Would an Alexa be a good classroom gift?

[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.

Chrome books have no business in our elementary schools either but we have them and kids are constantly playing games on them.

[Anonymous]

No, bad idea.

[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.

This. Is OP even around a large number of children?

[Anonymous]

I don’t think teachers want to be spied on during class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher, not sure what the opposition is. Almost every teacher in our MCPS elem. has an alexa/echo/google home/ whatever. For music, for asking random questions, for playing a timer, they're great.

Which school?

[Anonymous]

DCUM is so disconnected from reality sometimes. I teach in DC and many classrooms at my school have Alexa or something similar. I have never once heard a parent complaint.

[Anonymous]

We have them in the pre-K classrooms in our school. It’s what we use to play music at nap time, among other uses.

[Anonymous]

NO NO NO.. privacy issues

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher, not sure what the opposition is. Almost every teacher in our MCPS elem. has an alexa/echo/google home/ whatever. For music, for asking random questions, for playing a timer, they're great.

Privacy issues.

Just texted my friend in a DC private, and another in Memphis. Both have them and most of their schools do too. I think y'all are delightfully uninformed as most teachers do use these.

I'm a substitute teacher and I have never seen one in a classroom. I do think it would be very useful though. I own one and love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait till someone in the class has the same name. It would be annoying.

You can change its name to echo.

[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.

Who would actually be "listening in"?

[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.

You can't ask your laptop questions from across the room.

[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.

There is no reason for Alexa's to NOT be in a classroom, but overly paranoid people such as yourself keep teachers from being able to use them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think teachers want to be spied on during class

By who? Principals can't listen in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NO NO NO.. privacy issues

There are NO privacy issues. There's not an actual person listening in. Some classrooms actually have video cameras in them so the principal can monitor you. THAT is something I would be unhappy about as a teacher.