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The Biometric Boredom Bracelet

September 17, 2012 by Andrea Bennett

The Biometric Boredom Bracelet

September 17, 2012 by Andrea Bennett

The key to educational breakthroughs, or a sinister

invasion of privacy?

Brought to you by Liberty Mutual's The Responsibility Project

This year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $1.1 million to study theeffectiveness of a wristband that tracks a students level of engagement in the classroom. Thebracelet uses the bodys natural electricity to measure levels of excitement; when students arebored or relaxed, their levels go down.

The Washington Postnotes that the investment is part of the Gates Foundations Measures ofEffective Teaching project, which is experimenting with teacher evaluation systems in sevenschool districts nationwide. The foundations investment is split into two grants: one toClemson University to determine the feasibility of using Galvanic Skin Response bracelets inschools; and the other to the National Center on Time and Learning, to develop a scale thatdifferentiates degrees of engagement, making it theoretically easier to tell if students are

bored.

The idea that biometric bracelets could be used to measure teachers effectiveness has raiseda red flag for critics like Diane Ravitch, an education expert and Research Professor ofEducation at New York University. In a recent EdWeekarticle, Ravitch claims that theresearch is sinister and reminiscent of Brave New World. It suggests the development of adevice to snoop into our being. It crosses a line that allows otherswhether governmentofficials, researchers, or teachersto peer into how we feel.According to Forbes, concerns that the bracelets would be used to measure effectiveness wereactually misinformed, due to an error on the Gates foundation website. The biometric

bracelets were not supposed to measure teachers performance, insists Deborah Veney

Robinson, the foundations senior communications officer. She maintains that the grants arenot related to the Measures of Effective Teaching research project, and will not in any way

be used to evaluate teacher performance. Rather, the bracelets are intended to help studentsand teachers gain a better understanding of how and when students are most engaged in theclassroom.

Regardless of the intent of the wristbands, Louisa Kroll at Forbes points out that theinvestment is a drop in the bucket for the Gates Foundation, which spent $311 million oneducation alone in 2010. Gates, she notes, spent the lions share of that money on teachersupport, so we should be happy that he is at least trying, even if he makes somecontroversial decisions along the way.

http://responsibility-project.libertymutual.com/about/contributors/andrea-bennetthttp://responsibility-project.libertymutual.com/about/contributors/andrea-bennetthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/11-million-plus-gates-grants-galvanic-bracelets-that-measure-student-engagement/2012/06/10/gJQAgAUbTV_blog.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/11-million-plus-gates-grants-galvanic-bracelets-that-measure-student-engagement/2012/06/10/gJQAgAUbTV_blog.htmlhttp://www.gatesfoundation.org/united-states/pages/measures-of-effective-teaching-fact-sheet.aspxhttp://www.gatesfoundation.org/united-states/pages/measures-of-effective-teaching-fact-sheet.aspxhttp://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2012/06/should_students_wear_a_galvani.htmlhttp://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2012/06/should_students_wear_a_galvani.htmlhttp://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2012/06/13/gates-foundation-responds-to-gsr-bracelets-controversy/http://responsibility-project.libertymutual.com/about/contributors/andrea-bennetthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/11-million-plus-gates-grants-galvanic-bracelets-that-measure-student-engagement/2012/06/10/gJQAgAUbTV_blog.htmlhttp://www.gatesfoundation.org/united-states/pages/measures-of-effective-teaching-fact-sheet.aspxhttp://www.gatesfoundation.org/united-states/pages/measures-of-effective-teaching-fact-sheet.aspxhttp://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2012/06/should_students_wear_a_galvani.htmlhttp://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2012/06/13/gates-foundation-responds-to-gsr-bracelets-controversy/http://responsibility-project.libertymutual.com/about/contributors/andrea-bennett

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What are your thoughts on biometric bracelets? Do they cross the line, or is controversialresearch better than none at all?