As some of you are aware, teachers have been using a feature where they can monitor your screen without your permission. Many students thought that this was a new feature implemented to catch kids who are not focusing and doing what they were instructed to do, and they are not entirely wrong. The program is actually not new, it has been around for a long time but teachers have never felt the need to use it. Awareness was brought to it when 80% went to a website and were caught cheating during a test. After this, many other teachers felt the need to use it and that’s where the rumors started.
Another commonly asked question about the program is the legality of it, but this is, in fact, covered in the AUP forms that we all signed at the beginning of the school year. Everything from emails to search history is recorded and kept in digital vaults. If you were to look up something regarding suicide it would get flagged and the district would have to look at it and see if its something they need to get involved in. Same with if you were to send a violent email to anybody, even if it’s just a joke between you and your friends.
As of now, students are on a one to one device ratio, where every student has a school issued device or a personal one. Previous to Covid, this was not the case. Now all classrooms are considered more of an E-classroom according to Judson Miller, Hellgate’s principal. With the increase in technology, AI has also become more prevalent and cheating has gone up significantly, forcing teachers to find new ways to combat it.“I would argue that it’s kind of a chicken or egg debate. There wasn’t really any need to use it prior to the AI outbreak,” said Miller.
Another question everybody has is whether or not the screen mirroring can look at more than just your school account, because the teachers can switch between tabs. The simple answer is no. The way it works is that teachers are only able to access students that are in their Google Classroom. A teacher that you have previously had can not look at your computer for example. Teachers also should not be looking at your computer if you aren’t in their class during the time of instruction. To the best of Miller’s knowledge teachers also cannot navigate off of your school account. If you are on a personal device and have both your school account and personal account open in different tabs, whatever you search or do on your personal will not be shown or be accessible, and if a teacher is to do this then they will face appropriate repercussions.
A lot of people including myself feel like this is a violation of privacy, but as long as you are using your school account appropriately you will not have anything to worry about. In the long term this may benefit people greatly by teaching them how to use their resources and steer away from the AI path.
