A group of year 7 students from Kempsey Adventist School (NSW) have been awarded the title of state champions after entering their “Real Time Learning” project in this year’s Young ICT Explorers competition.
Funded by global technology companies and national universities, the competition challenges students to leverage technology to develop answers to real world problems.
The project, submitted by Kempsey Adventist School students Ellia, Abby, Joaquin, Josh, Rhy and Alara, looked at the challenge of using technology to improve learning in the classroom.
Their solution consisted of two mobile apps designed and built by the students. The first of these was developed to run on an iPad that was placed at the entry of each classroom, presenting students with a single question: “How ready are you to learn?”. It then captured their feedback.
The second application was designed to run on a teacher’s mobile phone and presented real-time information about how ready the class was prepared for learning that day. On days where the class showed a high readiness to learn, teachers would commend the class and get straight down to learning. However, on days where the class expressed tiredness or anxiety, teachers could settle the class first, improve the mood and mindset of students, and only then start the lesson. In so doing, the project aims to improve learning outcomes by taking advantage of students’ readiness to learn.
The students have now been invited to present their solution at the national finals held later this year.
