ViewSonic’s myViewBoard Sens Brings UK’s First AI-powered Classroom to Smestow Academy

“In the last few years, we had looked for a total EdTech solution to improve the overall learning experience of our students. In 2021, we started working with ViewSonic to implement over 100 ViewBoard interactive displays in our classrooms. Harnessing the power of myViewBoard Sens is our latest step in this journey,” said Jonathan Stokes, Assistant Headteacher, Smestow Academy. “myViewBoard Sens offers students and teachers reassurance of a safe and engaging learning environment so we can deliver the best education possible. It is an exciting piece of EdTech innovation that we are proud to be trialling and rolling out in our classrooms.”

”ViewSonic is passionate about providing comprehensive educational technology solutions for schools to drive better learning outcomes and attainments,” said Peter Claxton, Senior Director of EdTech Solutions, ViewSonic. “We are incredibly pleased to be working with Smestow Academy to implement myViewBoard Sens in a real-world setting, helping the schools to adapt to the new era, and creating a highly engaged and safe learning environment. Through this pioneering project, we plan to introduce this next-gen technology to more schools around the world, opening new learning opportunities for students, teachers, and schools.”

In this project, myViewBoard Sens was installed on the ViewBoard, which sits at the front of a classroom, to analyse the wellness compliance of the indoor space. The school and teachers can get an instant view of the status through a dashboard app. The embedded sensor detects and evaluates the airborne transmission risk according to five indicators – temperature, humidity, occupancy rate, audience masked, and close contacts between students. If the rating of wellness compliance decreases, it means the wellness level is at risk and the myViewBoard Sens would suggest actionable insights on the dashboard in real-time for the school and teachers to take action. This makes sure the social distancing in the classroom follows the government’s protocol, reducing the risk of virus growth.

From the dashboard, the teachers can also get insights into student engagement at a group level to foster an active learning environment. From sensing the room’s temperature, colour temperature, ambient lighting, to analysing students’ attentiveness through articulated human pose estimation, the insights indicate the factors that may affect students‘ focus. Teachers can look back and see how students responded to the class and make changes to their lesson plans or teaching approaches if necessary. Moreover, all data are generated and processed within the sensor locally without using individual profiles and without relying on the cloud, ensuring the highest levels of security and anonymity.

As a future-proof education solution, myViewBoard Sens helps the school evolve with the changing world and helps educators achieve the best educational outcomes in an optimal learning space.

Moving forward, ViewSonic will continue to work with Smestow Academy to gather more feedback on the use of technology and explore more possibilities to provide greater benefits in education.

On March 23, day 1 of BETT Show 2022, Peter Claxton, Senior Director of EdTech Solutions, ViewSonic, will host the EdTech Talk with the Smestow Academy (at 2pm) and deliver a keynote speech – “The Art of the Possible (Innovation and AI)” (at 4pm) at ViewSonic booth.

ViewSonic at BETT 2022
When
Wednesday 23rd March: 10:00am-6:00pm
Thursday 24th March: 10:00am-8:00pm
Friday 25th March: 10:00am-5:00pm

Where
ExCeL London, South Hall, Booth SF40
To find more information, please visit https://www.viewsonic.com/uk/bett2022. 

About Smestow Academy
Located in Wolverhampton, the Smestow Academy is part of the University of Wolverhampton Multi-Academy Trust. Through the school’s curriculum, they aim to build people through the development of key skills, knowledge and understanding. This intent to provide an excellent education for all students is rooted in a desire to bring out the best in every student and prepare them for success in life.