Tucked away in a 1,200-page bill now in Congress is a small paragraph that could lead
distance-education institutions to require spy cameras in their students’ homes.
It sounds Orwellian, but the paragraph — part of legislation renewing the Higher Education Act — is all but assured of becoming law by the fall. No one in Congress objects to it.
The paragraph is actually about clamping down on cheating. It says that an institution that offers an online program must prove that an enrolled student is the same person who does the work.
But some college officials are wary of the technologies, noting that they are run by third-party vendors that may not safeguard students’ privacy. Among the information the vendors collect are students’ fingerprints, and possibly even images from inside their homes.
“This is taking a step into a student’s private life,” said Rhonda M. Epper, co-executive director of Colorado Community Colleges Online. “I don’t know if we want to extend our presence that far.”
So they would go from having no credibility to being creepy and still having no credibility?
Did this come from the lobbyists for the exsiting colleges.
That was my thought. But existing “Brick and mortar” colleges are transitioning to online courses and curricula too.
What are the cameras going to prove beyond that the person in question sat in front of their computer at the appropriate time? It in no way is going to provide any verification of who actually did the work.
I am a recent college student and I can put a little reference to this. The bill is not needed. I took an Introduction to Logic course online and to keep the integrity of the class you had to take the final at the school. You had to show them two forms of I.D. including student I.D. It was highly monitored by faculty and the final was damned hard.
This was at a community college. The addition of the law is just more jargon that is not needed.
Why are the Feds. picking on online colleges. Do they really think that there is no cheating at bricks and martyr colleges? Besides if all the cheating is removed from the educational experience, where will the next generation of experienced politicians come from?
nunyac
OK so you want cameras in the dorms and what not. OK what student isn’t going to tamper or block the camera?
How long is going to take Americans to get out their torches and pitch forks? This crap has to stop.
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
Is the Constitution really that hard to understand? It is written in plain English.