Lynn University To Track Student Attendance by iPad Location

[Gidney N Cloyd]

I bet the pilot's not an 8 AM class.

Next spring, Lynn University in Boca Raton, FL, will pilot Core Principle's Class120, technology that monitors class attendance by "pinging" the location of students' iPads. (The insitution's iPad initiative provides an iPad mini to all students on campus.) University administrators hope the implementation will help boost student performance by improving attendance rates, citing data that Lynn students who miss one quarter of their classes per semester have a 68 percent chance of earning a grade point average below 2.0.

"If we can help students continue some of the great behaviors that they learned in high school—like attending class — until the moment they graduate and eventually become employed, then we're doing our job," said Lynn President Kevin Ross in a press release.

Class120 uses geolocation technology and proprietary campus mapping to detect a student's smartphone or tablet in class. If the device is not found at the scheduled class time, the system can send e-mail or text alerts to designated individuals. (The app does not provide actual location information at any time other than the scheduled class.) A dashboard view allows professors and administrators to track student attendance in real time.

Lynn's Class120 pilot will supplement traditional attendance monitoring, which requires weekly reports from faculty and regular reviews by administrative staff.
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/03/09/lynn-university-to-track-student-attendance-by-ipad-location.aspx

[Xipe Totec]

1. As soon as you announce the policy ,it's obsolete

A line of gophers is forming right now to carry your iPad for attendance.

[tanyev]

2. Somebody's going to make some money carrying their friends' iPads to class with them.

[mopinko]

3. creepy.

and if they cant get their own ass to class....

[Sancho]

4. Haha...now you can see who was hooking up with who!!

Hmmm, a couple iPads were in dorm room 326 until 4am...I wonder if if that's in the weekly reports. I can see it now: Professor Smith, "No, I don't believe your excuse for turning in a paper late - unless you can explain what you and Marybeth were doing with your iPads on top of each other all night."

I'll bet Florida State needs to use this with their quarterbacks too!

I doubt that it would be hard to only use that data for attendance only.