Should An Algorithm Decide UW Student Success?
Episode description
UW Madison has started tracking students who rank at the bottom of their classes. Starting this year, a select number of undergraduates have their academic progress tracked by administrators. They’re flagged if they rank in the bottom fourth of their class for two or more classes. They’re also flagged if they have assignments more than five days late. The idea is to find the students who need extra help and get it to them, while there’s still time for them to turn it around.
But some faculty worry that matters are being taken out of their hands. Some students are concerned that taking away responsibility for their own success could be counterproductive.
Cormac LaLiberté, college news editor for The Daily Cardinal, looked into the program.
Mentioned on the show:
“UW-Madison students enrolled in data monitoring experiment without ability to opt out” [The Daily Cardinal]
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