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---------------------------------------------- Summary Due to the ongoing situation created by the covid-19 pandemic, universities across Canada have chosen to hold classes, labs, and exams online. To combat potential cheating during exams universities across the country have chosen Proctortrack to monitor students during exams. Using this method to combat cheating has raised numerous privacy concerns due to the methods that the software uses. The methods that the software uses to surveilled students are webcam and audio recording, keystrokes, screen capture, all applications or process running, hardware devices connected, facial recognition, eye movements, and knuckle scanning. After completing your exam all information that has been collected is uploaded to Proctortrack's servers for the professor or TA to view as needed. It is not specified by Protortrack how long the data is kept on their servers only saying on their website “it will be purged in accordance with the data retention policy to which your institution agreed”. Quotes "Proctortrack then monitors the visual and audio feed from the student’s computer through the rest of their exam to make sure they are not doing things like looking away from the computer screen, leaving the room, having someone from outside the room shouting answers to them, or having someone else enter their room." "Of course, this concerns many students, particularly with the threat, “if your computer setup does not meet these specifications [required to run Proctortrack] then you should withdraw from this course and speak with an Academic Advisor from your faculty or college for advice on other courses you could take” posted on some syllabi in different classes." "Wotherspoon was also concerned about how some professors were treating parents who had kids at home. “At home, the complication for me is I can’t set aside three hours to an exam without looking away from the screen. Just in a one-hour class, I have had to look away three times just to do little things like finding a shoe or stop the dog barking.” When she voiced her concerns to her professor the response she got was “It’s like any exam, you can’t leave the exam room.” And she was told to “get childcare”." My thoughts In my opinion, there are numerous other ways to combat academic misconduct without forcing students to install spyware on their computer i.e. open book exams but the questions are much harder, making the exams longer without increasing the time limit to not allow enough time to cheat, or writing original exams that do not use textbook questions (which answers are easily available for). I do have a big problem with students cheating on exams but I think this problem should be solved in less intrusive ways. You aren't allowed to look away from your computer screen without the software flagging you for cheating, which during a 3-hour exam will be nearly impossible. You won't be able to go to the washroom or get a glass of water during your exam either, all of which are allowed during in-person examinations. On top of that, if you do not consent to be surveilled in this way you are told to drop the class, which if you are trying to follow an academic plan is appalling. The biggest concern is that we have no idea where this data is going or what it will be used for in the future. One student in the article but it this way, “If you have test data for 100,000 students and you decide to say, racially profile those students and break them into what patterns are visible in different ethnicities you could very easily develop tests and exercises that would perhaps favour a certain kind of profile of person. Say Proctortrack partners with Pearson, who is a large, unethical educational institution testing company that issues standardized tests and assessments.… We’re literally paying to build a database of info on us to be used for unknown purposes later.”. Sources http://www.carillonregina.com/online-proctoring-software-is-invasive-intrusive-untested/ (all quotes taken from here) https://regina.ctvnews.ca/it-s-invasive-u-of-r-student-raising-privacy-concerns-about-new-exam-monitoring-software-1.5101673

Trying to choose a new laptop for university to study mechanical engineering. I want an all purpose laptop that can handle solid works and other CAD design software and some light gaming on the side. An all day battery life is a must however price is not an issue as it will be heavily subsidised. Having some difficulty choosing between a surface book 2 which has: A gtx 1060 An i7 8650-U (quad core) Is a 2 in 1 however that is not important to me and probably won't be used. A few problems with charging at a slower pace than the power being used at full load. Better keyboard and better screen (arguably). Or a Dell xps 15 9570 which has: A gtx 1050ti (considerably worse) An i7 8750-H (six core) (considerably better) Has a better track pad (arguably). Saves some money by not being a 2 in 1 However apparently sufferes from some over heating through the keyboard that the surface book avoids due to the 2 in 1 design. I am unsure as to what the better combination of cpu and gpu would be for my use case. They both have similar battery lives and build quality and upgradability is quite important to me as I want these laptops to last. Thanks guys for any help.

Hello everyone and greetings from Mexico. My name is David, currently i am 19 years old and I am studying big data at a local univeristy called "Tec de Monterrey". Lately technology has been one of the topics i enjoy to talk about and I have considering starting a cannel in which i can explain terms in a funny way or to show gadgets i find in stores or online that i consider interesting. First of all, i wont copy the style of anyone making videos out there, because that wouldn´t be fair and it is not my intention, i want to have my own personallity and being recognized for myself. The thing is, because i am a student i don´t have a job and my Budget is very restricted and second, college consume most of my time. In a couple of days i will end my current semester and finally will have some free time. If anyone out there could recommend me a video editor software, i would appreciate it. My laptop has the following specs: Intel core i7 6500u at 2.5ghz, 8gb of ddr3l ram, amd r5 m335 gpu and 1tb hdd (i will ask an ssd to my parents for christmas). For camera i have two, a Panasonic HDC-HS20 (records at 1080p) and a Canon SX170 IS, also my iPhone 6 if that is considered a camera. But what worries me the most is not being capable of buying products due to my limited Budget, so if anyone could help me with ideas of what i can do to get started without breaking the bank, he or she will have my total grattitude. Thank you for Reading and have a nice day.