Over the past few years, students have breathed a sigh of relief as teachers gradually reduced their use of GoGuardian. No longer would they have to secretly play the Wordle or take Buzzfeed quizzes when the teacher wasn’t looking — or so they thought.
Montgomery County Public Schools recently replaced GoGuardian with a new digital monitoring system: Lightspeed. According to the Lightspeed Systems website, the tool provides teachers with “real-time visibility and control of student device activity,” allowing them to “provide support and ensure devices are being used properly.”
In comparison to GoGuardian, Lightspeed offers a greater variety of features. Teachers can close tabs, block inappropriate sites, enable screen sharing, or even redirect a student’s browser. Lightspeed is also cloud-based, which allows the monitoring of devices at any time or location.
Students had mixed reactions to the county-wide adoption of Lightspeed, and some expressed concerns about their lack of privacy when being constantly monitored. “It allows the teacher to make what [we’re] doing on [our] own time into a public issue,” junior Rachel Wei said. “The baseline is that, yeah, it kind of is a violation [of privacy].”
Junior Aida Hodjatzadeh also disapproves of Lightspeed. “While I understand the sentiment behind implementing and using Lightspeed, I believe it would be more of a hardship for high schoolers and high school teachers than a tool,” Hodjatzadeh said.
She additionally noticed potential problems that could arise beyond limited privacy, such as limiting teens’ personal development. “As kids mature into young adults during high school, responsibility…and independence should be taught,” Hodjatzadeh said. “The use of Lightspeed would inherently limit [the development of] these important values.”
While some students reacted negatively, others approved of the county’s decision. “At school, I don’t think it violates a student’s privacy because you’re supposed to be there to learn for the most part and not play games,” senior James Zhang said. “I think they should just be used to make sure you’re not cheating or going on weird websites.”
He also stated that safety controls in general are necessary, in part due to the school’s responsibility toward its students. “If something happens, the school has to be held responsible because it’s their Chromebooks [that we use],” Zhang said.
Junior Adriana Mendy shared the same sentiment that the county made the right choice in adopting Lightspeed. “I think it’s pretty annoying but I understand why they need it,” Mendy said.
However, students questioned not only the county’s decision to use Lightspeed but also the efficacy of the monitoring system. “I think it’s an interesting attempt by the county to deal with the [problems] that we’ve been having with new technology and [limited] attention spans,” Wei said. “I don’t know how effective it will be, though, in addressing the root cause.”
She attributes the main cause of distraction during class to students lacking incentive and thinking that they have better things to do. “Simply having the teacher be able to see what they’re actually doing does not necessarily encourage them to participate and be engaged in class,” Wei said.
If you would like to voice your opinion on an issue you feel is relevant to our community, please do so here. Anyone is able and welcome to submit a Letter to the Editor, regardless of journalistic experience or writing skills. Submissions may be published either online or in a print issue.
