Greg Patton and I worked together on our A3 to forecast an app for our school (New Westminster Secondary School) that utilizes the power of Artificial Intelligence and Indoor Positioning Analytics. As we are at the cusp of moving into a new, modern, 21st century building, this app prototype is timely to highlight the potential our school community can achieve in the very near future. Greg discusses the administrative perspective while I look at the educator’s perspective.
We have created a spark page outlining the features of AI and IPA we foresee in our context. Access the spark page here. We look forward to your insights and feedback!
https://spark.adobe.com/page/iregfX9r3TinX/
Binal and Greg… you two have done an incredible job outlining and explaining positioning analytics and how AI can be incorporated into school life – your examples are practical and realistic. Your presentation is organized and flows well. Excellent job.
Something that I am curious about, similar to Kristin but with regards to staff, (and a potential extension for this work in the future) is, how would this be rolled out? Something that I have often found in incorporating new technology is the buy-in needed by staff and potential push-back. Do you see something like this being required for teachers to participate in? Would there be expectations as to level of participation?
Well done!
Hi Julia,
Thank you for your comment and feedback! As Greg mentions below, to take advantage of this app and help it maximize its potential, participation is key – we would hope that everyone, staff and students alike can feel safe and excited to use it. Moving into a more mobile and technologically-centric world, the use of such an app would become commonplace in my opinion. I don’t think there’s necessarily a required level of participation, each staff member can use it according to their comfort level, but it would definitely help save a lot of time doing admin-like tasks in class like taking attendance, reminding students of drills, appointments, etc., setting up photo day tasks and so much more that disrupts the flow of the lesson. So if nothing else, it can help with that. As we try to differentiate learning and meet the diverse needs of our students, I think adaptive learning with the help of AI is the ideal way forward. The logistics, security, data privacy etc. are all things that are going to be larger discussions, and need to be worked through with everyone involved, before something like this can be rolled out!
Thanks for checking it out 🙂
What a beautiful and informative Spark Page you’ve created Binal and Greg! Your idea goes far beyond an app, it is an entire system that can revolutionize how we see school buildings. I like that you discuss the benefits the app provides for all stakeholders, even Teachers on Call! This app would have been so helpful for finding the class I was subbing for when I was sent to high schools while being on call! Getting everyone to participate and be on board will be key and you addressed some of the issues behind that but what alternative is there for families who really do not want to participate? I encountered this situation in my class of 27 grade 6/7 students where I had all but one student consent to participating in e-portfolios and despite me addressing all of the concerns the parent had, she still did not want her child to participate. The student ended up creating a paper portfolio so it was a simple fix for my situation but for a school with 1900 students, what can be done for the select few who, no matter how much you try to convince them, choose not to participate?
Side question: Do you think this app should only be used in middle and secondary schools, or should elementary schools be included as well? Are elementary schools too small of a scale and post-secondary institutions too large of a scale to implement the app?
Thanks for sharing your project, it was very well done and I hope that the app becomes a reality in the near future! I teach in Burnaby so if NWSS can successfully implement this system, then hopefully it can be shared with your neighboring school district!
Hey Juliano!
Thanks for your comments! Participation would be the key to accessing the full potential of the app, but there could be work-arounds for families not comfortable. Proximity messages could be sent to particular people as emails; every student at our school, and in our district, have their own student email. Attendance could be taken manually for students not participating; a list of 5 or 6 to check in MyEd is a lot smoother than 30! With the 5G network, announcements, even a video of them, could easily be emailed and streamed to a device. We also have screens set up throughout our new school so students could access information off of them.
Side question answer: We only thought of this for secondary as we seen that a vast majority of our students have some sort of mobile technology with them. Younger years may be harder as not all students may have tech; I know my son in grade 6, though he is BEGGING for one, does not have a phone and we don’t let him bring his tablet to school. Essentially though, as we move further into a future where a mobile device becomes part of the “supply list” for all grades, this type of app could be used throughout a district.
Thanks again Juliano and we’ll see where this takes us!
Thanks, Greg and Binal! I love how you’ve covered so many different facets of IPA and AI and how they can be linked together. It feels like a really comprehensive view of education in the future.
When I was reading through the IPA functionalities, I was imagining my faculty association being opposed to teacher “asset tracking” – having an app reporting on whether they’re in the classroom or not. You mention that it would be a great way to make sure kids are attended to if an instructor is late, but I could see my particular union being opposed to surveilling teachers. We already have a lot of strict rules around how we are even allowed to be evaluated as faculty members.
Technology does make surveillance easier, and that surveillance does offer benefits – but do you think it’s the right solution?
Hi Anne,
Yeah, asset tracking could be seen as a slippery slope… but I definitely see the advantages of it outweighing the more “controversial” aspects. Being in admin, I have had those times when a student comes to the office first block to let us know that their teacher hasn’t come yet. This is through no fault of their own (damn traffic) and not all can call in to let the office know they are late as they are driving. Also, I have had it where a teacher has forgotten to sign out when they went to grab a coffee on their prep and an alarm had been pulled (oh mschievious students…). Asset tracking would help rid those archaic practices of signing in/signing out and allow minor disturbances to the day to be rectified smoothly. Though I think there would have to be negotiations with unions about how this information would be used, I kind of see it as a high tech fob system.
Thanks for the comments and we’re glad you enjoyed our work!
Greg and Binal,
The app of all apps! A super app if you ask me! There are a lot of super cool ideas in your app design that would be beneficial to schools. What I was drawn to the most was proximity messages. I like how you said proximity messages would free up more instructional time in the classroom. This is a battle in my high school every year, when to have announcements. What period during the day has the most students in it, how will the gym class students get the announcements? How many minutes should we extend that period to make up for announcements? It seems like a small issue in the grand scheme of things but in reality it takes away from instructional time. This one component of your app has so many implications that would be great for a high school.
I love the ideas in this app and each topics as many implications! My only wish was that you could provide some detail about how students may get on board if they are hesitant to be tracked, as described in the asset tracking. I can picture some at-risk students being very against asset tracking even if it is only within the school.
Thanks for sharing your project, really well done!
Hi Katlyn, thank you! We had fun thinking through the technology and its applications, while ensuring that it is still very realistic for the near future at our school. I know what you mean about announcements! We have ours first thing in the morning, but sometimes if something comes up or photo days or immunization days etc. we have them more often in the day and it can definitely get disruptive. Like you said, the minor issues add up in the grand scheme of things.
Asset tracking, and privacy as a whole, is a tricky topic. One way to ensure some degree of anonymity is to have the tracking represented as codes (like IP addresses) – so that when an unregistered or unfamiliar IP address is detected by the app it can still be addressed. Besides, not every person should be able to see the location of every device in the building – only specific people authorized for that purpose will be able to. Again, these are all discussions we need to have with everyone and get consent for. We wanted to focus on the technology primarily, so we did not get into too much detail about the logistics of implementation – but that is the next step for sure!
Thanks again for your valuable feedback, Katlyn 🙂
Hi Binal & Greg,
This is a very well-designed page and it inspired me to try out Spark as well. While perhaps viewed by some as problematic, I like the time-saving aspect of attendance, navigation, and notifications. Some may object to their devices being tracked, but as teachers responsible for the safety of the students this can be a useful tool (live tracking of students on a field trip!).
With mobile devices breaking and not being suitable for a variety of tasks I would still argue that schools provide a $300 touchscreen laptop/tablet to every child in order to ensure a level playing field. With over 500,000 students in BC public schools this would cost 165 million dollars, but if it were rolled out over a number of years it would make up a very small part of the 6.6 billion dollar annual budget. This could also be done where parents invest and it’s provided only for those that need one. I’ve gone a little off your target here, but I think that this device could play into your idea well. I have quite a few grade 10s with cracked cell phone screens and even some with no phone at all, so this device would at least be one used primarily for school purposes and subsidized for those that need it.
Hi Jonathan,
Thank you for your insight and feedback. As I mention in my comment to Kristin below, cost and data security are very important discussions we need to have and we would do our best to ensure the safety of our students as well as minimize the digital divide. The app should work on any device, mobile or not, so the tablets you mention would be perfectly usable. However, since we have “older” students, we think they could ideally be convinced to be more responsible and take care of the technology so that they can take advantage of everything the app has to offer.
Greg and Binal, you both did a fantastic job at showing a variety of mobile technologies that can be included in the education system. I appreciated how to described the technology from an administrative standpoint as well as a teacher and student. This showed great attention to detail and understanding of the possibilities in mobile learning. I appreciate that you discussed the cost of this entire system. The wearables: glasses and watch sparked my question about cost. I see students mistreat their own cellphones and perhaps that has something to do with the lack of understanding about the concept of money. I would be very concerned about damage or theft of these devices as a parent and the financial burden of replacing them.
Your presentation was so convincing that I starting to believe this was already implemented in schools or will be in the near future. How do you envision this rolling out? Would you have a pilot group first? For example, the grade 12’s? What would happen if families declined to participate? Would it be mandatory?
Thank you so much for sharing this forecast, it has incorporated so many aspects that we have discussed throughout this course. Well done!
Kristin, thank you so much for your kind comments!
Considering how big our student population is, we have great diversity in all aspects. To counter the digital divide, leasing technology for the students is one solution we can work with at the moment. Hopefully in the future, due to its ubiquity, we can hope that smart devices become more accessible 😉 Since we have students in grades 9 through 12, we may be able to instil values of responsibility and understanding of cost with regards to the technology more easily than if they were younger, but that is definitely something to look at.
Data security and privacy are very valid concerns and at the forefront of the rolling out process. We will need to have in-depth discussions with all stakeholders and clearly outline all concerns, how the data will be used, etc. We do not plan on storing any data at the moment, but consent will have to be obtained at every step. We had not discussed if we would roll it out one grade at a time, but we do expect hiccups along the way. Since we would be in a new building, it might be beneficial for the whole ecosystem to use it so that the feedback can help us improve the app and customize it further to our needs. If families decline to participate, which they have every right to, we would try to get to the underlying concerns and see if we can address those, as we believe this app will truly enhance education.
Hopefully, this will be a reality in the near future 🙂 thank you!
It is a fantastic idea, I hope that your vision will become realized. When is the estimated date that the new building will be completed? If you still have 2 years, I believe this project could absolutely become a reality. All the best!