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Page 1 of 9 Automatic SMS Attendance Program (ASAP) 0. Project Abstract The project aims to help the government to maintain an accurate database of students attendance dynamics as well as enabling schools manage communications between the school management and parents. Its main purpose is to enable the government to have quality reports on the behavior of school attendance in the country in general, but also in provinces and even specific schools. The government then will be able to use the data to create accurate information mostly needed in creating policies for education in particular, but also for other purposes. We thank IDIN to provide us this opportunity to use our expertise and talents to bring this proposed solution into trial. We also thank all the institutions supported us on the ground, including Boys School of Tajpura, ITU, and last but not least, IDDS Lahore and the organizing team who largely made all this happen. We feel highly honored. 1. Background With high student-teacher ratios, teachers have limited time and energy to dedicate to personalized teaching and stronger relationships. Instead, tasks like grading homework and marking exams take up too much attention. We worked with teachers, students and staff at the Boys School of Tajpura in Lahore to create an ICT solution to free up time for teachers and to allow them to focus on teaching, while also building better communication linkages between teachers and parents, to get them more involved in their children’s education. 2. Information Gathering We began by spending a day at the school and meeting with teachers, parents and students. During our teacher interviews, what they mentioned was during the December exam results most parents come and after that, not so much. Most parents struggle to engage even if they want to because they are illiterate. Some teachers wanted more support from the government and said that the government did not provide enough attention to schools.
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Page 1: Automatic SMS Attendance Program (ASAP) Project... · 2016. 4. 18. · Page 1 of 9 Automatic SMS Attendance Program (ASAP) 0. Project Abstract The project aims to help the government

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AutomaticSMSAttendanceProgram(ASAP)

0. ProjectAbstractThe project aims to help the government to maintain an accurate database of studentsattendance dynamics as well as enabling schools manage communications between theschoolmanagement and parents. Itsmain purpose is to enable the government to havequalityreportsonthebehaviorofschoolattendanceinthecountryingeneral,butalsoinprovincesandevenspecificschools.Thegovernment thenwillbeable touse thedata tocreateaccurateinformationmostlyneededincreatingpoliciesforeducationinparticular,but also for other purposes. We thank IDIN to provide us this opportunity to use ourexpertise and talents to bring this proposed solution into trial. We also thank all theinstitutionssupportedusontheground,includingBoysSchoolofTajpura,ITU,andlastbutnotleast,IDDSLahoreandtheorganizingteamwholargelymadeallthishappen.Wefeelhighlyhonored.

1. BackgroundWithhighstudent-teacherratios,teachershavelimitedtimeandenergytodedicatetopersonalizedteachingandstrongerrelationships.Instead,taskslikegradinghomeworkandmarkingexamstakeuptoomuchattention.Weworkedwithteachers,studentsandstaffattheBoysSchoolofTajpurainLahoretocreateanICTsolutiontofreeuptimeforteachersandtoallowthemtofocusonteaching,whilealsobuildingbettercommunicationlinkagesbetweenteachersandparents,togetthemmoreinvolvedintheirchildren’seducation.

2. InformationGatheringWebeganbyspendingadayattheschoolandmeetingwithteachers,parentsandstudents.Duringourteacherinterviews,whattheymentionedwasduringtheDecemberexamresultsmostparentscomeandafterthat,notsomuch.Mostparentsstruggletoengageeveniftheywanttobecausetheyareilliterate.Someteacherswantedmoresupportfromthegovernmentandsaidthatthegovernmentdidnotprovideenoughattentiontoschools.

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TheteamvisitingTajpuraSchoolforBoys

3. Persona(typicaluser)Teacher'sname:SirRashid(acompositeofteacherswhowespoketo)

SirRashidisamiddleagedteacherwhoteachesmathsattheTajpuraSchoolforBoys.Heloveshisjob,butfacesmanydifficultiestoexerciseit.Everyday,SirSadhidteaches6to8classesintheschool,thenrunstoaprivateacademy,whereheteachesuntil10pm,sincehisearningsarenotenoughtosustainhisfamily.Heworriesthathe'snotabletoprovideindividualattentionothisstudents,astherearesomanyhe'sresponsiblefor.Whenhisbeststudentshaveproblems,helikestocontacttheirparentstotryandhelpthem,butmoreoftenthannot,isunabletoreachthem.

4. ProblemFramingStatementTeachersareteaching6-8periodsadayinaclassof60-80students,alongwithjobsatacademiesaswellashouseholdresponsibilitieswhichleavethemwithminimaltimeforadministrativetasks.Onetimeconsumingtaskiscontactingparentsindividuallywhenastudentisabsent.Wewillcreateacommunicationplatformthatwillallowteacherstocontactparentsaboutattendanceissuesallowingthemtosavevaluabletime

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5. ProblemFramingTreeReduceTimeforattendanceandincreaseIndividualstudentattention

1. UseMachinetotakeattendancea. Smartphonereadablecurecodewithdatabaseb. Entrancebiometricreaderwithdatabasec. EntranceRFIDwithdatabase

2. Reducenumberofstudentsperclassa. Dividetheclassindayandnightshiftsb. Reducethenumberofkidsenrolledc. Increasethenumberofteachersandclasses

3. Passattendanceregisterbooktostudentsastheclasscontinuea. Passattendancetostudentswhileclasscontinueb. Studentscometochecktheirnamesasclasscontinuec. Studentswarenametagsandspecialattendancetakergoaroundandcheck

theirnamesontheregister

5. ValuePropositionWeaimtohelpteachersbymakingattendanceprocessmoreefficientandreliable;ontopofthat,wewilladdressthecommunicationgapbetweenteachersandparents.

6. SummaryofDesignProcessWemetasateamtodiscussdifferentpossibilitiesandchallengesintheeducationspace,whichwecanpotentiallytackle.Thesediscussionsstartedwithanaspectof:• Whatarethepossibilities?• Whataresomeofthebiggestchallengesfromourownpersonalexperiences?• Wherecanwehavethemostimpact?Theaboveconversations,plustheguidelinesandbackgroundbriefweweregiven,ledusinthedevelopmentofourhypothesis,onthebeforesitevisitsandthequestionswewantedtoasktotestouthypothesissuchas:

1. Attendancecantakeupto10min.2. Therearenoworkingcomputersatschool3. TherearenoITsbeingused4. Teachershavenotimetopreparetoeveryclass5. Teachersforgetwhattheyareteachingeveryclass6. Studentsarenotgettingindividualattentionduetohighstudenttoteacherratio

etc.Onceinthesitevisits,weintervieweddifferentstakeholders.Weconversedwithteachersandtriedtounderstandtheirpainpointsandproveourhypothesisrightorwrong,leadingtoabetterunderstandingofthescopeofissuesandareaswherewecoulddevelopsome

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ICTsolution.Theseconversationswereopenendedtoallowustogetafreeflowofconversationandweusedourquestionsastoolstodirecttheconversationonly.Teachersmentionedthatthebiggestchallengetheyfaceisover-crowdedclassesthatleadtootherissues,suchasnothavingtimetoaddressindividualstudentsproblemsorreachingtotheirparents.Wedidabrainstormingsessionwheretheideaswerealloverthespectrumfromextremetopractical.Thesessioninitiallywasjustwritingdownanythingwethoughtcansolvetheissuesweuncoveredinsitevisitsfromsnailmailletters,todronesorappleguns.Thereweresomecrazyideas,aswellassomereallysimple,soweclusteredthesolutionsintobuckets,sowecouldfigureoutthethemes.Thenextbrainstormingsessioninvolvedselectingideasonascaleofpracticalityandawesomeness,whichresultedusinleftwitharoundeightideasandthenwediscussedwhatwewantedtomoveforwardwith.AGantt/ratingchartwasthencreatedandweratedeachsolutionondifferentverticals.Weshortlistedthesolutionsbasedonourinterest,feasibility,usability,scalability,cost,andpartnerinterest.Wetalkedwithpartnerswhocanpotentiallyhelpusrollitout.Thisdiscussionallowedustoseewheretherewerepossiblesynergiesandwhatispracticalasasolution.Initiallywehadseveralideasfortheinputbutafterdiscussionwithoneofthestakeholderstheywerelookingtorolloutstudentidcards,sowethoughtifwecancombineaninputsystemwiththestudentidcardsthenwewillhaveaneasierpossibilitytogetbuyin.Wedevelopedaprototypeforthesolutionthatwefeltwasmostfeasible.OursystemcanhaveanykindofinputbutwechooseQRcodesbecauseitcouldbecombinedwithgovernment'srolloutofstudentIDprogram.WechoseSMSasoutputtoparentsasmostoftheparentshaveaccesstofeaturephonesandarealreadyusedtoSMStechnology.Atthisstagethissystemcanbedeployedinareasbeyondeducationaswellandweseepartnerinterestaswell.

7. ConceptSelectionWecomparedthedifferentideasthatwecameupwithagainstabaselineofanautomatedemailsystemtoseewhichperformedbetterandworseondifferentmetrics:

Idea Price Timetoimplement

Learningcurve

Timesavings

Additionalcapabilities

Technologyavailability

Teaminterest

AutomaticEmail

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

SnailMail + -- -- ++ -- -- ++

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WebPortal + + ++ -- -- 0 --RFID 0 + -- -- ++ ++ --FingerprintTracking

0 + -- -- ++ + --

SMS - 0 -- 0 - - --

8. DesignRequirements

UserNeed Whatareyougoingtomeasure

Howareyougoingtomeasureit?(units)

GoodValue BetterValue

Efficiency Howlongittakestotakeattendance

Minutes <5 <3

Intuitiveness Timetotrainateachertousethesystem

Minutes <60 <30

Affordability Upfrontcost USDperschool <$1000 <$500 Runningcosts USDperschool

peryear<$1 Free

Usability Numberofnewprocessesandtechnologies

3 1

Setuptime minutes <1 0Reliability Breakdowns Breakdowns/year <4 0 Bugs Bugs/year <5 0

9. Howitworks1.TheteacherhasasmartphonewiththeASAPapploadedonit

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2.ThestudenthasabadgewithaQRcodeinsidethats/hepresentstotheteacheronarrivingintheclassroom

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3.Ifachild’sbadgeisnotscanned,anSMSwillautomaticallybesenttotheparent

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10. UserFeedback

Parentengagementandattendancedatacredibilityisabigchallengeandstakeholderswantasolution.Therehavebeenseveralinstanceswhereparentswerenotawarethattheirchildrenhadskippedschool.ThegovernmentisplanningtorolloutastudentIDprogramandpilottablets.Asystemthatcanengageparentsonattendanceissueswillbeveryhelpful.

11. ProjectContinuity

Theteamdecidednottocontinueworkingonthisproject.Althoughthetechnologyreceivedpositivefeedback,theteammemberswerenotabletocontinuedevelopment.

12. Stakeholders OurpointofcontactatBoysSchoolofTajpurawasAizazAnwar,ateacherandalumnusofITU.

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13. TeamMembersAneeqaIshaqNaraSchenkelHassanBhattiVictorNyang’aRedonSkikuliKristaNordin(DesignFacilitator)


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