Blog Post #14

Teacher Knows if You Have Done the E-Reading
Every teacher would love to be able to track if their students are actually doing the reading assignments. A few teachers at Texas A&M are testing out a new technology called Course Smart. This technology allows the teachers to track their students’ progress with digital textbooks. The teachers are able to see the students engagement indexes which shows the teacher how many times the book was opened and for how long. The students are quizzed to see how well they learned the information. This technology will track the students and be able to report back to the publisher. The publisher can then change things as they see fit.

I would love to have this type of technology as a teacher. I think that my students would be more willing to open their books and do their assignments if they knew they were being watched. I would like to have the students to be able to do quiz at the end of each chapter as well. I would hope that the technology could be able to record how long they stayed on each page also. I wouldn’t want the students to just open the book and leave the room while I am thinking they are completing their work.

As a student I would have mixed feelings about the technology. I would not like my teacher to spy on me. I would feel as if they didn’t trust me. If I can pass the test and do the work why should the teacher care how much time I spend looking at a book. On the other hand if I knew my teacher was watching and monitoring my reading then I would make sure that I did it. I wouldn’t want my teacher to think I didn’t care and was lazy.

If I were able to talk with the teachers in the article I would have a few questions.
Do you feel that the information recorded is accurate?
Do you give a grade according to the recorded information?
Since having this technology have the grades of the students improved?

If I interviewed the students I would ask them a few questions about their opinions.
How do you feel about the technology?
Does knowing that your teacher monitors your activity make you want to do a better job?
Are you honestly reading and studying when you have the book open?

My comment to this article would be that it should not determine if the student passes or not. I do not believe this technology would be something to invest in if it is expensive. The students can manipulate it very easily. I believe teachers need to communicate with the students and be aware if the students are reading. You can engage in open class room discussions to see if students are reading.