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Teachers: Monitor school attendance with iPhone 3G

Here's an interesting idea. The Mainichi Daily News is reporting that Japan's Aoyama Gakuin University has distributed 550 iPhone 3Gs to staff and students so that they can use the phone's GPS capabilities to monitor class attendance. In fact, the school will cover the basic charges so that the students aren't required to absorb the extra financial burden.

That seems like an awfully expensive way to accomplish what my sixth grade teacher, Sr. Dolores, did by shouting, "Caolo!" and waiting for my "Here!", but a major university has different needs (and budgets) than a tiny elementary school in Scranton.

We've seen similar large-scale iPhone adoption recently at University of Missouri's Journalism School and Abilene Christian University. Good luck to everyone involved.

[Via MacDailyNews]

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Education iPhone

Here's an interesting idea. The Mainichi Daily News is reporting that Japan's Aoyama Gakuin University has distributed 550 iPhone 3Gs to...
 

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Wolfgang

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 )

May 22 2009 at 4:19 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Canelo

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

May 20 2009 at 9:43 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
CRG

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.

May 20 2009 at 1:29 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Macskeeball

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

May 20 2009 at 12:07 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
umijin

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.

May 19 2009 at 8:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Urbz

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

May 19 2009 at 4:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ruamrudee

Spoiled brats

May 19 2009 at 3:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gravy

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

May 19 2009 at 3:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
LD

Just have your buddy take your phone to class.

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

May 19 2009 at 3:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
4 replies to LD's comment
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