David M. Perry: This is amazing example of the modern neoliberal university. This idea that complex situations can be solved by the application of online quizzes purchased from a third-party vendor.

This is amazing example of the modern neoliberal university. This idea that complex situations can be solved by the application of online quizzes purchased from a third-party vendor.

NYU is punishing those students arrested at the protests by compelling them to write reflection papers and complete “integrity modules” — all managed through an external SaaS vendor called Symplicity Corp, which was itself charged with criminal hacking 🤪 www.instagram.com/p/C66pPceup1...

NYU-FSJP on Instagram: "🚨BREAKING: NYU is embarrassing itself. They are punishing arrested students through forced racist re-education training. But there’s more! While hundreds of universities use Sy...www.instagram.com 2,275 likes, 99 comments - nyu_fsjp on May 13, 2024: "🚨BREAKING: NYU is embarrassing itself. They are punishing arrested students through forced racist re-education training. But there’s...".

It looks to me like the specific process comes out of attempt to apply restorative justice norms to student academic misconduct. For example, a first time plagiarist can go through such a process and have the record expunged. bsky.app/profile/jaco...

We’ve spent a decade with conservatives and center-white-wingers saying comparing wokism on campus to the Cultural Revolution so it seems somehow inevitable that we’d end up with actual mandatory self-criticism sessions for left-wing students. nyunews.com/news/2024/05...

Students arrested at Gould Plaza required to complete ‘dozens of writing assignments,’ faculty group saysnyunews.com NYU’s Office of Student Conduct is allegedly requiring that some students arrested at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment in Gould Plaza write “reflection papers” and complete “dozens of writing assignment...

And I like the idea of being able to hold a student responsible for academic misconduct while also not destroying their career. But in the Neoliberal university, good ideas get turned into a third-party app that the university can purchase.

I am not an expert in restorative justice, but from reading those who are, it relies on genuine connection across community and within community. It’s not a product to be sold.

And then once you have a tool like this, it becomes easy to apply it to all kinds of complicated situations as a quick fix. That’s just an expense rather than something difficult. Difficult for the institution to be clear. It’s just a cost.

Is it a reasonable solution to try to get a student to complete some online testing and essay writing as a response to academic misconduct? I don’t know, but sure maybe. Is that tool genuinely applicable to students arrested for protesting genocide? I don’t think so.

Yeah, nooo. Corrective learning modules for first-time plagiarists makes sense. Corrective learning modules for protesting genocide is Kafkaesque

When one of the questions is “list some people of character your admire” and “what would they do in this ethical situation” maybe that’s not going to turn out the way the administrators want

Meanwhile, all the student submissions become grist for the language model mills.

It is also questionable whether taking part in a protest is academic misconduct.

Yeah. I was just getting to that!

No protest. Only essay.

The nadir of the hollowed out institutions.

Call me cynical, but I don't think we've reached the bottom yet.

But we're working hard to get there.

When the project of education has been devalued to only job training, this is a natural result. The same type of tools and mentality pervade hiring processes for exactly the same reasons. Efficiency is a poor moral compass.

My employer subscribes to a learning platform which we can use for departmental learning and such. It also has stock content we can use. Since we pay for it and it can spit out metrics, we now have to log in regularly and do something or alerts go up the chain. The university is becoming this, too.

We're seeing those actors coming after public resources in Brazil. Universities all over the country are going on strike to demand the funding that's going to private conglomerates that sell, among other things, that kind of stuff. And our secretary of education is quite willing to side with them.

This is just the sort of make-work bullshit you give middle schoolers, right?

I remember having to write an essay like that after we were jerks to a substitute teacher

"We'll let the Bobs solve this."

It sounds like the only problem they want to solve is how to expel the students indirectly.

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