Country of Residence
United States
Age
16
Project title
CAMPus
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
CAMPus is a privacy-centric school Ai assistant, designed to help schools with attendance and uniform checks, while also being able to provide the students with instant, personal service about the classes, schedule changes, club meetings, events, and any other school related question, they might have.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
Project Category
My project is a brand new / emerging idea
Project Stage
Idea (We’re hoping to get started in the future)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
The inspiration for CAMPus, in fact, was born from the very information that surrounds me at school: it's everywhere, except that, for some reason, it's also not. My school has rotating schedules with class days that shift depending on what clubs are that day, which can differ depending on assemblies or projects periods, along with changes to the core classes that can happen from day to day, among other factors. On a more everyday basis, questions like "what class do I have next?", "do we have a meeting today?" or "is the schedule different?" echo throughout the halls. Simultaneously, teachers waste valuable time with attendance and other requirements not necessary to their core curriculum that can be easily automated. This was the spark for an "aha" moment in itself: instead of creating multiple tools to address these issues of disorganization, attendance, and simple communication, why not consolidate them all under one responsible, judicious AI? I saw a chance to apply the technology I have learned to programming and artificial intelligence to a real life problem in my own community. Thus, CAMPus was born, a product whose sole purpose is to create a streamlined, more accessible environment for students to access the information they need while also allowing teachers and administrators to relay information with ease, and privacy.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
Schools handle a lot of information on a daily basis. From taking roll call, to classroom rotations, to club meetings, assemblies, announcements, dress codes, and special events. Often times these are disjointed systems that don't communicate with each other. As a student, I often find myself having to reference multiple resources to make sure I understand what is happening that day. Teachers waste time answering basic questions and taking attendance that could be handled automatically. We're wasting everyone's time This is an important issue in my community because it touches on every aspect of our school day. Sometimes our school day is subject to last minute changes depending on what kind of day it is. Or meetings or activities are announced separately from our regular daily schedule. It is easy for students to forget, or misunderstand, where they are supposed to be and when Simply put, I am advocating for a more accessible and efficient way to handle the everyday business of our school. A way to make life a little simpler and less rigid for everyone, and to allow teachers and students to be more productive with their time.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
CAMPus is an integrated school asistant that binds together attendance, school schedules, announcements, activities, and student questions into one system. First, there is smart attendance. There are several ways that a student can check in including using an ID, QR code, NFC card, or other acceptable means of identification. This system would allow teachers to view students who were checked in, as well as students with unclear attendance records. Secondly, the system uses computer vision to help ensure students are following school dress codes. However, the system wouldn't punish students, it would simply flag them and alert an administrator. Lastly, there is the actual AI school assistant. Students could ask questions like: What class do I have next? Do I have robotics today? Is today an A day or a B day? When is FBLA? Do we have an assembly? Where do I go after lunch? The AI would be able to answer all of these questions and more by accessing the school schedule, calendar, clubs, announcements, and personal calendar of the student. CAMPus would also give the student a daily dashboard of all their classes, meetings, reminders, and important updates. The system would make sure to keep the privacy of students in mind, store as little data as possible, put all administrative actions under human supervision, avoid punishments, and make everything clear to the students. Overall, it would make for a dependable school day digital assistant.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
CAMPus is in the early developing stages, so initial impact will be measured on a school-based prototype. My first goal will be to test the system on a small scale with users and see what improvements it makes in terms of accessibility of information. Metrics can include number of recurring questions asked about schedules, accuracy in providing information about classes and meetings, time taken for attendance before and after the project, and number of students that use the proposed assistant. Within the first year, I would like to start a pilot project in at least one school community, and collect data directly form students, teachers, and administration. Success would be measured in reduced number of missed meetings, student's ability to adapt to schedule changes, increased speed of attendance, and reduction in teacher's time spent on answering reoccurring logistical questions. Long term, I would like to see CAMPus serve to prove that AI in schools can be focused on utility, transparency, and student needs as opposed to a force of automation.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
Most school technology only solves one problem at a time. One tracks attendance, another stores schedules, another makes announcements, another manages clubs, and so on. There are many systems for students to search through and try to understand what's going on with their school day. CAMPus ties together these systems in one conversational AI assistant. What makes it special isn't just the use of an AI; it's the fact that the AI is fed, organized and verified school information to make a student's interaction with their schedule easier. Instead of a student having to search through multiple platforms, they could ask the AI "What do I need to do today?" and the AI could provide an answer based on their classes, schedule type, clubs, school announcements, meetings, etc. CAMPus also has a careful approach towards automation. Attendance tracking and uniform detection would help free up resources, but ambiguous detections would be taken to a human and no action would be directly taken based on student input without a teacher or administrator confirming it first. The idea of an AI making decisions for people is a scary concept but a careful human oversight is crucial in making sure things like false attendance are corrected. CAMPus represents both a technological feat and a philosophical experiment in making sure that an AI can streamline and reduce the administrative burden of schools while still being considerate of the fact that they're dealing with real students and making sure to never remove checks and balances or privacy in the name of automation.
How many people are on your team?
1
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
I am the sole proprietor of CAMPus at the moment. I am in charge of programming, my AIs' development, interface design, system architecture, testing, and project direction. As the project grows, I intend to build a student team that will handle programming, design, privacy advocacy, outreach, and testing, while I work in tandem with teachers and administrators as advisors.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Over the next three months, I plan on building out a prototype of a working CAMPus for the portion of the code that students would interface with most, the school's AI assistant. I would develop out an understanding of the rotating class schedule, periods, announcements, club meetings, special events, and personal student's schedule. Next, I will design the attendance portion and test out various ways such as student ID, QR, or NFC check-ins and test out a computer-vision uniform detector while keeping human review and other privacy features. Finally, I would like to let the students at my school try out the software and try to find what the software does not do, what questions it does not ask, and what information would help them the most. I plan on meeting with teachers and administrators to hear their concerns and thoughts on the process. Within one year, my plan is to have a functional pilot that students can use within a school setting and a replicable model that other schools can adopt.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
Since CAMPus is being designed with students in mind, students should have a hand in its development. My first step will be to invite students at my school to test early versions and give feedback. Instead of simply asking if they like the system or not, I will ask them to point out flaws that they see in their everyday school lives that the system could solve, and what features they want to see added. Students with an interest in programming, design, robotics, or artificial intelligence may be able to contribute, if they are interested. Teachers and staff could serve as advisory board members, since they would most likely understand better how attendance, scheduling, and other systems at the school currently work, which will make the implementation easier. I also plan on announcing the project to my peers and promoting it through STEM clubs, showing it off at school, and having a website which explains the system and how it works. Once the system is ready, students at other schools may be able to customize it further for their own schools' specific needs. Instead of making a product for students, I am making it with them.
