College Prof Can Tell When Student Zone Out In Class

Wow! What wrong with the world? It’s getting so that a self respecting college kid can’t even sit in class and tune out the professor anymore!  Now you can be busted by the very technological world that you are probably day dreaming about in the first place!

PopSci reports some new technology means it's getting harder to get away with zoning out while sitting through a boring class ! A Chinese lecturer has created a facial recognition algorithm that can tell when students are disengaged from what's going on around them.

The program can't go so far as to tell if you're gazing into the distance, or whether you're scribbling notes versus doodles, but it can label facial expressions as "happy" or "neutral."  But don’t misunderstand.  The system isn’t about discipline for the distracted student, but rather for improvement by the teacher!

The professor says the information the system provides him is valuable for his teaching, as he can tell when he was "actually" attracting the students' attention. (PopSci)