for free!

  4. Who cares about attendance? by cbraga · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Forcing someone to attend won't magically make him interested or engaged in the subject. They need good teachers for that. And good exams so bad studens won't pass by cheating and those who do pass will be actually well prepared.

  5. This is sure to boost attendance. by artor3 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now that every student will be able to browse the web and chat with their friends in class, I'm sure fewer will cut.

    1. Re:This is sure to boost attendance. by Norsefire · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The iPhone can only run one GUI app at a time, so all the GPS apps require it to be the main running application to work. So unless they're jailbreaking them the only way this will work is to force the students to have the GPS app open during classes, which makes it impossible for them to run anything else (such as Sarari). And if they close the GPS app they're accused of truanting.

  6. I don't know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... how about making the classes worth attending, and making testing difficult enough that poor attendance matters?

  7. What is it we always say? by kkrajewski · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Technical solution to a social problem? How about just count the number of names on the sheet, or learn to recognize your students? I don't know, crazy ideas...

  8. Re:What? by viyh · · Score: 3, Insightful

    My point is that attendance is irrelevant as long as the student learns the material (measured by testing and finals).

    --
    "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." --Mark Twain
  9. I think this problem was solved years ago... by Terranex · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... When people started taking exams. If someone can pass an exam coupled with any assignments they would have been given as part of a module, then I would deem them qualified. Attendance is no measure of academic ability.

  10. You expect students to be organized? by RealGrouchy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And what if students forget their iPhone at home?

    - RG>

    --
    Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
  11. Re:Better Solution by CRCulver · · Score: 2, Insightful

    As a Navy veteran, I'd like to add the usual caveats:

    • The military isn't for everyone.
    • Training in the military tends to be on equipment exclusive to the military, therefore badly preparing you for work in the civilian world.
    • A university degree is vital towards getting a job with any security, and the last exceptions are disappearing quickly. But the military's promise of helping you with university education is pretty hollow, as the GI Bill won't even cover a single year of tuition at a decent university. You're consigned to community colleges and obscure state universities.
    • At least with university you can still take advantage of your youth and see the world during the generous vacation periods. In the military, your mobility is exceedingly limited and by the time you get out, you feel like you screwed yourself.
  12. Here's an idea by WeirdingWay · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Don't have classes with 100+ students so the professor actually recognizes your face and you can't get away with someone else doing it for you. Huge lecture halls make for a horrible learning experience anyway.

  13. Re:Let me explain the situation over here... by caladine · · Score: 1, Insightful
    I'm American, and I'd like to say is thank you very much for the perspective you're giving. I'd known that the Japanese school system was "unique" by western standards, to say it's unique is an understatement.

    The campus culture is just very, very different from that of a US university. The level of maturity and seriousness is much, much lower.

    This, frankly, scares the shit out of me and I don't envy you your position. I received my degree 5 years ago now, and I remember what my school was like then. To think of the level of maturity and seriousness being lower is a difficult thing to think about.

    Full disclosure: I was one of those who had a 4.0 for the first two years of college, before I realized it was hurting my chances of getting an internship (I kid you not, and it sort of makes sense...). It's not that I didn't have fun or make my share of stupid just-left-your-parents mistakes, but I wasn't one of those college party-until-you-can't-anymore types. They were usually the ones at my door begging for help when finals came around.

    To think that Japanese schools at a similar level are worse is painful, especially since the uninformed (myself until this) generally hear the reverse is true.

  14. Re:Let me explain the situation over here... by kklein · · Score: 4, Insightful

    To think that Japanese schools at a similar level are worse is painful, especially since the uninformed (myself until this) generally hear the reverse is true.

    It depends a lot on the university, of course. The university I'm at now is really hard to get into, and I have to say that these kids are pretty bright. That does not, however, mean they are as serious or emotionally invested in their studies as typical US students.

    They tend to be very involved in club activities (sports, music, whatever), and this is not because they are lazy; this is what employers want to see. They want to see that you have worked hard in a group organization for 4 years and have come up through that system to train new students, which is basically exactly what they'll be doing at work.

    But yeah, the US system, compared to the Japanese, ain't too shabby. Well, it wasn't, until we started copying the Japanese. As I said, I am a tester. I believe that with sound statistics and applied psychology, we really can figure out what someone knows. That being said, I don't think that's the point of education. Education is supposed to teach you how to think. It's supposed to stretch you and challenge you and give you a safe environment in which to fail, and in which to learn how you get things done. As the US moves to a more testing-based system, I just groan. It's not good. Standardized tests should be few and far between. In fact, I can't think of a single psychometrician I know who doesn't agree. We design tests and tell people what it will tell them, and then watch administrators try to use them for something else (then complain that they don't do that something else well!).