AI ATTENTION: Big brother is always watching—and making sure students are paying attention in class, apparently. The Paris-based ESG business school is now using artificial intelligence and facial analysis software, Nestor, to check if students are looking at their screens and how they are interacting with the content. The technology uses a student's webcam to track eye movement and will create quizzes based off of content areas where a student was inattentive.
According to the Verge, Nestor will first be used for the school’s remote learners and Marcel Saucet, the software’s creator, says there are hopes to create a “in-class version that would send real-time notifications to students whenever they’re not paying attention.”
Not everyone is jumping on-board with Nestor, which mimics software used by online proctoring systems. Critics cite concerns over video storage and the tool’s ability to address education challenges and needs. “I think it can have a huge impact on education,” Rose Luckin, a professor at the University College London Knowledge Lab, told the Verge. “But I think the problem at the moment is that what’s happening is being led by the technology, rather than by the learning science, and that's problematic.”
