Schools In South Korea Are Testing Ways To Remotely Disable Students' Smartphones | TechTree.com

Schools In South Korea Are Testing Ways To Remotely Disable Students' Smartphones

South Korean students will have to go back to doodling the old fashioned way.

 

Smartphones today are an absolute necessity when it comes to surviving dreadful classes in school (yes, we are serious). However, the savvy teachers of South Korea strongly disagree, and have found a way to bash out all the fun from the classroom.

 

According to The Verge, the Korean officials installing remote management software on students' smartphones. These apps enable the school authorities decide what services and apps students can access inside the classroom. iSmartKeeper is one such app that allows teachers to lockdown phones in six different modes.

 

The idea behind the app is to prevent distractions within the classroom. iSmartKeeper also utilises GPS geofencing to restrict students' phones as soon as they get onto the school grounds.

 

However, of the eleven schools in South Korea's capital city Seoul where the app has been trialled have reported mixed results on the effectiveness. Three schools opted out of the program on the premise that students were rooting their phones to avoid the restrictions.

 

Another limiting factor of the app is that it is only available for Android devices currently, meaning students with iOS and Windows Phones have nothing to worry about. Developers of iSmartKeeper have said that an iOS version of the app will be launched next month. As usual, Windows Phone app will take more time. But, in this case, WP fans won't be complaining.

 

There have even been the odd situations where teachers raised concerns over the app violating a students' "human rights". Nonetheless, Korea's Gangwon Provincial Office of Education is already instructing some 677 schools to adopt use of the app, while schools in other regions of the country continue to run trials.


TAGS: Mobile Phones, Android, iSmartKeeper, cell restrictions

 
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