Commentary

A Better Way Out

It is 7:50 p.m. on a busy Monday night. You are immersed in your work and realize that you haven’t signed out yet. You are, thus, forced to take approximately 20 minutes out of your studies to hurry back to your dorm, sign in and walk back. Each night, Andover students waste precious time adhering to initial sign-in policies. This long and tedious process, however, can be easily simplified and made efficient through an online software.

This online program would eliminate running back to the dorm for initial sign-in, giving students additional homework time and house counselors a more effective way to monitor students. This program would allow students to use their mobile devices, laptops or other electronic devices to fill in a box with their place(s) of study and submit the form. House counselors monitoring the log would easily be able to identify students who have signed in and the time at which they signed in.

This program, which would be implemented as an additional page on Canvas, would also include many features that would stop students from abusing the sign-in system. These features would eliminate the current issue of students secretly signing in for each other or inaccurately reporting the time of sign-in. To access this program, students would need to log-in to Canvas; thus, most students would be discouraged from signing in for each other as doing so would give others access to their grades.

As Juniors, when we first arrived at Andover, we immediately began to plan out our work, sports and sleep schedules. Early on, the process of going all the way to our dorms, quickly signing out, and making our way back to our study center seemed unnecessary. We believed that walking to and from the dorm was valuable time that could be used for other activities. Similarly, signing out virtually would allow extra time for studying and therefore reduce the stress on students. Allowing for extra time would also allow students to go to sleep earlier and would therefore be beneficial to the health of students. This program would also benefit both students and those monitoring sign-in for a more efficient sign-in system.

We urge the Andover community to acknowledge and support the benefits of this new program that would give more time to students and would be an effective way to monitor sign-in. We must not rely on outdated systems of managing students, and look toward finding new ways of increasing productivity.