Posted on 9th Mar
A Mansfield special school needs your help and votes to turn a revolutionary design into a reality that could transform the lives of students and teachers.
The Beech Academy, a part of the Evolve Trust, has reached the final stages of DigiEduHack 2020 and the chance to be Digital Educator Ambassadors for 2021.
The global competition focuses on co-creating the future of education in the digital age, producing ideas and concepts that could have a high impact on society as a whole.
The Beech Academy students’ tech solution is a headset that would help people – teachers and students – in a busy classroom who are sensitive to noise, especially background noise. It is called ‘IncluTech’, a name suggested by a student.
The academy said: “Classrooms are so busy and noisy with 30 children in a class. We know that so many pupils with SEN, attending both special and mainstream schools, struggle to participate in assemblies because their
sensory experience of it is so overwhelming.
“This can feel very isolating to pupils who are excluded from these types of activities, because there is currently no way for them to join without suffering from sensory overload.”
The academy’s idea has won its way through to be one of 12 finalists, who will be put up for public vote on the United Nations’ Unite Ideas platform. The three solutions with the most public votes will be declared Digital Educator Ambassadors for 2021 and receive €5,000 to develop their solution.
Mica Coleman-Jones, the leader of the specialist provision at The Beech Academy, said: “We will need your help with promoting our solution idea in order for us to receive more votes to make it to the final three.
“If our solution was available to schools, thousands of children would be able to take part in more class and whole school activities, feeling less anxious as well as being able to contribute and be heard.
“Pupils will have greater memory recall of new learning, and be able to self-regulate in ways that might otherwise have been distracting during discussions, so please help The Beech Academy students’ endeavour by casting your vote here.
Chris Williams, co-founder of Chatta, UK, said: “This wasn’t a competition for schools. It was for cutting edge developers and innovators from all over the world, and The Beech Academy has made it past thousands of the world’s leading tech pioneers to get this far.”
The Nurture class at The Beech Academy came up with the headset, which also acts as a pair of ear defenders, a product that already exists to cancel out background noise. However, these headphones would allow each pupil to hear the teacher, and each other, with a built-in mic. The teacher would use an app to:
Quickly, and easily, pair up the numbered headset with the name of the pupil in the group.
Control the mics of each headset; turning all off, all on, or selected individual headsets.
Pupils would be able to use different controls on the headset to:
- Adjust the volume
- Request the mic to be switched on (to contribute, or to answer a question)
- Request discrete support from a learning assistant
The class worked together to come up with the design, name, and logo for the product.
