Go Guardian- What Do You Think?

Go Guardian- What Do You Think?

Do you think GoGuardian is an invasion of privacy?

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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic The Morgan School purchased a new program called Go Guardian. This program allows teachers to see their students’ Chromebook screens during class. The teachers are also allowed to send comments to the students’ screens while they are working.

When the students found out about the program, there was a lot of controversy as to whether this is invading their privacy while working and if it was too much power given to the administration. Other students thought that the administration was smart to put this program in place.
Senior Abby Eydman said “ Go Guardian should be used sparingly by the teachers.”She explained that it is useful to monitor tests, quizzes and the screens of students who have a history with being distracted. Abby said, “I know I feel a little uncomfortable.They have so much control with monitoring, and at the end of the day, it is up to the students to keep themselves accountable.”
Senior Bella Novicki made an argument similar to Abby’s. She said, “it was a good idea to put in place for tests and quizzes that are online.” Bella also shared how teachers have the ability to close out of other tabs a student has opened, which she believes is too much power given to the teachers. As a senior preparing for college, she stated that “professors aren’t going to close out our tabs or care if we are on task or not.” Bella believes that in order to prepare for the future a student needs to have the opportunity to be responsible for staying on task on their own and doing what is assigned to them.
Senior Clara Franzoni had a more positive outlook on the new program. She knows that in some ways it may be an invasion of privacy, but overall she understands the importance of using Go Guardian during online learning. Clara mentioned that “it is much harder for us to talk to our teachers about questions with assignments when we’re online and having Go Guardian can help us feel a little bit more like a regular classroom”.
The administrators are just trying to do what they think is best for the students and faculty. On the Go Guardian website, the focus is on keeping a connection between schools and students especially with distance learning:
“We know that staying connected to your students is more important than ever before” The site then promotes the actions that teachers are able to stay connected through chats, audio calls, or video calls.
The website also mentioned how if a student is struggling with mental health issues the program can point out anything that may look concerning and can contact the right adults about it. This is a program that is coming soon called the Beacon program. This program will “Identify students who are silently suffering, alert those who can help, and quickly activate your school’s custom response program.”
From another point of view, social studies teacher Rachel Shook believes that this is a very beneficial program. She hopes that students will focus on their own learning without having to be monitored, but since this not being the case for all students, Go Guardian is a good way to make sure that they are on task. In her class, she only uses the program when necessary so that students don’t feel that they are being too controlled. For example, she uses it for remote learning and assessments.
It is clear that there are many different views on this new program so it is time to ask, how do you feel about Go Guardian?