Teachers: Monitor school attendance with iPhone 3G

Instead of monitoring the school attendance they should use the iPhone for learning purposes, e. g. iAmino - learning the amino acids
( http://www.bananaglue.de/iamino/index_e.php )

My teacher of Programming Languages class, took attendance with his iPhone3G... I think he coded some kind of app :O

I dropped a class once because the prof threatened to lower my grade due to poor attendance. I was getting the highest grade in the class, and had figured if I didn't need to attend to get a good grade, why waste my time? He wouldn't budge on the attendance policy, so I dropped the class.

In fact, I didn't attend many of my lower-division classes. At the beginning of the semester, I'd check the syllabus, mark the test dates on my calendar, and would attend the sessions before a test (for the review), the tests, and the sessions after a test (to get my test score back). That was it.

Got great grades, and didn't waste much time listening to lectures.

What if a student shows up to class but forgot to charge his or her iPhone?

I read this story on the Japanese site a couple days ago and it's a bogus move - perhaps a recruiting ploy.

Japanese undergrad institutions are notoriously lax about grades and attendance in contrast to US universities. Most students are happy with the bare minimum (D-) and don't give a damn about attendance records, just as long as they pass. Some private schools allow professors to have strict attendance policies, but with large class sizes it's tough to enforce at times (and, yes, I have taught at Japanese Uni's).

The article talks about being able to confirm (with iPhones) whether a student has come to campus or not (not specific classroom, which might be impossible given the precision of commercial gps). This usage is pointless, as a student can just blow off class, and hang out on campus somewhere.

I'm in college and I've lost count of all the times I'm not in class... Nobody takes attendance.

Spoiled brats

How long will it take them to realize that they are only monitoring the locations of phones, and not necessarily students?

Just have your buddy take your phone to class.

Do they actually take attendance in college? They never did for me.