LAB 1 – LITTLELEARNERS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 1
Lab 1 – littleLEARNERS Product Description
Markeil Blow
Old Dominion University
CS 411W
Professor Janet Brunelle
7 March 2021
Version 2
LAB 1 – LITTLELEARNERS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 2
Table of Contents
1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 4
2 littleLEARNERS Product Description ....................................................................................... 5
2.1 Key Product Features and Capabilities ................................................................................. 6
2.2 Major Components (Hardware/Software) ............................................................................. 8
3 Identification of Case Study ......................................................................................................... 9
4 Product Prototype Description ................................................................................................... 10
4.1 Prototype Architecture ........................................................................................................ 11
4.2 Prototype Features and Capabilities .................................................................................... 12
4.3 Prototype Development Challenges .................................................................................... 15
5 Glossary ..................................................................................................................................... 15
6 References ................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
List of Figures
Figure 1: littleLEARNERS Major Functional Component Diagram ............................................. 8
Figure 2: littleLEARNERS Prototype Major Functional Component Diagram ........................... 12
List of Tables
Table 1: Mock Family Table ......................................................................................................... 10
LAB 1 – LITTLELEARNERS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 3
Table 2: littleLEARNERS Real World Product vs Prototype Features ........................................ 13
LAB 1 – LITTLELEARNERS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 4
1 Introduction
COVID-19 first arose in the fall of 2019 with the first domestic American case officially
detected in January of 2020 (Harcourt et al., 2020). By March of the same year, the virus had
spread to much of the rest of the United States of America. The United States entered into a
lockdown in March of 2020, with many aspects of everyday life closing to the public including
stores, restaurants, and most importantly, schools to limit the spread of the disease(Black et al.,
2020). This immediately shifted nearly all school divisions to an online format regardless of
whether the divisions had any existing infrastructures that could handle full-scale virtual
learning. Many did not and still do not. Virtual learning is designed to serve as a substitute for
traditional learning, but the systems in place are unable to handle simple feats such as tracking
attendance (Gould, 2020). For K-5 students, parents serve as a large source of assistance in the
physical absence of a teacher. However, with many schools yet to return to in-person learning,
many students suffer from the lack of an available parent. School divisions have yet to offer an
efficient solution to this problem that plagues many students (Heggeness et al., 2020).
When the effects of the pandemic forced school divisions to move to an online format,
the benefits that students, especially younger students with low digital literacy levels, received
from physically being in a classroom vanished (A day in the life of online students, 2020). The
shift entailed utilizing and relying on resources such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams for most
instruction. Communication between students and sources of help, such as a teacher or aide, is no
longer direct, which is essentially the basis for learning. The responsibility now falls on parents
with many unable to fulfill it due to their own busy lives (Black et al., 2020). With students using
so many different learning platforms, navigating between them often causes confusion and a loss
of learning time. Navigating online learning also comes with the common issues of being online
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such as being given incorrect or broken links. Furthermore, with teachers using learning
platforms, most students do not have their daily agenda or schedule in a single, central place. All
of this greatly lowers a student’s performance levels from what it was in the physical learning
environment (Pianta et al., 2008). With the pandemic still ongoing, and no foreseeable end to
virtual learning, each of these problems needs to be addressed in order to lessen the negative
effects that shifting to online learning have caused.
A single comprehensive tool is needed to assist students with virtual learning so that the
gap between learning in the virtual classroom and the traditional classroom narrows. A tool that
provides a solution to the muddiness of online learning’s communication and navigation,
especially, is vital. Otherwise, younger students will continue to suffer from the effects of
unanswered questions and time lost to navigational issues. Additionally, a tool that addresses
students’ low performance in the virtual classroom would prevent students from falling behind
during the pandemic and any other situation that would require a move to virtual learning.
Lastly, students need a tool that will provide an accurate schedule as well as help them traverse
through the different learning platforms that their schedule takes them through. Else, potential
learning time will be loss while students try to move around. A comprehensive tool such as
littleLEARNERS would address all of these problems.
2 littleLEARNERS Product Description
littleLEARNERS is designed to address the primary issues that the COVID-19 pandemic
has brought to the education system—specifically in the K-5 area. The software is intended to
handle the trickiness of navigating between numerous learning resources and tools for students.
It is also intended to streamline the communication process when a student is in need of
assistance. littleLEARNERS makes it easier for a student to find the details of their schedule as
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well as promotes involvement for busy parents. The main objective of littleLEARNERS is to
successfully meet these goals in order to increase student performance in virtual classrooms to a
level similar to that in traditional classrooms.
2.1 Key Product Features and Capabilities
littleLEARNERS is different from other tools and resources that school divisions are
using for two primary reasons. One is that it is solely intended to serve as an assistant to students
that can be used alongside other tools. The other, and most important, is that littleLEARNERS is
designed to auto navigate through a suite of tools based on a pre-defined scheduling and syncing
system. To do this as well as to address each of the primary issues presented by virtual learning,
littleLEARNERS has a specific feature that corresponds to each issue.
The first two features are the Hallway and the Agenda. The Hallway presents students
with their schedule in a visually appealing format. The feature appears as a physical hallway with
a different class on each door—the same as in a physical school building. Each door represents
one of the student’s classes in time-ascending order. The Hallway is primarily intended to help
with the issue of navigation as a student only needs to click the correct door in order to be
automatically taken to the correct class site. Students and parents can also toggle between the
hallway view and a more traditional view that lays their schedule out in a text-based format
which is the Agenda. A common issue that has risen is that teachers often have to send out
schedule updates last-minute. For K-5 students, these updates are often sent to their parents. Both
the Hallway and the Agenda are intended to provide students with their most current schedule as
parents are responsible for maintaining their student’s schedule in the application.
The next is the littleAssistant that is similar to Microsoft Office’s Office Assistant, or
Clippit. The littleAssistant is a graphically, kid-friendly avatar design to help students feel more
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comfortable. The littleAssistant is intended to serve in a manner similar to a teacher’s aide.
Throughout a student’s school day, the littleAssistant provides prompts to the student regarding
class changes, lack of activity, and navigational issues that may arise. The littleAssistant is
primarily intended to use these prompt to ensure students are in the right place as using different
tools can cause students to become lost. Through all these sub-features, the littleAssistant is
intended to serve as a source of refocus and guidance.
Another key feature are easy buttons, which perform a common action with a single
click. The Raise Your Hand! feature allows a student to request help from parents of their
classmates who use the application and its message board feature. The student’s request is sent to
these parents rather than their own parents because another parent may already have the answer
or be available sooner than their own. The other easy button, Go to Class!, automatically
navigates to the class site a student should be at according to the schedule provided to the
application. To access the Raise Your Hand! or Go to Class! buttons, a student must click the
corresponding button that is located on their screen in a panel specifically for easy buttons.
The last feature is the accompanying mobile application. The mobile application is
intended to allow busy parents to continue to monitor and participate in their student’s school
day. The mobile application provides the ability to check a student’s activity, communicate with
a student, and to communicate with other parents who also use the application and have students
in the same classes. The mobile application is designed to alleviate the negative effects of parents
having other responsibilities that take away from their time to help their students throughout a
day.
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2.2 Major Components (Hardware/Software)
The basic features of littleLEARNERS can be accessed with an internet connection and a
computer device. Figure 1 shows how these computer devices and the users of littleLEARNERS
interact when using the application.
Figure 1
littleLEARNERS Major Functional Component Diagram
The major components of littleLEARNERS run on hardware-based and software-based
tools. A remote database as well as instances of Amazon Comprehend and PyAutoGUI allow for
schedule data to be input and analyzed in order to utilize macros, which are a primary part of the
navigation assistant aspect of littleLEARNERS. Those components also support the
littleAssistant, which uses the data to provide prompts to students. A student uses their physical
computer to use features such as Raise Your Hand! to contact their parent on their device for
help. This feature in particular relies on software applications such as OpenTok, a video
conferencing software. A student and their parent are able to interact using a combination of
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components that handle the more technical aspects of littleLEARNERS such as Amazon Web
Services and WebRTC.
Each component of littleLEARNERS is implemented using different tools. The desktop
application relies on Python and PyQt; and, the mobile application relies on JavaScript and React
Native. Although the two components rely on different tools, littleLEARNERS can be run on
Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices. As these are the most prevalent operating systems,
this gives most students the capability to use littleLEARNERS.
3 Identification of Case Study
littleLEARNERS was envisioned with the intention of being used by elementary
students and parents who struggle with digital literacy. Students of other ages may also benefit
from the use of littleLEARNERS—especially those who partake in some form of virtual
learning. Even students who have average or above average digital literacy skill levels may enjoy
the organization the application presents and the time it saves on navigation. It can also continue
to be used if and when students return to in-person learning as new digital elements continue to
be incorporated into the school day. For both the prototype and real world product,
littleLEARNERS aims to help those students and parents who struggle with digital literacy to
navigate through the world of virtual learning.
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Table 1
littleLEARNERS Mock Family Table
Name User Role
Description
Karen Smith
Parent • Karen is a parent who does her work from home • She wants to be involved and help her child with school • Because of work, she does not have time during the day to
help as much as she would like • She is friends with John Doe
Timmy Smith
Student • Timmy is Karen’s son • He is a first-grade student attending class from home • He has three different classes he must attend every weekday • He has an average reading level for his grade • He has trouble navigating the various online spaces needed
for class • He has trouble adhering to his schedule and is often late to
class
John Doe Parent • John works outside of the home • John is friends with Karen
Erin Doe Student • Erin is John’s son • He is in first grade and attends the same classes as Timmy • He has a below-average reading level for his grade • He also has trouble navigating online spaces • He has trouble adhering to his schedule • During the instructional day, Erin is in childcare where direct
help is sporadic
The littleLEARNERS prototype’s case study will be centered around two families. Both
families include a single, working parent and a single child. Both the similarities and differences
between the two students are important. The two students struggle similarly with navigating
between classes and adhering to their daily schedule. They also share classes which means that
one parent has the ability to potentially provide assistance to both students when the Raise Your
Hand button is used. However, one student has a more constant source of help in a parent who,
although busy, works from home while the other receives more sporadic help while in childcare
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as their parent works outside the home. These two families are the prime customers for
littleLEARNERS.
4 Product Prototype Description
The prototype of littleLEARNERS essentially includes all of the features of the real-
world product barring those that center solely around an enhanced experience. Features such as
the easy buttons and schedule manipulation are present and fully functional in the prototype.
Other features including those that rely on macros are present but are not fully functional as they
rely upon test data, which may not cover issues that could potentially arise when using live data.
However, the features of the real-world product that are included in the prototype of
littleLEARNERS all address the primary issues that virtual learning presents to students and
parents.
4.1 Prototype Architecture
The prototype of littleLEARNERS functions similarly to the real world product but at a
scaled-back level. The MFCD of the prototype differs from the MFCD of the real-world product
in that the students have been replaced with case study participants and that Amazon
Comprehend and its ability to scan documents are not being used.
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Figure 1
littleLEARNERS Prototype Major Functional Component Diagram
Although some features of the real-world product will not be included in the prototype of
littleLEARNERS, the prototype will incorporate enough features to determine its success of
meeting the set goals and objectives.
4.2 Prototype Features and Capabilities
The prototype for littleLEARNERS will have slight differences from the real-world
design in that some features will be fully functional while others will be partially or even
completely non-functional. Table 2 lists these differences.
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The features that are fully functional in the littleLEARNERS prototype do not rely on
whether data is test data or live data. A feature such as the Raise Your Hand easy button does not
rely on schedule data or other user data. On the other hand, the prototype is able to display a
student’s schedule for the day but the feature is only partially functional as it relies on schedule
data. Features such as displaying a student’s schedule for the entire week are not functional as
they enhance the basic functionality of the application; but, their exclusion does not hamper its
performance. Additionally, mock features such as the mock schedule and classroom are present
in the prototype and not the real-world product as all testing will be finished when the real-world
product is live.
The prototype of littleLEARNERS minimizes certain risks associated with the program.
The program periodically asks the parent for schedule updates which minimizes the risk that a
student is given an incorrect schedule item. The risk of a student missing a class, an activity, or a
prompt from the littleAssistant is minimized by the parent feedback feature. This feature
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provides the parent with a history of their student’s activity, which will allow the parent to
address issues such as their student missing a class.
4.3 Prototype Development Challenges
The primary challenge that the littleLEARNERS will face while developing the prototype
will be the lack of actual data and the lack of students and parents. The lack of actual student
schedules will prevent the application from mimicking the schedule-related issues that may occur
such as expired links, moved assignments, or updates made by teachers. The lack of students and
parents will limit littleLEARNERS as the users may bring real-world situations that the use of
test data may not be able to mimic.
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5 Glossary
About screen: a GUI screen that provides information about littleLEARNERS as well as an
email to contact technical support.
Administrator: a member of the littleLEARNERS development team.
Amazon Comprehend: a natural language processing (NLP) service used to extract the
student’s schedule information from a document.
AWS (Amazon Web Services): Amazon’s complete cloud computing platform that provides
remote computing power and storage options.
Amazon RDS (Relational Database System): Amazon’s cloud relational database system.
Asynchronous activity: assignments to be completed by the student without the virtual presence
of an educator.
Broken Link: an Easy Button that allows the student to report a link that is broken with a single
click. The parent is immediately informed of the problem allowing for remote correction.
Caregiver: an adult other than the parent who is responsible for the supervision of a student.
Connector/Python: a Python extension for MySQL database connections.
Data management: collection, storage, and dissemination of information.
Docker: an open-source project for automating the deployment of applications as portable, self-
sufficient containers that can run on the cloud or on-premises.
Easy Button: a button that can be clicked to automatically carry out a set of tasks.
Firebase: a cloud database system used for remote storage of application information for mobile
applications.
Git: a version control system used to coordinate work and track changes throughout the
development of littleLEARNERS.
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Go to Class: an Easy Button which facilitates immediate navigation to a scheduled class which
is already in session
GUI (Graphical User Interface): the visual interface users interact with to input and receive
information.
Help system: the system used by a child user to notify and receive assistance from a parent or
designated parent
Hallway: littleLEARNERS interface that provides access to the student’s schedule information.
IDE (Integrated Development Environment): an application that provides a complete set of
development tools in a single convenient environment.
LMS (Learning Management System): software that is designed specifically to create,
distribute, and manage the delivery of educational content either in a stand-alone product or via
the internet.
littleAssistant: littleLEARNERS desktop avatar that is designed to appeal to elementary aged
children whose purpose is to present navigation links and schedule reminder prompts.
Java: a high-level programming language used to create stand-alone, handheld, and web
applications.
K-5: elementary school students from kindergarten to fifth grade.
Macro: a single instruction that expands automatically into a set of instructions to perform a
particular task.
Message Board: a discussion board for parents to share information regarding their children’s
schedule and navigation data.
MySQL: a database management system that manages the creation and maintenance of
information within an application.
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Navigation: as it pertains to the internet, destinations include Zoom meetings and asynchronous
assignments.
OpenTok: online video conferencing software.
Parental Feedback: real-time notification and logging system to a child’s navigational history
and alert the parent when navigation fails.
PyAutoGUI: a third-party library that allows Python scripts to control mouse and keyboard
input. It is used to automatically carry out web navigation.
PyQt: a Python binding of the cross-platform GUI(graphical user interface) toolkit Qt,
implemented as a Python plug-in.
Python: an interpreted programming language used to create stand-alone, handheld, and web
applications.
Raise Hand: littleLEARNERS help system that facilitates transmission of help request and
response messages between students and parents.
React Native framework: an open-source application that is used to easily develop cross-
platform mobile applications.
Schedule: a listing of daily virtual class times.
SQLite: database management system for mobile devices to work with React Native framework.
Synchronous learning: instruction and activities completed by the student with the virtual
presence of an educator.
Tkinter: a Python binding to the Tk GUI toolkit. It is the standard Python interface to the Tk
GUI toolkit and is Python’s de facto standard GUI.
Virtual Machine: a program that runs a second isolated operating system as if it were a separate
computing system.
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Visual Studio: an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It is used to
develop computer programs as well as websites, web apps, web services, and mobile apps.
WebRTC: an open framework for the web that enables real-time Communications (RTC)
capabilities in the browser.
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