ID pictures help identify students
By MEG DADAY
News Writer
Student anonyonity in DeBartolo 101 may become a thing of the past this semster thanks to new class list options available to faculty through Irishlink.
This fall, the Office of the Registrar introduced the system, accessed through Irishlink, that enables a professor to call up a screen separately listing the names, colleges, and email addresses of each student in each of his or her classes. From the master list, he or she can choose to email the whole class, see more information about a particular student, or see a picture of every student, all with a single click of the mouse.
"I like to be able to know who a student is and learn the faces with the names. This way I can have more of a feel for who's who," said Professor David Leege. "I can feel more a part of the class because I can know a little bit more about the students more quickly."
"Every-body could get to all of the information available now, just not from one source," said Dr. Harold Pace, Ph.D, University Registrar. Each professor has always been provided with the Social Security numbers, colleges, academic levels, and e-mail addresses of all the students in his or her classes. In addition to this information, they are now also provided with every student's hometown, campus address and phone number, and major; all of which could easily be found in a campus phone book in the past. Also listed is whether a student has studied abroad.
Faculty can also access the pictures and information of students in past classes. "By being able to go back we think it'll really help faculty write better recommendations," Pace said.
Upon learning of the new system, some students have expressed concerns about the amount of information available.
"The information we give to faculty is on a need-to-know basis," said Lora Spaulding, associate registrar.
"Past grade history is none of their business and has nothing to do with how you're doing in their class. We sometimes get requests, but we wouldn't give that kind of information out," Pace added.
The security of posting student information on the Internet was a major consideration when planning the new system.
"Irishlink is a secure gateway into a corporate database," said Pace. "A faculty member must put in codes to verify who they are and can only get access to their own class lists."
However, all of the information of students who request a security block on their address and phone number in the campus directory is accessible to faculty since it is necessary for educational purposes. A warning is displayed, next to the student's picture with the information, requesting that it not be disclosed to anyone.
"We're just going to see how faculty use this," said Spaulding. "If there are abuses, we'll reevaluate it."
There are some concerns besides security. Instructor Paul Mueller said that in larger classes where participation is not required, he hopes that the photo lists do not encourage professors to "identify latecomers and non-participants." He believes that one downfall of the system could be that "a degree of anonymity would be violated."
So far, however, the reaction from faculty has been favorable.
"Eventually, I get to know all of my students," said Leege. "This just speeds up the process."
"This is really handy for every class," said Professor Louis Berzai, who said he averages between 350 and 400 students each semester. "You can put a name to a face."
"We felt like it fit into the mission of Notre Dame as a personal institution where faculty know students," Pace said.
All News Stories for Wednesday, September 13, 2000
