U-Teach
U-Teach Ubiomp Design
U-teach is an app that has the ability to captivate the K-12 + University system globally by connecting the most unique and talented teachers world-wide. The ability to become a teacher is defined by the experience and knowledge of whoever is teaching. (Retired Prof, Parents, Army Vets). Not only does U-Teach connect students to mentors through verified Facebook and Linkedin accounts. Once students and teachers are more comfortable with the app they can explore greater benefits by venturing onto different endeavors like that of learning different languages and cultures.
As we want each student to get a fair chance to succeed, I venture out to different teachers who excel at counseling, rehab, mental health, that could help students stress levels in the educational industry. The goal is to make teachers attracted to the system so every month hundreds of teachers upload their applications. Teachers have the opportunity to upload their credentials via any 3rd party source (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Google.) The goal is to connect individuals to others with the concept of helping one another in a global spectrum. In order to ease U-Teach’s integration into the education industry, as well as to lay the groundwork for international expansion, the platform will be connected to students’ and professionals’ media accounts. Using plug-ins and collaborations with these existing services, it will become a genuine possibility to connect teachers anywhere that can fulfill certain needs to students everywhere that have such needs, with the click of a button.
Schools, high-school, middle school, and colleges, use multiple different platforms such as Blackboard, School-loop, Canvas, Banner-web, Infinite Campus, and such. Perhaps one platform is for attendance and the other for grades, one platform for signing up for classes and the other to check grades and see assignments. This can cause confusion amongst students trying to navigate multiple platforms rather than having one central location. Then there are other services that students seek out such as Chegg, Udemy, Khan Academy, Varsity Tutors, or Kumon. U-Teach will also integrate the services that these platforms provide into a single application. You will be able to watch a video on a topic that confuses you (Khan Academy), seek out a live tutor (Chegg, Varsity Tutors, etc.) for more reasonable prices, sign up for certification classes (Udemy), and find extra help for more basic skills like reading (Kumon).
And what makes the method of teaching different in U-Teach is the usage of intrinsic motivation rather than forced extrinsic motivators. Early on in education teachers utilize play as learning which engages children in wanting to learn and better themselves. But that fades later on as we assume that, by then, students know how to motivate themselves to learn, and this is by far false. Adults hardly know how to motivate themselves, let alone late middle school children (when the games usually fade). U-Teach will reframe learning topics in the form of games that provide immediate feedback while highlighting where this topic can be seen in the world so that students take more interest in it. Many concepts, a majority of STEM, are taught in a functionally illiterate manner where students know how to do the topic but not how to apply it. U-Teach will emphasize first showing the students where these topics are in the world, why they work, and how they work. Students will be more motivated because they’ll be able to see how each individual topic contributes to their long-term goals.
