A Professor from California uses GPS to take students’ attendance. GPS Tech is one useful way to track a person’s whereabouts. And it does so with remarkable ease. Even an amateur can track using GPS, all you need is a smartphone.
A Professor Tom Bensky, at California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, developed an app. And this app tracks the classroom attendance using the GPS features on his students’ smartphones.
Reference: https://www.gpswox.com/en/supported-gps-trackers/skypatrol
Tom received a lot of backlash from people as well as media for doing so. Some branded it as an intrusion of privacy. But Tom cleared the doubts of people. And he said that his app just helps students to check in to his class. He does not use the app to track the location of any absentee students. And he admitted himself that would “be too creepy”.
Bensky also said –“For me, this is remarkable. I can walk into my class, welcome the class and say something like, “Don’t forget to check in”, and then it just happens. I can just walk back to my office and take attendance for 65 check-ins, see who wasn’t here. No pencils, no roster, no check boxes.”
There is a major drawback in Bensky’s app. And computer programmers pointed it out. They said that students can spoof their location through other apps. And can fake their location during the class and check in.
GPS check ins might be the new era of attendance, is what Bensky believes. But people remain unconvinced by his technology. And there is also a company who developed a similar software to allow students to check in using QR Codes and GPS.
Whether this technology takes off and becomes a much used tool is yet to be seen. But Bensky’s creative way of taking attendance is a step ahead from the plain boring roster calls and “yes sirs”.