Ellington

Teachers now have the opportunity to learn the names of their students before the first day of class.

The UW recently implemented a program that allows teachers to access student rosters — and students’ photos — online.

The idea for the student rosters with photos came to life in the biology department.

Mary Wenderoth, a senior lecturer in the department, felt that connecting students’ names and faces was an opportunity to encourage student-teacher interaction inside — and outside — of the classroom.

“Because I am able to call on people by name in class, it leads to more conversations with students,” Wenderoth said.

This year, the UW was the sixth school in the Pac-10 to implement such a program school-wide.

Since all undergraduate students have their picture taken for their Husky Card freshman year, Paul Schurr and Tony Chang, both integration architects at the Office of Information Management, were able to take the framework developed previously for Student Services and quickly apply it to this new service.

The launch was considered a success. Even though the program had not been advertised, UW staff members accessed 250,000 student photos in the first week of this quarter. Schurr and Chang said the popularity of the program shows that even in the midst of budget cuts, the university can continue to make progress on the technology front.

The main concern about the program’s development was student privacy.

Todd Mildon, the university registrar, worked to ensure student privacy, as outlined under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

Taking this into consideration, Mildon worked closely with the Associated Students of the University of Washington (ASUW) and the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) to ensure students’ interests were taken into account.

Mildon said that faculty members have a legitimate educational need to see photos of students in their classes, which justifies the program’s value and use under FERPA.

Additionally, Wenderoth emphasized that Chang and Schurr made privacy a top priority; the photos are not allowed to be posted or copied by faculty members and are destroyed at the end of the quarter.

For now, students can expect teachers to use their names more often, even in notoriously large lecture halls.

“This new project provides a balance,” Wenderoth said. “As classes get bigger because of the budget cuts, at least we can learn students’ names and make the classes feel smaller.”

Reach contributing writer Brian Byrnes at development@dailyuw.com.