The One-Way Screen

For a few years now, George Orwell’s novels have been available on e-readers. But the next time you pick up a tablet, “1984” might not just be on the screen—it might be coming through it as well.

Developed by a tech start-up and owned by a consortium of major publishing houses, a new program, CourseSmart, empowers professors to track how much of the assigned reading individual students have completed and the manner in which they have moved through the material, generating indexes that measure student engagement and acuity. Already introduced at Texas A&M, the software will be rolled out next year at several universities nationwide. Feted by some educators as a next generation learning tool, CourseSmart simultaneously raises questions about paternalism and responsibility.

We do not oppose technological advances in the educational sphere, and we can envision many worthwhile applications for this technology. It would allow teachers to give their students more personalized, nuanced advice, highlighting areas for improvement that would hitherto go unnoticed. It would lead to better academic intervention, notifying teachers before students’ problematic trend-lines turned into bad test grades. Besides casting light on individual performance, the program would also inform teachers’ whether their class pacing and homework assignments are appropriate. The software should certainly be tested in high schools, where it might prove hugely beneficial.

College, however, is different than what comes before. Gone are the days of parental nagging and homework checks. In the past are the handholding teachers. One must begin to assume the responsibilities of adulthood. Academic support is still needed and appreciated. But one must seek out these services and identify one’s own troubles. Additionally, as we grow up we form our own study patterns. Perhaps some can get along with a quick treatment of the course packet. And that choice, if effective, should be respected. If a student needs a fancy computer program to tell him that he is not doing the reading or studying hard enough, that is a problem of its own.

While we do not endorse the adoption of CourseSmart in college, we think it imperative that universities and high schools incorporating the software into instruction share the data they collect with students, and in high school, with parents as well. This is in line with CourseSmart’s support of accountability and productive learning behaviors. Just as importantly, this would grant us a glance behind the screen, an opportunity to steal a glimpse of a kinder, though still creepy, form of Big Brother.