Student photo directory for professors being tested

UB is running the pilot version of a program this semester that would provide faculty with lists showing the faces of every student in their classes.

Twenty-one faculty members, most of whom have had positive responses to the idea, are now trying out the prototype, which was created last semester and can be accessed online through a professor's MyUB page.

Officials say that in 300-person lecture halls, the lists will promote a more personal learning environment for students, although some students have expressed privacy concerns surrounding the creation of such a database.

MyUB technology officials and the Faculty Senate Executive Committee met Wednesday to discuss pilot program's progress. The class photo list's proponents say it would address the need for more faculty-student interaction, allowing faculty members to put a face with a name without setting foot inside a classroom.

"Having access to student pictures will help reinforce names for professors. I feel this will greatly enhance our ability to get to know the students," said FSEC Chair Peter Nickerson. "I believe that the majority of faculty members really do want to get to know their students better and this fall is our first chance to see this in action."

Elias Eldayrie, an adjunct instructor who is teaching one of the courses piloting the photo list, said he is satisfied with the program's outcome.

"My management students loved that I knew their names very early in the semester," said Eldayrie, who is also UB's associate vice president for information technology. "I also found it very handy for me when I gave midterms. Students no longer needed their IDs."

While the program will certainly have its advantages for teachers, there have been concerns about student privacy.

"In a MyUB survey addressing the proposed class list, faculty members were nearly unanimous in their praise for the resource," said Carole Ann Fabian, director of the Educational Technology Center. "But some students were not as excited by it."

According to the survey results, many students were concerned about their pictures being added to a growing list of personal information the university can access.

Eldayrie said he believes the privacy issue is being addressed.

"Technology was the easy part of the photo class list, believe it or not," Eldayrie said. "It's just hammering out the policies to regulate it that will take a little more time."

"Although the information would also be available to teaching assistants, confidentiality of the pictures would be held to the same standards as other sensitive information," Fabian said.

Along with privacy concerns, students also felt they may be judged by their appearance. Some of the surveyed students said they were worried about professors having preconceived ideas about them, just based on their looks. Others worried about racial discrimination, Fabian said. Some students also say they like the anonymity of bigger classes.

Despite possible bias and policy holes, officials and faculty say the idea can work.

"In the Association of American Universities, 39 percent of the schools have a similar photo class list, and another 28 percent said they are in the process of adopting one," Nickerson said.

"The students raise legitimate questions," he added, "but I'm more concerned with the program's potential, which seems at this time to be very responsive to an important need."