Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines. . . . [washingtonpost.com]

The flava:
When Syracuse University freshmen walk into professor Jeff Rubin’s Introduction to Information Technologies class, seven small Bluetooth beacons hidden around the Grant Auditorium lecture hall connect with an app on their smartphones and boost their “attendance points.”

And when they skip class? The SpotterEDU app sees that, too, logging their absence into a campus database that tracks them over time and can sink their grade. It also alerts Rubin, who later contacts students to ask where they’ve been. His 340-person lecture has never been so full.

“They want those points,” he said. “They know I’m watching and acting on it. So, behaviorally, they change.”

Short-range phone sensors and campuswide WiFi networks are empowering colleges across the United States to track hundreds of thousands of students more precisely than ever before. Dozens of schools now use such technology to monitor students’ academic performance, analyze their conduct or assess their mental health.

The article:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/12/24/colleges-are-turning-students-phones-into-surveillance-machines-tracking-locations-hundreds-thousands/

A day in the life. . . . (Cambridge and UC Davis)

since you can't say "leave me the fuck alone" [from Wombat of the Copier]

Dear Friends in the Pasture,

When the extra credit assignment was due 10 days ago and your students are literally reading their transcripts while e-mailing you, so even if you *were* willing to accept it late (I'm not), it would require 3 signatures and paper work delivered in person to an office that doesn't open for 17 days, and your phone lit up like Vegas at your kid's holiday party, it's time to set the auto-reply.

I've never used it before.

What do yours say?

--Wombat of the Copier

MIT prof finds that adding an hour of sleep can bump students up a letter grade [timesofisrael.com]

The flava:
Students who consistently added one extra hour of sleep a night jumped a full letter grade, from a B to an A, said Dr. Kana Okano, first author on the paper and Grossman’s research assistant.

Getting more sleep might seem counter-intuitive to some university students, Okano said.

“The first thing that goes away for most of these students when they get to college is sleep. They feel they have to sacrifice sleep to study. However, sleep is so important for memory consolidation and you’re not going to get that without consistent sleep,” she said.

The article:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/mit-prof-finds-that-adding-an-hour-of-sleep-can-bump-students-up-a-letter-grade/

end of semester crap, from Krabby Kathy

Another nonspectacular semester has ended, and I am still searching for a nonteaching job, but old age and nondiversity is stacked against me.

Some of the Krabby nonhighlights –

A student asked me if it was too late to revise papers the week before finals.  I have had a revision schedule throughout the semester and announced end dates on Canvas and in class.  This kid has spent the whole semester with the hood of his hooded sweatshirt up, on his phone, with his laptop open, playing games.  I announce in my syllabus that I will ask students to put away their electronics if they are not being used for classwork (unfortunately, I have all material online), so if I walk by a student playing a game, I will say something, but generally I don’t bother since too many students are e-junkies, and they have to have their come to Jesus moment on their own.

I make sure students don’t get points for terrible first drafts, as they could in high school. They have to revise papers for points.  I had a chatty couple who hid in the back, came in late every day, and never revised.  After each paper, I got “I told you I gave you my paper and never got it back” (the paper is on Canvas), “why didn’t I get any points for my paper” (as explained), and finally “I’ve never failed a class before.  No wonder you have such a poor review on Rate My Professor.”   That made my Krappy day!

--Krabby Kathy

Clery

https://www.ajc.com/news/suspect-student-unthinkable-murder-spent-time-with-victim-family/0K12JcMgkE9o9MkIcs3ekI/
https://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/cold-case-of-college-student-murdered-in-burned-apartment-remains-unsolved
https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2019/11/25/20982530/ruth-george-donald-thurman-strangled-uic-parking-garage-remembered-naperville-central-high-school
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/12/nyregion/tessa-majors-barnard-stabbing.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49041642

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clery_Act

"Please let me know. . . ."

"Please let me know how a professor making a sincere and honorable effort, going out of his way to help a student, ends up facing an allegation of sexual harassment, especially when there is no evidence of anything 'sexual' and when offering help is considered 'harassment.'"
--Buck Ryan, University of Kentucky Professor

Kennesaw State University Student Receives $145,000 In Settlement After Kneeling During National Anthem [essence.com]

The flava:
The Kennesaw State University cheerleader who was disciplined after taking a knee during the national anthem two years ago just won a $145,000 settlement from the state of Georgia.

According to the Marietta Daily Journal, which obtained a copy of the agreement, Tommia Dean and and a representative for Georgia’s Department of Administrative Services signed the lawsuit settlement agreement for $145,000 in October.

The article:
https://www.essence.com/news/kennesaw-state-university-student-settlement-kneeling-national-anthem/

Feces-throwing incidents at 2 Toronto universities being investigated