Logging Out of The Virtual Classroom
Can Technology Assist in Returning Kids to School?
As a pandemic began to invade our world in early 2020, social distancing measures became an irreplaceable and necessary action for society’s health. One of the most important decisions contributing to the efficacy of social distancing was school closures.
However, while such measures may have contributed to decreased COVID-19 infections among children, the protocols have not come without a devastating impact on children's learning and psychological outcomes. Research has consistently demonstrated that when children are out of school, they are physically less active and have much longer screen time, irregular sleep patterns, and less favorable diets, resulting in weight gain and a loss of cardiorespiratory fitness. 1
This has led to experts strongly advocating for children’s physical return to the classroom. As the American Academy of Pediatrics President Lee Savo Beers has confirmed, “Children absolutely need to return to in-school learning for their healthy development and well-being, and so safety in schools and in the community must be a priority.”2 However, there are significant concerns about the measures required to return children safely and effectively to the classroom without the potential spread of COVID-19 to both students and their families.
A year after school closures across the US, we finally see the light. On March 11th, 2021, President Biden signed an executive order for The Recovery Plan ($1.9t), specifically addressing building resiliency in schools to reopen them safely. However, it is clear that we are not returning to our previous norms when it comes to schooling; the future is a new “adjusted” normal, one that requires novel tools to allow schooling to operate safely. Within the context of public health, creating a safe and healthy school environment is a priority that cannot be compromised. The reason is simple: safe schools will keep families and teachers safe. Health breakouts in schools, on the other hand, have the potential to create super-spreading events and directly cause outbreaks.
Hence, it is important that schools establish a methodology for keeping track of COVID-19 vaccination status, positive cases, and potential exposures for both students and school staff members. Federal and state governments have established policies for reopening schools while local and school authorities have created policies and procedures to keep the teachers and students safe.
Moving Forward: Tools for Safe Schools
The challenge now lies in implementing safety protocols and measuring their effectiveness. This is where technology and novel solutions can play significant roles. While technology exists to aid in the implementation of the virtual classroom through platforms such as Zoom and Learning Management Systems (LMS), schools need better monitoring and surveillance tools to achieve COVID-19 related safety measures. Not only would this method provide an important strategy to monitor COVID-19 spread within schools, but it would also allow for comparisons across schools within a district, across districts, across a state, and between states. Comparing differing rates of COVID-19 transmission can guide schools in improving policies and procedures on how to collect the right evidence-based data for employing policies both in districts with low rates and improving practices and policies in schools with higher rates.
Tracking Exposure and Vaccinations
Individual schools can leverage technology to track the testing and vaccination status of students and staff. This includes data on when each individual was vaccinated or tested and the individual’s stage in the vaccination process. Evidence suggests that due to strong mitigation efforts and the addition of robust testing mechanisms, schools are some of the safest places in the community.3 Managing testing and results require a high level of automation and data collection based on the need for a risk-based protocol that would involve testing students as frequently as once a week and teachers and staff twice a week.3 Furthermore, vaccination tracking can serve as a record for individual students, but would also allow for a holistic picture of vaccination rates within and across schools in order to understand a wider picture of immunity.
More alerts, fewer closures.
In response to tracking exposures, students and faculty could be assembled into contact groups so that if individuals test positive for COVID-19, an alert can go out to all individuals within the contact group to notify them that an individual was potentially exposed. An alert system would allow for immediate notification of potentially exposed individuals who could then quarantine or get tested while preserving the anonymity of the individual who tested positive. Evidence suggests that with mitigation measures like these, it is safe for schools to reopen even in the absence of the widespread availability of vaccination.4
Forecasting and Analytics
Finally, the data collection in schools, paired with local EPI data, better forecasting, and predictive analytics can be enabled, allowing educators to craft data-driven policy to safely and efficiently open schools with the least impact on student social and learning objectives.
It is important that students return to the classroom and continue benefiting from in-person learning. A centralized database, combined with Artificial Intelligence, can help maintain appropriate epidemiological records and ensure that students, their families, and school faculty participate in activities in-person safely. Helping schools make data-driven decisions is our key to safer schools. The set of tools outlined, combined with the appropriate funding that is on the way from the government, will allow schools to safely log off from the virtual classroom.
Aztute provides an interdisciplinary arrangement of tools that will direct your policy-making without any hassles, using one platform. Aztute is offering a free Beta Version of its solution to qualified schools. Fill out this form and apply today.
References
Al-Balushi, Buthaina, and Musthafa Mohamed Essa. "The impact of COVID-19 on children− parent’s perspective." International Journal of Nutrition, Pharmacology, Neurological Diseases 10.3 (2020): 164.
Jenco, M. (2021, January 05). AAP continues to advocate measures to allow students to return safely to school. Retrieved February 18, 2021
Shah, D. R., & Weingarten, R. (2021, January 24). With robust testing, we can open schools this spring before the vaccine is widely available.
Apoorva Mandavilli, K. T. (2021, February 22). Covid-19: C.D.C. Urges Reopening of Schools With New Guidelines.