Wilma ruined my life

Abstract

The information system StarSoft Wilma used to track and report on the adolescents' behaviour at school can cause problematic situations. These problems manifest themselves in various ways: many of the markings in the system are either wholly unnecessary or at least questionable in nature. This is made the adolescents (and some guardians/teachers) resent the system. In this paper these side-effects are looked through and compared with an analysis of posts in the Facebook-group 'Wilma Ruined My Life'. As conclusions we claim that the system can create an atmosphere of fear and suspicion amongst the students: resembling an Orwellian or panopticon-like environment which might undermine the students' ability to become full and capable members of an open democratic society.

Three Views to a School Information System: Wilma from a Sociotechnical Perspective

“…21], many entries are merely critiques or notions about behaviour. Although Wilma entries are not meant to be personal critique towards the students and their developing identities, they can be interpreted as such by the students [2].…”

“…There has been discussion about Wilma having 8 negative feedback categories and only 2 positive ones. A teacher that raised this issue to discussion in Facebook felt that there should be more options for the students to gain positive feedback [2].…”

“…Moreover, Visma company acknowledges that there are no proper guidelines or practices on how to use this new technology and hence the end decision whom to report and on what is a decision made by the teacher. (Reference withheld) [2] state that it "is relative both to the student and the teacher alike what actions from the day are reportedor is anything reported at all. Thereby equal treatment of subjectsthe adolescent -is nearly impossible.…”

“…Yet, peer influence of other teachers can lead to situations in which teachers are more likely to write more positive comments or not to write negative comments due to the amount of positive reports done by their colleagues. [2] For example Oinas et al [22] have stated that especially negative feedback seems to accumulate to certain pupils.…”

“…With the system students, teachers, and parents can share information and view timetables. [1] It is usually seen as "a school journal", a notebook traditionally used for communication between school and home, but it extends to a be-all-end-all system for storing information about school activities [2].…”