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Wstrdg
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| Joined: | Mon Mar 6th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 403 |
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Posted: Thu Apr 17th, 2008 03:31 pm |
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http://insidehighered.com/news/2008/04/17/quest
Suppose colleges could buy software that would enable them to speed up the admissions process and admit classes that are more diverse — without fear of being sued by foes of affirmative action. Would institutions purchase? Can (and should) colleges outsource admissions decisions to software?
That’s what a professor at Auburn University is hoping to find out. Juan E. Gilbert, an associate professor of computer science, developed the software two years ago, and it attracted a brief flurry of attention. But what he didn’t have then were any clients to actually use the software. Now, Auburn — which tested the software last year — has announced that it will use it in actual admissions decisions next year. And while Gilbert says that Auburn is the first institution to publicly admit to using the software, he says that about five other colleges have used it, although in many cases not for an entire class of undergraduates.
The article indicates that the software will not be used to identify clear admits or clear rejects, but will be used to pick admits from what it terms the "middle group," those who "clearly can do the work but aren't so great that they deserve automatic admission."
I found two things interesting: after clustering students by metrics, the software then selects for the least similar in each cluster. And in a test run last year, admissions results by humans were largely similar, with the software producing only a slightly more diverse class.
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kdmom
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| Joined: | Sun Jun 4th, 2006 |
| Location: | Washington USA |
| Posts: | 119 |
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Posted: Thu Apr 17th, 2008 04:30 pm |
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Wow, I don't know what to say about this. Can the software read essays? 
I guess it would be most useful at schools with formula-based admissions.
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jocelynDAD
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Posted: Thu Apr 17th, 2008 04:38 pm |
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KDmom:
Seems that the software comes into play after the actions of essay reading etc are preformed.
The obvious admits or rejects have already been selected - it is the remaining middle that is being 'machined' as it were. How to select from those that are so similar that it is both time-consuning and subjective!
It is interesting, but whenever the human element is removed, I admit to being apprehensive.
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