Would an Alexa be a good classroom gift?

[Anonymous]

No, Jeff Bezos, that would be a terrible idea.

[Anonymous]

“Alexa, what does a fart sound like?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way in hell. I would NOT be happy with Amazon listening in on my child’s classroom, or with Alexa responding (possibly inappropriately) to every random question that kids ask.

Absolutely. Also consider the conferences that go on in classrooms, between parents and teachers, teachers and counselors, etc. Having a devices that listens in on those conversations is an invasion of privacy.

No one freaking cares why your little Larlo isn’t in the top reading group...no one cares about your conference.

[Anonymous]

My principal made it clear we aren't allowed to use them in the classroom. My laptop does everything alexa does, without playing fart noises on demand, so I've never wanted one anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way in hell. I would NOT be happy with Amazon listening in on my child’s classroom, or with Alexa responding (possibly inappropriately) to every random question that kids ask.

Absolutely. Also consider the conferences that go on in classrooms, between parents and teachers, teachers and counselors, etc. Having a devices that listens in on those conversations is an invasion of privacy.

Ok not to be a tech-nerd but these teachers (and parents, and admin) all have smart phones right? Do you guys have any damn clue how much Google / etc. are listening in? Constantly. There's no outcry for teachers not to have smart phones on their person... Haven't you ever been talking about a company or something, and then had it show up in your advertisements? HELLO. Wake up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way in hell. I would NOT be happy with Amazon listening in on my child’s classroom, or with Alexa responding (possibly inappropriately) to every random question that kids ask.

Absolutely. Also consider the conferences that go on in classrooms, between parents and teachers, teachers and counselors, etc. Having a devices that listens in on those conversations is an invasion of privacy.

Ok not to be a tech-nerd but these teachers (and parents, and admin) all have smart phones right? Do you guys have any damn clue how much Google / etc. are listening in? Constantly. There's no outcry for teachers not to have smart phones on their person... Haven't you ever been talking about a company or something, and then had it show up in your advertisements? HELLO. Wake up.

You can turn off the microphone on your smart phone.

Alexas have NO BUSINESS in the classroom, but most school districts are behind on technology and technology issues. They have to prioritize their funding because they have a huge number of users (as the students are all now users with accounts these days) and don't have the resources to administer that or think through the issues that a business with that many users would have.

No Alexas should not be in the classroom. But school districts are slow to react to new technologies and make policies about them. They are not actively thinking about privacy issues - they are REACTING.

[Anonymous]

I have found that principals can be good or bad at what they do, and that really has little to do with their knowledge and understanding of technology privacy issues.

No, alexas should not be used in classrooms.

[Anonymous]

I think schools rules just have not caught up yet and eventually their will be rules against them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way in hell. I would NOT be happy with Amazon listening in on my child’s classroom, or with Alexa responding (possibly inappropriately) to every random question that kids ask.

Absolutely. Also consider the conferences that go on in classrooms, between parents and teachers, teachers and counselors, etc. Having a devices that listens in on those conversations is an invasion of privacy.

Ok not to be a tech-nerd but these teachers (and parents, and admin) all have smart phones right? Do you guys have any damn clue how much Google / etc. are listening in? Constantly. There's no outcry for teachers not to have smart phones on their person... Haven't you ever been talking about a company or something, and then had it show up in your advertisements? HELLO. Wake up.

You can turn off the microphone on your smart phone.

Alexas have NO BUSINESS in the classroom, but most school districts are behind on technology and technology issues. They have to prioritize their funding because they have a huge number of users (as the students are all now users with accounts these days) and don't have the resources to administer that or think through the issues that a business with that many users would have.

No Alexas should not be in the classroom. But school districts are slow to react to new technologies and make policies about them. They are not actively thinking about privacy issues - they are REACTING.

But most people don't. I have no opinion on the use of Alexa in a classroom but I think it's fascinating how up-in-arms some people get about Alexa and the like but seem to have no idea that their phone is always listening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way in hell. I would NOT be happy with Amazon listening in on my child’s classroom, or with Alexa responding (possibly inappropriately) to every random question that kids ask.

Absolutely. Also consider the conferences that go on in classrooms, between parents and teachers, teachers and counselors, etc. Having a devices that listens in on those conversations is an invasion of privacy.

Ok not to be a tech-nerd but these teachers (and parents, and admin) all have smart phones right? Do you guys have any damn clue how much Google / etc. are listening in? Constantly. There's no outcry for teachers not to have smart phones on their person... Haven't you ever been talking about a company or something, and then had it show up in your advertisements? HELLO. Wake up.

You can turn off the microphone on your smart phone.

Alexas have NO BUSINESS in the classroom, but most school districts are behind on technology and technology issues. They have to prioritize their funding because they have a huge number of users (as the students are all now users with accounts these days) and don't have the resources to administer that or think through the issues that a business with that many users would have.

No Alexas should not be in the classroom. But school districts are slow to react to new technologies and make policies about them. They are not actively thinking about privacy issues - they are REACTING.

But most people don't. I have no opinion on the use of Alexa in a classroom but I think it's fascinating how up-in-arms some people get about Alexa and the like but seem to have no idea that their phone is always listening.

THIS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way in hell. I would NOT be happy with Amazon listening in on my child’s classroom, or with Alexa responding (possibly inappropriately) to every random question that kids ask.

Absolutely. Also consider the conferences that go on in classrooms, between parents and teachers, teachers and counselors, etc. Having a devices that listens in on those conversations is an invasion of privacy.

Ok not to be a tech-nerd but these teachers (and parents, and admin) all have smart phones right? Do you guys have any damn clue how much Google / etc. are listening in? Constantly. There's no outcry for teachers not to have smart phones on their person... Haven't you ever been talking about a company or something, and then had it show up in your advertisements? HELLO. Wake up.

You can turn off the microphone on your smart phone.

Alexas have NO BUSINESS in the classroom, but most school districts are behind on technology and technology issues. They have to prioritize their funding because they have a huge number of users (as the students are all now users with accounts these days) and don't have the resources to administer that or think through the issues that a business with that many users would have.

No Alexas should not be in the classroom. But school districts are slow to react to new technologies and make policies about them. They are not actively thinking about privacy issues - they are REACTING.

But most people don't. I have no opinion on the use of Alexa in a classroom but I think it's fascinating how up-in-arms some people get about Alexa and the like but seem to have no idea that their phone is always listening.

Alexa's whole deal is that is always listening. A good policy would prohibit the audio surveillance and not name Alexa by name, so it would cover cell phones that don't have microphones disabled as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way in hell. I would NOT be happy with Amazon listening in on my child’s classroom, or with Alexa responding (possibly inappropriately) to every random question that kids ask.

Absolutely. Also consider the conferences that go on in classrooms, between parents and teachers, teachers and counselors, etc. Having a devices that listens in on those conversations is an invasion of privacy.

Ok not to be a tech-nerd but these teachers (and parents, and admin) all have smart phones right? Do you guys have any damn clue how much Google / etc. are listening in? Constantly. There's no outcry for teachers not to have smart phones on their person... Haven't you ever been talking about a company or something, and then had it show up in your advertisements? HELLO. Wake up.

You can turn off the microphone on your smart phone.

Alexas have NO BUSINESS in the classroom, but most school districts are behind on technology and technology issues. They have to prioritize their funding because they have a huge number of users (as the students are all now users with accounts these days) and don't have the resources to administer that or think through the issues that a business with that many users would have.

No Alexas should not be in the classroom. But school districts are slow to react to new technologies and make policies about them. They are not actively thinking about privacy issues - they are REACTING.

But most people don't. I have no opinion on the use of Alexa in a classroom but I think it's fascinating how up-in-arms some people get about Alexa and the like but seem to have no idea that their phone is always listening.

THIS

I think the privacy issues with Alexa have started to make people aware of this though. And it may be these teachers bringing Alexa in to classrooms who end up causing schools and school districts to pay attention to the risks of smart phones not being properly secured.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My principal made it clear we aren't allowed to use them in the classroom. My laptop does everything alexa does, without playing fart noises on demand, so I've never wanted one anyway.

Your principal is on top of it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way in hell. I would NOT be happy with Amazon listening in on my child’s classroom, or with Alexa responding (possibly inappropriately) to every random question that kids ask.

Absolutely. Also consider the conferences that go on in classrooms, between parents and teachers, teachers and counselors, etc. Having a devices that listens in on those conversations is an invasion of privacy.

Ok not to be a tech-nerd but these teachers (and parents, and admin) all have smart phones right? Do you guys have any damn clue how much Google / etc. are listening in? Constantly. There's no outcry for teachers not to have smart phones on their person... Haven't you ever been talking about a company or something, and then had it show up in your advertisements? HELLO. Wake up.

You can turn off the microphone on your smart phone.

Alexas have NO BUSINESS in the classroom, but most school districts are behind on technology and technology issues. They have to prioritize their funding because they have a huge number of users (as the students are all now users with accounts these days) and don't have the resources to administer that or think through the issues that a business with that many users would have.

No Alexas should not be in the classroom. But school districts are slow to react to new technologies and make policies about them. They are not actively thinking about privacy issues - they are REACTING.

But most people don't. I have no opinion on the use of Alexa in a classroom but I think it's fascinating how up-in-arms some people get about Alexa and the like but seem to have no idea that their phone is always listening.

THIS

I think the privacy issues with Alexa have started to make people aware of this though. And it may be these teachers bringing Alexa in to classrooms who end up causing schools and school districts to pay attention to the risks of smart phones not being properly secured.

You can turn off Alexa's microphone too, just FYI. It's actually much easier than turning off your phone's listening since you literally just push a physical button (one of like 3 on most models) rather than having to track down disabling the phone's assistant in settings.

My kid's DCPS classroom has an Alexa equivalent.

OP: Perhaps just bluetoothed speakers if the teacher has a laptop or phone they use for music, content, etc?

[Anonymous]

Omg no