Your professor is teaching a class on data and the university. Write a post responding to the professor's question. Express and support your opinion and contribute to the discussion in your own words. An effective response has at least 100 words.
Dr. Samuel Achterberg
Many universities now analyse routine records - card swipes at the library, attendance in seminars, logins to course pages - to identify students who may be at risk of failing, and contact them before results appear. Supporters point out that the data already exists, that the students most likely to be in difficulty are the least likely to ask for help, and that early contact demonstrably improves outcomes. Critics reply that the measures track presence rather than learning, that being flagged by a system is not the same as being noticed by a person, and that students cannot meaningfully refuse. Should universities use these records in this way? Why?
Priya
Use it. The objection about consent proves too much: nobody consents to their marks being recorded either, and we do not conclude that marks should not exist. What matters is what the institution does with the information, and an email from a tutor saying I have not seen you for a fortnight is the least intrusive intervention a university has ever made.
Daniel
Priya has chosen the gentlest possible example and is arguing from it. The system does not send that email; it produces a list, and lists get used for things they were not built for, including decisions about funding and progression. The relevant question is not whether the first use is benign but whether the institution can bind itself about the fifth.