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January 13, 2006
I-Spy
Think about NetWitness in the classroom. Do you, like I, sometimes wonder what students are REALLY doing when they madly key into their laptops in class? I teach in a wireless environment and apparently, it would be possible for me to trap all the student wireless traffic with my PC and input it to NetWitess (small point: their product costs $50,000 to $100,000, so don't call them today).
However, let's just continue with my thought experiment.
Suppose I could trap the wireless traffic on Monday, process it over night, and on Wednesday display to the class all of the email they'd sent in class, all of their IM traffic, all of the web sites they'd visited. I'd do two things: 1) drive home the point that there is no privacy for email or IM and 2) I know what they're doing in class.
Were I to do that, I can see the demonstrations across campus on the violation of student privacy, but, hey, starting that conversation on campus is a good idea. Don't know if I want to be the one lambasted in the faculty Senate, however.
So, suppose, instead, I tell the students what I'm about to do. Then I put up a big sign in front of my computer in the classroom that says, in huge letters,
I-Spy in Use
The students have been forewarned. They know I can read anything they do. And, like an electric fence, I don't have to do it more than once or twice. I just put up the sign and they don't know if I'm reading their traffic or not.
Or, what about in a exam? I'd like the students to be able to use their computers for the exam, I just don't want them emailing and IM-ing, etc.
Please send feedback. Would you use this feature? Would you pay, say $19.95 per read session?
Let me know!
Posted by DavidK at January 13, 2006 11:57 AM | Permalink