No, you may not make me into an image macro.
August 17, 2011 8:17 AM Subscribe
Is there a valid reason that my classes require us to upload a picture of ourselves? Is this done in other programs?
This has been going on throughout my entire MBA program, but it's finally irritated me enough to waste a question on it.
I'm starting classes (live classes, not online) next week, and one of my classes requires me to put a picture online along with my resume. I can vaguely see why my resume would be a useful thing for my peers in the program to see, particularly since I'm about to start a serious job hunt. But I have no idea why it is considered to be appropriate to demand I put a picture of myself online.
I don't intend to comply with the requirement, as I have never complied when it was demanded before. I don't particularly want my goofy mug floating out on the internet even on Blackboard and think it's creepy and potentially discriminatory. I wondered if there was some justification for this pedagogically/professionally or if it's just one of those stupid things people do, like ice breakers and team building exercises.
This has been going on throughout my entire MBA program, but it's finally irritated me enough to waste a question on it.
I'm starting classes (live classes, not online) next week, and one of my classes requires me to put a picture online along with my resume. I can vaguely see why my resume would be a useful thing for my peers in the program to see, particularly since I'm about to start a serious job hunt. But I have no idea why it is considered to be appropriate to demand I put a picture of myself online.
I don't intend to comply with the requirement, as I have never complied when it was demanded before. I don't particularly want my goofy mug floating out on the internet even on Blackboard and think it's creepy and potentially discriminatory. I wondered if there was some justification for this pedagogically/professionally or if it's just one of those stupid things people do, like ice breakers and team building exercises.
Best answer: I assume it's at least in part so your instructors can more easily associate "Jane Smith" and her Blackboard activity with "That blond girl who always wears brown and is great with theory during class discussions."
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:20 AM on August 17, 2011 [11 favorites]
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:20 AM on August 17, 2011 [11 favorites]
just one of those stupid things people do, like ice breakers and team building exercises
I wouldn't give them my picture either, but I have some doubts about how you're going to feel about this MBA thing. Good luck.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 8:25 AM on August 17, 2011 [12 favorites]
I wouldn't give them my picture either, but I have some doubts about how you're going to feel about this MBA thing. Good luck.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 8:25 AM on August 17, 2011 [12 favorites]
My professors always got our pictures with the class registration list. These were the pictures from our student ID cards. Mine was OK, but I know that a LOT of people would rather have been able to choose the picture that got sent around to professors (by default, nothing you could do about it), rather than have it be the crappy DMV-inspired one taken on move-in day. The professors were given pictures so that they could put faces to names more easily (I went to a school with primarily small, discussion-based classes, so this was helpful). The students also were given a lookbook with a picture of every student in the class. That one you could opt out of, though.
So...I guess you should feel lucky that you have the option of choosing a picture. I also understand not wanting to do it, for privacy or whatever personal reasons you may have. If the system requires that you have an image uploaded with your name, you can make a quick mspaint of your name written on a blank, white background. No picture, but you're technically being compliant with the rules.
posted by phunniemee at 8:26 AM on August 17, 2011
So...I guess you should feel lucky that you have the option of choosing a picture. I also understand not wanting to do it, for privacy or whatever personal reasons you may have. If the system requires that you have an image uploaded with your name, you can make a quick mspaint of your name written on a blank, white background. No picture, but you're technically being compliant with the rules.
posted by phunniemee at 8:26 AM on August 17, 2011
I'd go with the "put a face with the name" theory. I had a professor that did this once, except he took his own photos. Only it wasn't as creepy as I just made it sound.
posted by giraffe at 8:29 AM on August 17, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by giraffe at 8:29 AM on August 17, 2011 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: I wouldn't give them my picture either, but I have some doubts about how you're going to feel about this MBA thing.
My focus is operational and systemic data analysis, so I'm analytics rather than ice breaker/team building stuff. I am a spreadsheets person, like a considerable number of my peers.
posted by winna at 8:33 AM on August 17, 2011
My focus is operational and systemic data analysis, so I'm analytics rather than ice breaker/team building stuff. I am a spreadsheets person, like a considerable number of my peers.
posted by winna at 8:33 AM on August 17, 2011
Yeah, at my law school, photos were required, and were scanned into books for the professors to see who people were. Obviously, it also helps your peers.
Don't sweat it.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 8:38 AM on August 17, 2011
Don't sweat it.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 8:38 AM on August 17, 2011
There is no reason why a photo should be absolutely required, and I fully understand why you don't want to do it. In my experience a photo can make the difference between receiving unwanted attention and being left alone.
There's a reason why universities require written permission from the subject of a photo before they publish it, and you don't have to provide yours.
posted by tel3path at 8:40 AM on August 17, 2011
There's a reason why universities require written permission from the subject of a photo before they publish it, and you don't have to provide yours.
posted by tel3path at 8:40 AM on August 17, 2011
I'm surprised that they didn't take photos of you at the beginning of the program for a "face book" type system. This was extremely helpful for me as an MBA student getting to know everyone else.
posted by radioamy at 8:41 AM on August 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by radioamy at 8:41 AM on August 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
I always took pictures of my students when I TAed. I'm terrible with names, and I needed the pictures to quiz myself with outside of class. With pictures, I would have everyone's name down within two weeks. Otherwise, it took much of the semester to do so. I don't think there is something evil going on here, just a fairly innocuous crutch for the profs.
posted by rockindata at 8:41 AM on August 17, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by rockindata at 8:41 AM on August 17, 2011 [4 favorites]
i'm an adjunct and i think it could be helpful for name association... i wouldn't worry about blackboard, they are internal systems and don't publish externally to internet...
posted by fozzie33 at 8:44 AM on August 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by fozzie33 at 8:44 AM on August 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
It helps faculty figure out who you are. It can be daunting trying to remember who's who, especially when you have a big class. Second, most students like it when the professor remembers them and actually helps them as a person rather than as #11 in the class who may or may not be that person who made a mistake on their assignment and is now asking about the same kind of thing in class.
posted by ob at 8:46 AM on August 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by ob at 8:46 AM on August 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
Oh and, in my experience, it's done in all programs, undergrad and grad alike.
posted by ob at 8:48 AM on August 17, 2011
posted by ob at 8:48 AM on August 17, 2011
Couldn't it be an anti-cheating control to make sure the correct person shows up to testing sessions?
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 8:58 AM on August 17, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 8:58 AM on August 17, 2011 [2 favorites]
When I worked at a large, well known business school, and most faculty keep these photo sheets up on their office walls so they could remember who was who.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 9:06 AM on August 17, 2011
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 9:06 AM on August 17, 2011
I find it extremely helpful to have pictures of my students because I have a hard time learning students' names. I have small classes, even, but I'm just bad at associating names and faces. If there are four football players with short brown hair that all sit in the same row, or a Kathryn, Kathy, Katie, and Catherine all in the same class (This happens. A lot.), I'm sunk; I'm never going to keep them straight.
When I grade homework, I have our Blackboard-like system up (we actually use Moodle) and I'm looking at people's pictures as I grade their work. It's very helpful for me to know how their classroom performance is correlating with their submitted work. I can ID specific difficulties that a person is having and give extra assistance to the student in class or when they wander in for office hours. I also make note of strengths, and opportunities that they have taken to go the extra mile.
I strongly encourage, but do not require, students to put a recognizable profile pic on Moodle. (I have my pic up on Moodle, too. Fair's fair.)
posted by BrashTech at 9:07 AM on August 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
When I grade homework, I have our Blackboard-like system up (we actually use Moodle) and I'm looking at people's pictures as I grade their work. It's very helpful for me to know how their classroom performance is correlating with their submitted work. I can ID specific difficulties that a person is having and give extra assistance to the student in class or when they wander in for office hours. I also make note of strengths, and opportunities that they have taken to go the extra mile.
I strongly encourage, but do not require, students to put a recognizable profile pic on Moodle. (I have my pic up on Moodle, too. Fair's fair.)
posted by BrashTech at 9:07 AM on August 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
When I teach undergraduate classes we get the picture of everyone in the class (their student ID one). It is definitely helpful at times. However these can only accessed by faculty members, and are not considered 'public'.
posted by ddaavviidd at 9:19 AM on August 17, 2011
posted by ddaavviidd at 9:19 AM on August 17, 2011
Nthing everyone else who said that it's a huge help for the teachers, and almost certainly not externally searchable. If your focus is analytics and operations, please try to consider the considerable benefits to your education of the professor having as clear as sense of you as an individual as possible. I teach, and anything which helps individuate the members of classes is a big help. There's often a lot of you to keep track of.
With regard to icebreakers, you may not feel they're your thing, but I use them all the time as a means of warming students up and getting them in a good frame of mind for serious learning and enquiry. They're a useful addition to the toolbox of learning, and I think you could perhaps try to be a little more postive and open-minded as a student, and to be prepared to see what benefits these things can bring you.
I hate to say it, and please don't take this the wrong way, but considering your comments regarding the photographs and the icebreakers together, you're already coming over as a little resentful, and that's a shame, because the institution you're working in almost certainly wants you to do well and gain as much as possible from the experience.
Don't fight that.
posted by Chairboy at 9:37 AM on August 17, 2011 [3 favorites]
With regard to icebreakers, you may not feel they're your thing, but I use them all the time as a means of warming students up and getting them in a good frame of mind for serious learning and enquiry. They're a useful addition to the toolbox of learning, and I think you could perhaps try to be a little more postive and open-minded as a student, and to be prepared to see what benefits these things can bring you.
I hate to say it, and please don't take this the wrong way, but considering your comments regarding the photographs and the icebreakers together, you're already coming over as a little resentful, and that's a shame, because the institution you're working in almost certainly wants you to do well and gain as much as possible from the experience.
Don't fight that.
posted by Chairboy at 9:37 AM on August 17, 2011 [3 favorites]
I've had a professor do this.
Furthermore, my mum's workplace made her put a picture up on her profile page on the company website. She does work with customers, but not the general public, and her work has nothing at all to do with the internet.
It's one of life's little tests to see which hill you'll pick to make a stand on, you "win" if you pick the same hill as most of your peers... Otherwise you're either "the weird one who made a fuss about nothing" or "the one with no boundaries". Social things suck.
posted by anaelith at 9:47 AM on August 17, 2011
Furthermore, my mum's workplace made her put a picture up on her profile page on the company website. She does work with customers, but not the general public, and her work has nothing at all to do with the internet.
It's one of life's little tests to see which hill you'll pick to make a stand on, you "win" if you pick the same hill as most of your peers... Otherwise you're either "the weird one who made a fuss about nothing" or "the one with no boundaries". Social things suck.
posted by anaelith at 9:47 AM on August 17, 2011
It's so people (i.e. your professors and peers) know what the person with your name (i.e. you) looks like. As a higher ed instructor, I find it incredibly useful to have an associated list of names and faces. It really helps me learn people's names.
posted by mr_roboto at 10:52 AM on August 17, 2011
posted by mr_roboto at 10:52 AM on August 17, 2011
Best answer: My husband is a professor and likes having the photos so that he can learn students' names. He teaches over 100 students a term and he would rather call them by name if possible. He does not use the photos in any other way. In fact, he used to bring his own camera and have the students pose for photos holding an index card with their name on it. The university has called a halt to this by telling the professors to request students to upload photos to BlackBoard instead. At our university, there is a strict policy that students do not have to upload photos if they don't want to. As you know, BlackBoard requires a log-in, so there's at least a modicum of privacy there.
posted by Knowyournuts at 11:01 AM on August 17, 2011
posted by Knowyournuts at 11:01 AM on August 17, 2011
I TA and I can see the ID pictures of my students, presumably to take it easier to identify them. I think that a similar thing existed when I was an undergrad. Of course, an awful lot of people don't look like their ID pictures, but I'd think that'd be less of an issue in an MBA program--appearances tend to change more (with age) when people are undergrads.
I don't actually look at the pictures of my students, as they all end up looking the same. (They look awfully similar in person, too.) I end up memorising that Jane Smith sits in that seat and then desperately hope she never moves. Or that she has green hair or something. (And that her best friend who also has green hair doesn't sit next to her.) As an undergrad, I had professors photograph the room in the first or second class and have us label ourselves in the picture, as people tend not to move much. To be honest, they were probably memorising seats first and then eventually figuring out what people looked like.
posted by hoyland at 11:06 AM on August 17, 2011
I don't actually look at the pictures of my students, as they all end up looking the same. (They look awfully similar in person, too.) I end up memorising that Jane Smith sits in that seat and then desperately hope she never moves. Or that she has green hair or something. (And that her best friend who also has green hair doesn't sit next to her.) As an undergrad, I had professors photograph the room in the first or second class and have us label ourselves in the picture, as people tend not to move much. To be honest, they were probably memorising seats first and then eventually figuring out what people looked like.
posted by hoyland at 11:06 AM on August 17, 2011
Response by poster: I didn't want to babysit the thread, but I do want to perhaps correct a perception from some avoidable flippancy I used in my question. I have been here long enough that I should have known that it would have come across badly.
I've recently had some issues with some former coworkers putting up all of the photos that they had collected in their time with our company out on facebook, complete with our names tagged and the details of our time with the team. Since I deliberately keep a low internet profile and do not have any photos of myself online on purpose, this incident has affected how I view the request for photos from anyone right now. I know that Blackboard is secured, but I wouldn't have thought that pictures from work would wander onto the internet, either, so I'm assigning perhaps more significance to the request than it merits.
I can understand that it's a helpful visual aid for the professors, but it hadn't occurred to me that it was that critical for many of them - when I was a GA I just made everyone pick a seat and stay in it. There are only about ten people in the class, but I hadn't extrapolated the facial memory effort across an entire courseload for a semester, so of course that would make it harder to remember one person out of more than one hundred.
I'm not going to respond again, but I do want to thank everyone for their time and effort in answering my question. I appreciate that there are, indeed, valid pedagogical reasons for my professor to ask for my photo. I am sorry if my tone in my question was off-putting, but thank you all for answering anyway. It was very helpful!
posted by winna at 11:25 AM on August 17, 2011
I've recently had some issues with some former coworkers putting up all of the photos that they had collected in their time with our company out on facebook, complete with our names tagged and the details of our time with the team. Since I deliberately keep a low internet profile and do not have any photos of myself online on purpose, this incident has affected how I view the request for photos from anyone right now. I know that Blackboard is secured, but I wouldn't have thought that pictures from work would wander onto the internet, either, so I'm assigning perhaps more significance to the request than it merits.
I can understand that it's a helpful visual aid for the professors, but it hadn't occurred to me that it was that critical for many of them - when I was a GA I just made everyone pick a seat and stay in it. There are only about ten people in the class, but I hadn't extrapolated the facial memory effort across an entire courseload for a semester, so of course that would make it harder to remember one person out of more than one hundred.
I'm not going to respond again, but I do want to thank everyone for their time and effort in answering my question. I appreciate that there are, indeed, valid pedagogical reasons for my professor to ask for my photo. I am sorry if my tone in my question was off-putting, but thank you all for answering anyway. It was very helpful!
posted by winna at 11:25 AM on August 17, 2011
Which area of the world are you in? In mine, this requirement would be considered incredibly bizarre.
posted by Kurichina at 11:30 AM on August 17, 2011
posted by Kurichina at 11:30 AM on August 17, 2011
I can see why the professors would want photos for private use, but I don't think it's a fabulous idea to tag everyone's photo on the Internet, for reasons of unwanted attention and the like that well, female students are likely to get.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:33 AM on August 17, 2011
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:33 AM on August 17, 2011
winna, having read your response, I quite understand your concern. Your school should have had you sign something that says that the photo in question will only be used on BB and for administrative purposes, but if you didn't, I think you're well within your rights to make sure that that is the case.
posted by ob at 1:21 PM on August 17, 2011
posted by ob at 1:21 PM on August 17, 2011
If it helps, the picture pages I get of my students all have a note in big red letters at the top that distribution of those pictures is a FERPA violation.
posted by hydropsyche at 1:24 PM on August 17, 2011
posted by hydropsyche at 1:24 PM on August 17, 2011
Grad school is -- in addition to learning -- all about giving you hoops to jump through. This is an easy, easy hoop. Jump through it.
As an aside, I've done a fair amount of hiring and "low internet profile" is a red flag to me. Managing your internet profile is a basic part of professional life these days in many fields.
posted by coolguymichael at 2:32 PM on August 17, 2011
As an aside, I've done a fair amount of hiring and "low internet profile" is a red flag to me. Managing your internet profile is a basic part of professional life these days in many fields.
posted by coolguymichael at 2:32 PM on August 17, 2011
I also get my students' pictures and use them as flashcards to try and learn names (I usually have around 200 students a semester, and they can get seriously pissy on evaluations if I don't "bother to" learn their names.)
But I am aware that some students would be uncomfortable with photos being taken, and I am sure that most other university lecturers and TAs know this too. Personally I am happy for students to opt out, as long as they realise it means I am less likely to learn their name. I always tell them they are welcome not to have their photo taken. I bet your lecturer would also not mind if you refuse to upload one.
posted by lollusc at 6:19 PM on August 17, 2011
But I am aware that some students would be uncomfortable with photos being taken, and I am sure that most other university lecturers and TAs know this too. Personally I am happy for students to opt out, as long as they realise it means I am less likely to learn their name. I always tell them they are welcome not to have their photo taken. I bet your lecturer would also not mind if you refuse to upload one.
posted by lollusc at 6:19 PM on August 17, 2011
coolguymichael, if you'd ever had a stalker, your idea of what a "red flag" is would change.
posted by tel3path at 3:47 AM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by tel3path at 3:47 AM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
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