For those finalizing remote course syllabi for the fall, a few reminders re: #SurveillanceTech in the virtual classroom:

1/

2/ Per the advice of @Dr_Whomever, @Jessifer, @drsoup09 & others #OnHere: Don’t force learners to turn on their video/audio to participate in class, & do not require actual portraits in their profiles, this is surveillant & often discriminatory

3/ Make sure folks know how to customize their name & pronouns, role model this if you can, but do not *force* people to share their pronouns. While some may welcome the opp to have their pronouns acknowledged & respected, *forcing* this can ‘out’ some folks involuntarily.

4/ Remember that remote test proctoring services are an expensive, extractive scam that fund further expansion of #SurveillanceTech capitalism & the carceral state. Also, learners are forced to fund their own surveillance, which is wrong.

5/ Folx defend remote proctoring saying #SurveillanceTech is req’d to protect the test bank.

Often there are other more valid & holistic, less ableist forms of learning evaluation they could explore but choose not to because this tech allows bad tests to live on.

6/ And no, forcing learners to turn on Zoom & take their tests on camera is not an answer to skipping the for-fee #SurveillanceTech.

Zoom is also surveillant, & this strategy is no less violent/discriminatory/problematic.

7/ “Attendance policies”, where they exist at all, should be flexible.

Remember part of the embeddedness of white supremacy culture is seeking to control the bodies/lives of those with less power in the system.

Don’t use virtual attendance to surveill/punish. It’s ableist.

8/ And if your school has a contract with folks like ATI who won’t let you use their product without #SurveillanceTech, ask not- How can we better surveil? But rather:

How did we get to a place where we pay to let exploitive companies tell us how to teach, & not community?