If you were studying online, would you like an algorithm to monitor whether you were paying attention?
Intel, in collaboration with Class, has launched an edtech tool on Zoom with, among many other functionalities, an algorithm to monitor the attention of students during online classes. These kinds of surveillance features have been around for some time, prompting some criticism, and at IE University, where I work, we’ve already tried them out long time ago.
This was long before before the pandemic and using our WoW Room. Our conclusion was that rather than for monitoring students, it provided immediate feedback for teachers, who could, for example, incorporate new elements or changes their approaches to communication if they noticed widespread lack of attention during a session. Basically, this is something that teachers — those of us who care about the quality of our classes — have always done: we pay close attention to our students’ expressions to gauge whether they understand the subject under discussion, whether the session is becoming too monotonous, difficult, etc.
