I think outrage at this is a little unjustified. Monitoring user interaction is how you get data to effectively improve your platform. In the case of schools, they should be monitoring student interaction in order to gain insights in how to improve their system, just as any website does. How are we supposed to improve the education system if getting quantitative data is outrageous?

If you're outraged at this software are you also outraged at all of the awesome new developments in ed tech to create self-paced curriculums? Those involve plenty of monitoring as well.

When I went through the education system, I was seen as a genius in elementary school. I scored in the 99th percentile in math on the standardized tests, and participated in the advanced math tracks two years early. I was on track to be very successful. Then middle school came along.

First half of sixth grade, I continued my performance from elementary school, doing extremely well. Then I started with the destructive questions I'm sure a lot of HNers are familiar with: "Why do I need to learn this?", "Am I ever going to use this in real life?". This is when the grades started tanking, and I basically didn't participate in my education. I didn't recover from this terrible attitude until I entered college.

I never really established any study habits, and it's something that still weighs me down now, graduated from college and in the workforce. To relate to the story, I wish these sorts of programs were available when I was a student. I wish I was graded on my study habits even in elementary school.

I don't really understand the defense of cramming. The goal of school is not to pass all of the tests with high scores, the goal of school is to establish strong habits that will optimize your education and your effectiveness in your future profession.

I think the best way to help our kids develop these skills is going to be through lots of monitoring. It's certainly good to question the effectiveness of monitoring, and what it's encouraging, so I respect that sentiment of the other posters, but really? Outrage?

Lets encourage our school system to try new things, measure the effectiveness, and readjust based on data. I would really love to steer this debate away from whining about being free to choose less effective study techniques and monitoring. Monitoring is essential to providing adjustments on a per-student basis, allowing highly customizable content for the most efficient education.

Edit: I guess I should have known better than to make a dissenting comment on this type of article.