Project Overview: Using Firebase to Power Data-Informed Classrooms
Our project explores how Firebase can be used as both a teacher resource and a student learning platform to transform how classrooms gather, understand, and act on learning data. The goal is simple: help teachers keep the “pulse” of the classroom through real-time feedback while giving students hands-on experience with the same technology professionals use to build apps and manage data.
On our website, you’ll find examples of how educators can use Firebase to:
- Create apps or websites that collect student quiz data, reflections, or surveys.
- Visualize learning progress to adjust instruction in real time.
- Explore how big data in education can support personalized learning and evidence-based teaching.
You’ll also see how students can engage with Firebase as creators, building projects that collect and analyze their own classroom data. This connects digital literacy, coding, and data analysis in authentic, meaningful ways. We’ve included examples and lesson ideas for elementary, middle, and high school levels, showing how Firebase can support everything from reading-tracking apps to full student-led app development projects. Finally, our project highlights important discussions around data ethics, bias, and privacy, reminding educators that while data can empower learning, it must always be used responsibly and equitably.
Try the Prototype: Mobile Learning Pulse
This application was developed for ETEC 523 to bring key themes—ethical analytics, mobile-first design, and AI in education—to life. It’s more than a website; it’s a hands-on demonstration of how technology can help us understand and visualize learning as it happens.
What you’ll experience
- Micro-Lesson: “AI & Bias.” A short, mobile-friendly lesson with a few questions and prompts.
- Live “Cohort Pulse” Dashboard. Anonymous, aggregated data updates in real time to show completion rates, tougher questions, and an AI-powered snapshot of open-ended feedback.
How to explore (quick start)
- Try the Lesson – tap “Try It: AI & Bias 101.”
- View the Cohort Pulse – see how your anonymous contribution rolls up to the group view (please note this uses mock data for the project, but with further tinkering it could be setup for actual user data to enter into the Pulse Dashboard).
- Read the Feast Page – get background on the design, pedagogy, and tech stack (Firebase + AI).
As you explore, consider: How can we gather learning data while respecting privacy? How does the mobile experience change engagement? In what ways can AI assist both the creation of learning tools (Firebase Studio) and the analysis of learner feedback?
We invite you to visit the project site to explore interactive demos, classroom examples, and practical steps for bringing Firebase and data-driven learning into your teaching practice.
Explore the prototype: Click here
— Shawn Davis & Terry Neufeld
Hey all, great work! This is the first time I’ve used this website format and it seems to have some unique features.
To answer your question: In what ways can AI assist both the creation of learning tools (Firebase Studio) and the analysis of learner feedback?
In terms of creating learning tools, I think this field’s potential lies in connecting educators with developers or making developers out of educators. On a daily basis, I hear my colleagues wish that there was a specific application that could improve student learning. For example, creating a GPT that can not give answers, but guide/prompt students with the necessary steps. The technical abilities of many teachers is not at the level needed to make these projects happen which could arguable reflect the historical delay of educations response to technological advancements. I would argue that a lot of the ‘education learning tools’ are not designed by educators which reflects the disconnect from in class needs.
In terms of feedback, in a traditional classroom setting, the amount of feedback educators provide varies on teacher prep time and class size and composition. The less prep, the bigger the class, and the higher needs of the composition will reduce the amount and personalized feedback that an educator can provide. However, with AI, students could receive personalized feedback on their work. Like you mentioned, this feedback would be a “supplement — not replace — teacher judgement.” For my personal classroom needs, if my ELL students were able to get personalized feedback and explanations on their grammatical and structural errors in their own language, my feedback could be more narrowed and related to bigger concepts.
Shawn and Terry, thank you for providing the live demonstration of how to use Firebase Studios through the micro-lesson. AI summarization can be a powerful tool for understanding large amounts of data and its uses. Recently, I was watching the video ‘AI slop is destroying the internet’ by Kurzgesagt (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zfN9wnPvU0). One of the key ideas was the issue with AI learning through user input. The creators of the video asked AI to find sources for them, but it came back with incorrect information. When asked again, AI then referenced itself (the incorrect answers it created for the intentions of answering the prompt by the user) as part of the search, causing there to be an increasing abundance of inaccuracies available on the internet. To answer your question, I think the data created needs to be kept from influencing the World Wide Web and kept just for the instructor and student to use. I wonder where the data collected by Firebase Studios is going, and how it will be used outside the classroom.
Thanks so much for this thoughtful note. You’re raising a really important point. Your comment has me considering a few things: prioritizing accuracy by pairing strong models with human-in-the-loop review; nudging summaries to include more verifiable detail (brief quotes/citations from the source data); weighing the trade-offs of “frontier” models that may be more accurate but costly for classrooms; and being clear that classroom data should generally stay internal unless it’s been carefully reviewed and explicitly approved for wider sharing. I share your concern about AI inaccuracies, but I’ve also seen how, with the right guardrails, it can surface precise insights faster than one person could. Really appreciate you bringing this up.
Thank you, Shawn and Terry, for this insightful and well-designed prototype. I was impressed by how clearly it demonstrated the potential of Firebase to support real-time, data-informed teaching. The Cohort Pulse dashboard offered a tangible view of how anonymous learning analytics can promote reflection and transparency in the classroom. I especially appreciated the ethical framing—showing how data can empower learning without compromising privacy.
Your focus on mobile-first design and AI-assisted analysis aligns well with current trends in educational technology and provides meaningful ways for both teachers and students to engage with data. I agree with others that Firebase could be a powerful bridge between classroom practice and real-world app development skills.
One question I had was how educators might guide students to interpret dashboard data responsibly—helping them see patterns as learning insights, not judgments. Overall, a thoughtful and forward-looking project.
Very interesting. I always enjoy learning about new web-apps that can be leveraged for efficiency.
I certainly enjoyed the tangible example of the Cohort pulse dashboard. Real-time data dashboards have many use-cases for learners. How can learners use statistics effectively and with temperance? How may one measure themselves against a standard? And, how does real-time data effect there motivation to work hard?
Generally, every learner is different and so is there experience with big data. Nonetheless, such dashboards are here to stay and your module highlights the opportunity to educate on proper use of real-time data.
Thanks, Shawn and Terry. This was a really interesting platform to learn about and a clear example of how AI is improving the quality of the tools we have access to.
Throughout the MET program, I’ve appreciated the variety of apps we get to engage with from semester to semester. For example, I had no idea Google Sites had become so easy to use over the last ten years. I remember when many of its basic, free features required a significant amount of time and work from the average website developer. Now you can build a convincing site structure with little more than point-and-click effort.
Seeing Firebase Studio in action, (and having done some vibe coding) I can see how, in the near future, it will be both economically viable and entirely realistic for everyday users to develop custom apps that support their work.
Thank you! This was what we were hoping to achieve. Prototype of whats possible. I find this to be a cool AI use case. But, it can stillbe quite buggy, and would likely be ideal to still have a coder help develop it (eg, its still not fully production ready with an integrated database; but maybe with some more vibe coding, we may be able to get these.
Hey team!
Pretty neat prototype you’ve put together here. I was able to go through the micro-learning module and see the entire Mobile Learning Pulse afterwards. However, I don’t see a link to a website? Am I missing something here? Would love to see more of that before I put my whole discussion post together.
I had some difficulty accessing the link, as it said “Server Error” the first few times. After more attempts, I was able to access the link.
I had never heard of or used Firebase before this, and I have to say that this is a great tool for classroom use and assessment. There is often so much anxiety for students around tests and assessments, and it’s difficult for teachers to provide real-time feedback when there are large classes and multiple sessions within a day. I find myself struggling to get tests marked within a day or two of being written, and I think this would be a great way for students to get immediate feedback on their assessments and eliminate the anxiety that could potentially linger for them. It also helps provide visual feedback for students, as they may struggle to understand where they lie in relation to other students. What I especially appreciate about this is transparency, as it can help make assessment a collaborative process. By allowing students to see their progress instantly, they can reflect on their strengths and areas for improvement right away rather than waiting for a marked paper. This kind of immediate, data-driven feedback empowers students to take ownership of their learning and encourages a growth mindset.
Thank you for introducing me to this prototype! It was my first time using Firebase, and this is very interesting experience for me.
I like how the question clearly explained how my input to the app would be used for theme analysis! In the age of learning analytics and surveillance, I believe that communicating transparently with students about how their data will be used helps them become more intentional about what they input into the app.
Although I was not able to access the AI feedback analysis in the prototype, I see strong potential for it to provide more context aware feedback to students, especially if there is a question that allows them to communicate their personal context to the app.
Hi, I’m excited to try out this prototype!
Unfortunately I cannot access to the prototype. It gives me Error: Server Error. (Update: It’s working now!)