When students register for classes they must first login to the deltacollege.edu registration system.
After that the student can look at the schedule of classes online and, if a partnership with a new company goes through, students may also log on to myEdu.com for help in navigating the system.
MyEdu.com is a Texas-based company that collects data from colleges and students to provide easier registration and improve graduation rates.
MyEdu.com combines the use of social media and a college’s registration system to assist the students in picking classes.
When I first heard of the website I was told that there would be no rating of any kind for professors like on ratemyprofessor.com.
The website would offer an alternative way of selecting classes by letting students see what classes their friends — who are registered with myEdu.com as well — are taking.
The website also offers a grading scale of the professors.
At first glance the website’s features seem to have a lot to offer the students.
But there is a catch.
A quick Internet search reveals one school working with myEdu.com had the company gain access to the student emails and other personal files.
The grading scales are also misleading.
Paula Sheil, an English instructor at Delta College had this to say:
“Students should never choose a class based on the easy ‘A’ unless they are satisfied that the knowledge gained and mastered will serve them in subsequent courses or in life. That approach doesn’t work for all courses, and let’s face it, all courses are not equally important (or difficult) because they often lead to different goals.”
Some professors at Delta College want myEdu.com out, and I agree.
From my experiences with the website, I have not seen anything new that I cannot accomplish using deltacollege.edu.
The college bookstore offers rentals, chegg.com can compare book prices, and if I wanted to take a class with friends I would ask them what they are taking.
Another observation is that myEdu.com is just jumping on the social media bandwagon, asking to link with my Facebook account, something I would never do.
MyEdu.com has stepped into a pilot-program agreement with this campus despite the faculty fight against it.
University of Texas (UT), Austin, paid $10 million to myEdu.com, forming a system-wide partnership in 2011.
This partnership allowed the company to access UT data and student records.
A business having access to any student records scares me.
I do not want to be used as a pawn in some game to make a millionaire even richer.
A Nov. 2011 article from the Daily Texan, the University of Texas student newspaper, showed alumni concern over the financial backing and called for the resignation of Board of Regents members.
I understand the frustration the faculty of UT has gone through.
The decision to back the company did not include the faculty in the discussion.
While myEdu.com has its benefits, this student is against the website for the simple fact that it allows a corporation access to my emails and possibly my student records.
