The University Of Arizona Goes ‘Big Brother’ On Students, Tracks IDs To Predict Dropouts

Students dropping out of universities is nothing new, with reasons ranging from financial issues to individuals simply realizing that college isn’t for them. Regardless of the details, however, universities have plenty of incentives to retain as many of its enrollees as possible. This is why the University of Arizona is now keeping track of Student ID cards in an attempt to identify which of them are likely to drop out.

The new tracking scheme is reportedly focused on college freshmen at the university, The Verge reports, with researchers using the data of every ID card swipe to predict which recent enrollees are most likely to leave. The hope is to prevent as many dropouts as possible by essentially shoring up areas where they may be lacking.

According to the head of the initiative, Sudha Ram in a press release, tracking the ID cards helps paint a picture of the patterns that the students adhere to. The cards are used in practically every area of every student’s life, from their dining habits to their recreational moments.

“By getting their digital traces, you can explore their patterns of movement, behavior and interactions, and that tells you a great deal about them,” Ram said.

So far, it would seem that the program is accurate 73 percent of the time in detecting the students that are attempting to drop out. The data is shared among faculty members, including teachers, who will then be able to find a way to give the students a reason to stay.

Tracking the ID cards will essentially help educators identify the factors that would cause the student to quit college or transfer to another university and try to reinforce that. More often than not, it seems one of the biggest contributors to dropouts is the absence of an established pattern, which is considered important for building stability in the life of a student.