Students and teachers alike say monitoring software and internet filtering tools are disproportionally harming LGTB+ students and students with disabilities.
  • treefrog@lemm.eeEnglish
    642·
    1 year ago

    Dropped a proctored online math class over the summer because of this. Chronic pain, chronic mental health conditions, was struggling with identity issues being a bisexual male.

    I did not want to be doing something stressful with someone recording me. Was assured everyone has to do it and we always proctor math exams (been taking online courses since covid and never had to deal with this).

    Same course, different instructor this semester. Not proctored. Uses worksheets to make sure students are learning the material and not using AI or cheating some other way.

    Not sure if the stink I raised over summer is why. I suspect not based on how I was treated. I think he’s just a better teacher that knows how to combine the online courses with traditional techniques more skillfully. The other instructor only used McGraw’s online materials and nothing of her own.

      • treefrog@lemm.eeEnglish
        132·
        1 year ago

        Yeah, he’s an excellent professor and his show your work problems have some good humor in them.

        Had to calculate the payday loan payment as if it was interest (using real world values). It’s over 300% if you think of it as APR.

        Super predatory.

  • AliLunaCat@lemmy.worldEnglish
    591·
    1 year ago

    Both teachers and students say filtering originally intended to target adult content is instead being used by some school administrators to block LGBTQ+ and race-related content they deem “inappropriate.” Disciplinary action and punishment for violations aren’t experienced at the same rates for all students. The report found students who identify as LGBTQ+ and those with disabilities in individualized education programs were more likely to get in trouble due to the tools. 19% of students at schools that use filtering technology say they were even aware of students who were “outed” for LGBTQ+ as a result of the filtering.

    • Uranium3006@kbin.social
      252·
      1 year ago

      this stuff was always anti LGBT from the start and should be banned on that grounds alone, nevermind all the other reasons

  • PatFusty@lemm.eeEnglish
    613·
    1 year ago

    Kind of dont understand the point of the article. A school gives their students a laptop to do homework. When the student gets this laptop they have to sign a waiver it will be for school work only. School can dictate whatever they want the students to see through surveillance software like GoGuardian to monitor actions. Students do things outside of the waiver and get in trouble. Pikachu face.png

    Schools should just go back to not giving the students laptops and tell them to use the parents’ computer with a 1 time tax break or a periodic voucher.

    • hedgehog@ttrpg.networkEnglish
      18·
      1 year ago

      Kind of dont understand the point of the article.

      Students do things outside of the waiver and get in trouble. Pikachu face.png

      Per the title and much of the article, the students are running into these issues while using the laptops to do their homework. Waiver or not, a student shouldn’t be punished for trying to do their homework.

      Did you ever have to do research for an essay when you were in school, where the topic wasn’t narrowly defined ahead of time? I.e., write a 500 word essay on the themes of this book, write about why you think a character’s actions were or weren’t believable, justified, etc., or write about something that happened during a particular war. I had to write several, and writing about a topic not discussed in class meant I had to do research to learn more. It would make sense for someone to choose a topic related to their disability, to their race, to their being lgbtq+, etc. - and this is one of the kinds of thing that is being blocked, but that shouldn’t be.

      If my teacher assigns me an essay on a topic and then I do research related to that topic, getting called to the principal’s office because a cop needs to talk to me the next day shouldn’t be a feasible consequence.

      I agree that students shouldn’t be required to have surveillance software on their computers, but I suspect that even if students brought their own computers, school districts would likely require surveillance software before letting them bring the computer to school.