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NUADU plans to solve educational problems with AI and a grant from the National Center for Research and Development

Every student needs time

There are 48 students in the average Chinese classroom, 35 in Singapore, 24 in the United States, and 20 in Australia and Europe (Rampell, 2009). Teachers typically have at least a few classes, and in some cases, when teachers work at more than one school, they may have up to a dozen of them. In extreme cases this can quickly escalate to a teacher being responsible for the education of 300-350 students.

It’s important to recognize that this student group will come from a diverse range of backgrounds, all with different learning, mental and physical abilities. Every student has unique needs, particularly concerning how they are taught and treated in the classroom.

So, what exactly does the teaching process look like? It’s safe to say there are multiple elements: planning lessons, doing the actual teaching and explaining of new topics, assigning practical exercises, evaluation (the more frequent, the better), as well as providing compensatory tasks, and a host of other daily activities. It’s not difficult to assume that the time needed to provide students with sufficient individual attention, on top of an already busy schedule, could be calculated in centuries – not working hours.

Educational research has shown a significant relationship between class-size and student achievement. In fact, it has been known for some time that there are major benefits from reduced class-sizes: “a student who would score at about the 83rd percentile when taught individually would score at about the 50th percentile when taught in a class of 40 pupils”, and the difference in being taught in a class of 20 versus a class of 40 is an advantage of 6 percentile ranks (Glass & Smith, 1979).

Class-size and personalized attention to learning is vital for students to reach their potential, which is where NUADU comes in.

An innovative solution for education

Our team of enthusiasts at NUADU is working hard to develop an effective solution that addresses the challenges of the most complex problems in education, and how we can successfully incorporate this solution into the current education system.

Education is not able to change rapidly. If we want schools to develop, we must create innovations that can be easily incorporated into the daily lives of teachers and students. If we expect people to change their habits overnight, we’ll condemn them to their great resistance in advance.

Alina Guzik, Director of Product and Innovation, NUADU

This approach has become the nucleus to develop a powerful solution that will be able to help teachers recognize the individual needs of each student, and provide them with materials and appropriate educational support, exactly when they need it. A solution that can be applied equally in schools and at home.

After all, effective learning is not only about suitable materials and time spent memorizing it. The whole process consists of many lifestyle factors such as sleep, stress, the time of day, and the place we learn.

NUADU has taken these factors into account and has a holistic approach to our solution. Our employees were the first in the world to embed a technological solution with discoveries in the fields of pedagogy, neurobiology and psychology. While our product utilizes artificial intelligence mechanisms and machine learning, we understand the importance of factoring in the logistics of being a human – and the diverse effects this can have on creating an effective learning solution.

NUADU’s innovative solution has been recognized by government institutions and is fortunate to have received funding of more than half a million euros from the National Center for Research and Development in Poland.

A multidisciplinary team consisting of scientists (from various fields), data analysts, high-level machine learning programmers, and UX designers is working on the creation of the solution. The whole process also involves consultation with students and teachers at every stage.

Intelligent educational planner

The developed product will distribute learning materials in advance, taking into account the specific needs of the student. It will lay out the work so that the student can easily familiarize themselves with it, learn, and consolidate knowledge well in advance of the indicated due date, e.g. before an assignment or exam.

Improving how we retain information

When we have a lot of material to master, the main problem is quickly forgetting what we have already learned. The NUADU project will create an intelligent mechanism that will help transfer knowledge from short-term to long-term memory. For this to work, the Ebbinghaus forgetful curve will be used, indicating periods exposed to loss of knowledge, as well as the Leitner system – an algorithm defining a five-stage process of repetition of contents, until their complete assimilation. In contrast to existing products based on algorithms which are based on a rigid set of rules, NUADU will take into account the unique needs of specific people. Their recognition and personalization will be supported by artificial intelligence.

Encouraging students to work together

So, what if a student has difficulty understanding a topic? The system will provide relevant material in the form of text, videos and presentations, or suggest a peer who could help them learn. In a world where teachers have limited time to support each child, the importance of inter-student connection can help dramatically. This could also encourage students to help each other learn and share knowledge.

A bot that motivates you to learn

Creating a product based on science is often a long, tedious and difficult process. Perseverance and regularity in learning is a problem for many adults, let alone children. Fortunately, motivation can help, which is why the NUADU system will reward students, for example, for the time they spend actively learning or gaining new skills. This will be supported by a virtual bot that will encourage students to work, improve their weaker skills and support them on their journey to achieve their goals. The bot will also suggest the use of various methods and learning techniques that will support building something precious – self-awareness.

Commercialization

In 2019 we aim to implement our innovative product in Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, the United States and Poland. The system, thanks to its modular construction, will be used by schools including primary and secondary, tutoring centers, and universities, but also suited for time spent learning at home – whether it be studying to improve their grade or prepare for an exam.

Marcin Wojnowski, President and founder of NUADU

NUADU recognized as a global leader in EdTech

At the end of the last year, NUADU was selected as one of five companies out of 300, from 34 different countries, in the Incredibles Program, which supports innovative companies across the globe. The organization also received an award from the Polish Investment and Trade Agency for dynamism in international expansion.

Moreover, the recently published report ‘Map of the Polish AI’ indicated NUADU as one of four companies changing the structure of world education. Microsoft has also shown it believes in the company, by promoting the NUADU educational platform as part of the Schools of the Future project – an initiative that is transforming education around the world.

Sources:
Rampell, C. 2009, ‘Class Size Around the World’, Economix, New York Times, https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/class-size-around-the-world/
Glass & Smith, 1979, ‘Meta-Analysis of Research on the Relationship of Class-Size and Achievement’, ED 168, 129, Laboratory of Educational Research, University of Colorado

Authors

Alina Guzik
Director of Product and Innovation NUADU
Michał Korpys
Chief Product Officer NUADU
Marcin Wojnowski
CEO NUADU
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Prognozy dla branży EdTech na 2019 rok

Poproszono nas o wypowiedź do artykułu BRANŻA EDTECH W 2019 ROKU: PROGNOZY EKSPERTÓW I ZAŁOŻYCIELI FIRM Z CAŁEGO ŚWIATA, który ukazał się niedawno w serwisie news.elearninginside.com. Oto nasza część tej publikacji:

Cyfrowe narzędzia oceny dostarczają nam już ram i danych, które, przekazane do systemów kształcenia, ułatwiają zdobywanie wiedzy i jej ocenę w szkołach, domach i centrach edukacyjnych.

Michał Korpys, Dyrektor Produktu w NUADU
Prognoza NUADU dla branży EdTech na rok 2019

Michał Korpys jest współzałożycielem NUADU, opartej na sztucznej inteligencji platformy, która zmienia sposób, w jaki uczniowie osiągają cele edukacyjne, a nauczyciele przydzielają i oceniają zadania. W 2019 roku Korpys spodziewa się rosnącego wpływu obiektywnych danych w adaptywnej edukacji – i to według niego będzie ewolucyjne rozszerzenie procesu cyfrowej oceny ucznia. Liczy, że dzięki tej zmianie nauczyciele będą mogli poświęcać więcej czasu na to, co potrafią najlepiej: na wsparcie uczniów w osiąganiu celów edukacyjnych.

Prognoza NUADU dla branży EdTech na rok 2019

– Cyfrowe narzędzia oceny dostarczają nam już ram i danych, które, przekazane do systemów kształcenia, ułatwiają przyswajanie wiedzy i jej ocenę w szkołach, domach i centrach edukacyjnych – mówi Korpys. – Dojdziemy w końcu do momentu, w którym proces edukacji zacznie przebiegać płynnie. Nauczyciele będą dobrze wykorzystywać czas spędzany z uczniami, a uczniowie będą dobrze wykorzystywać czas poświęcany na zdobywanie wiedzy w najskuteczniejszy możliwy sposób. Systemy, które za tym wszystkim stoją, też będą działać optymalnie, zapewniając cyfrowe wsparcie edukacji adaptywnej i administracyjnej papierkowej roboty. 

Prognoza NUADU dla branży EdTech na rok 2019

Nie są to jednak jedyne prognozy Michała Korpysa na 2019 rok.

– W 2019 roku ludzie będą też bardziej otwarci na spersonalizowane ścieżki nauczania wykorzystujące sztuczną inteligencję – mówi Korpys. – Jeśli chodzi o samodzielną naukę, nic nie przebije dobrego nauczyciela albo prostego cyfrowego narzędzia, które będzie nam towarzyszyć, przewidywać naszą ścieżkę nauczania i dopasowywać ją w czasie rzeczywistym do naszych celów edukacyjnych.

Korpys podkreśla, że aby tak się stało, interakcje na linii człowiek-komputer muszą rozwijać się i stawać coraz bardziej złożone. Wierzy, że to właśnie nastąpi w nadchodzącym roku.

Prognoza NUADU dla branży EdTech na rok 2019

Na koniec, Michał Korpys ma nadzieję, że w 2019 roku będziemy poświęcać coraz więcej uwagi umiejętnościom miękkim:

– Świat bardzo tego potrzebuje, a my musimy zacząć tworzyć nową kulturę, której podstawą będzie dążenie do doskonałości w tej dziedzinie. Zrównoważony rozwój: ekologia, recykling, walka z plastikiem – to wszystko jest częścią powstającego paradygmatu, w którym rozwiązania złożonych problemów wynikają z empatii, są oparte o analizę danych i powstają dzięki innowacjom.

The above excerpt was originally published as a part of the article EDTECH IN 2019: EXPERTS AND FOUNDERS AROUND THE WORLD SHARE PREDICTIONS by Cait Etherington

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Predictions for EdTech in 2019

We were asked to provide the input for the article EDTECH IN 2019: EXPERTS AND FOUNDERS AROUND THE WORLD SHARE PREDICTIONS, recently published by news.elearninginside.com. Here is our part:

Digital assessment tools already provide us with the data and framework to feed it back to learning systems to facilitate knowledge acquisition and evaluation in schools, homes, and learning centers.

Michał Korpys, NUADU Head of Product

Michal Korpys is one of the co-founders of NUADU, an AI-based platform that is transforming how students achieve learning goals and how teachers assign and evaluate student work. In 2019, Korpys looks forward to a growing focus on data-driven adaptivity in education, which he considers an evolutionary extension of digital assessment. His hope is that this shift will free up teachers to spend more time doing what they do best: helping students achieve their learning goals.

“Digital assessment tools already provide us with the data and framework to feed it back to learning systems to facilitate knowledge acquisition and evaluation in schools, homes, and learning centers,” observes Korpys, “Eventually we’ll get to the point of ‘smooth education,’ where teachers have quality time teaching students, students have quality time learning in the most efficient way, and the systems running underneath have quality time as well; performing their tasks, deep within within the digital realm of adaptive learning support and dungeons of paperwork administration.” But these are not Korpys’s only predictions for the 2019.

“In 2019,” says Korpys, “I also see people growing more open to AI-led personalized learning paths. When it comes to self-study, nothing can beat a good teacher, or a simple digital companion that is able to predict your learning path and adjust it to your learning goals in real-time.” But for this to work, Korpys emphasizes, the complexity of human-machine interactions needs to keep growing. He’s optimistic this will continue to happen in 2019.

Finally, Korpys is hopeful that in 2019, we will also increasingly turn our attention to soft skills: “The world needs it badly and we need to build a new culture based on excellence in that. Sustainable development: ecology, recycling, plastic war–all that is part of the emerging paradigm where solutions to complex problems are animated by empathy, based on big data analysis, and solved by innovations.”

The above excerpt was originally published as a part of the article EDTECH IN 2019: EXPERTS AND FOUNDERS AROUND THE WORLD SHARE PREDICTIONS by Cait Etherington

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Adaptivity: from Stone Age to AI

Adaptive learning and machine learning are not techniques that have emerged over the last few years with the spreading of computers and smartphones. The beginnings date back to the 1960s and Arthur Samuel from IBM, who developed the first chess training program.

But if we take a look at the wider definition of adaptive learning with the technology section excluded, adaptive learning being an educational system that analyzes students’ performance in real time and modifies teaching methods based on these data, we will notice that there is nothing radically new about it. In fact, it describes the very kind of work that a teacher performs or should perform when working with students. In such a system, the teachers apply their intuition, professional experience and knowledge of the students. The pedagogue’s experience will always have a huge impact on the child’s educational success; however, on the one hand it will be only based on the teacher’s personal abilities, and, on the other hand, is time-consuming and difficult to implement in the classical (school-paper-based) learning model. Only the use of technology may enable its wider use.

At the moment, we can find many products that offer adaptations to the individual abilities of the student. The most-used solution is tailored to their abilities and skills by proposing individual learning paths for students. We can group them into several types:

Students create paths manually

In products of this type, a student who wants to master the subject they is interested in has ready access to all materials and selects relevant fragments relying on their own knowledge of what they wants to learn, thus creating a personalized learning path on their very own. This solution allows the student full personalization of the learning paths because they choose only those things which seem important and necessary.

The obvious disadvantage of this solution is that it only offers partial knowledge if a given student works individually, without consulting a teacher or a tutor. In addition, not many students are fully aware of their educational needs and how to compose their own learning path. Therefore, an alternative solution is to engage the teacher.

Teachers create paths manually

In this product type, the teacher manually creates individualized paths for individual students or groups of students, deciding which exercises they should do as well as the level of difficulty or what presentation materials they should familiarize themselves with, and in what order.

This method, despite being very beneficial from a didactic point of view, nonetheless implies a huge amount of work and time on behalf of the teacher. Although grouping students with specific abilities and skills together allows to save a certain amount of time, such grouping is once again based on the teacher’s experience and in-depth knowledge of students, which in practice is not possible for teachers with dozens of students to take care of. Therefore, another idea for the student and teacher is to rely more on technology to work and prepare ready-made paths that both teachers and students can use.

Predefined graph of dependencies

Solutions of this type offer a system that proposes to students various educational paths that they can follow while learning. Typically, they are organized as predefined sets of sequentially arranged exercises and knowledge presentation materials. The system draws paths for a student using the rule-based method with a decision tree, where decisions are made depending on the results of a given pupil. Thus, a student gets access to the very materials that should fit them and ensure a learning process that corresponds to their skills and abilities.

However, this method is far from flawless as well. The main disadvantage of this type of solution is the incomplete personalization of learning paths and the fact that the links between fragments of material are predefined — in other words, developed by a specific person based on their personal knowledge, and said paths do not change even if they are ineffective for a particular student or group of students.

Additionally, such solutions are usually limited only to mathematics or chemistry, for which the creation of connections between fragments of material comes somewhat easier. In some e-learning systems, the decision to choose a specific path and a set of content for a given student is based on the results of the initial diagnostic test performed by the student after entering the system. This is a good method to test a student’s level of knowledge; however, it is often limited to detecting said student’s knowledge gaps and offering material to eliminate them without providing opportunities to develop other skills that a student could improve.

AI learning paths

All the above-mentioned methods have two basic disadvantages, namely that they either fail to offer exactly matched learning paths, or that they require a lot of work. These problems can be prevented thanks to a system which, by collecting data from a given student and other users and processing them with the help of sophisticated algorithms based on mathematical models, probability and statistical reasoning, will suggest to the student appropriate materials at the appropriate time and in just the right order. Scientific research on teaching methodology, nervous system physiology, and pedagogical methods provides solid data on the learning process that should be implemented in such a system — after all, it is used to teach human beings, not machines.

On the other hand, it is very important to be able to see the results of the students’ interaction with the system and modify the rules in real time. This is possible due to the huge number of online learners, based on whose performance the system can determine what works and what does not work thanks to the power of big data and analytics. It can also learn what behaviour patterns are the most effective. The use of AI also allows a holistic approach to learning covering aspects such as diagnosis, gaining theoretical knowledge and practical skills through exercises, as well as maintaining motivation and regularity. In addition, a virtual AI-based tutor is never tired, has no prejudices, and does not build student feedback based on a personal attitude towards a given student. Such a teacher is always available ready to respond to any change in a student’s behaviour, and capable of anticipating possible risks.

In NUADU, by creating an adaptive learning system with AI support, we endeavour to take into account all the mentioned advantages and disadvantages so as to create a perfect system that will be a great support for students and teachers alike. Therefore, the whole solution is planned to be reliant on something other than modern technology per se — namely. a plethora of scientific discoveries made in such fields as didactics, neurobiology, and psychology. We want to use what is most valuable in the most important theories of learning, such as Behaviourism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism. Our idea is to support the complex learning/teaching process via employing educational diagnosis, creating individual learning plans, gaining theoretical knowledge, and building practical skills. We also want to give students the opportunity to fill in the gaps in knowledge and skills and consolidate gained knowledge effectively.

Summary

A system offering individualized learning paths for each student matching what they should learn at any given moment could be an ideal solution supporting learning and teaching, but what is the reality now? The truth is that such solutions are at an early stage of development, and though our knowledge about learning is growing, it is still in its infancy. Despite the fact that the future looks really promising, we still have to wait for it to come — most likely, for such a system to be created by NUADU.

Read More:

  1. http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/ibm700series/impacts/
  2. Clark Quinn, Ph.D, https://www.litmos.com/blog/articles/the-realities-of-artificial-intelligence-and-adaptive-learning
  3. Mitchell T., Machine learning, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1997
  4. http://www.ecns.cn/2018/04-12/298915.shtml
  5. https://edtechnology.co.uk/Article/adaptive-learning-in-the-classroom-and-beyond
  6. Patsy Moskal, Donald Carter, Dale Johnson, 7 Things You Should Know About Adaptive Learning — https://library.educause.edu/~/media/files/library/2017/1/eli7140.pdf
  7. http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/05/14/adaptive-learning-are-we-there-yet.aspx
  8. https://thejournal.com/articles/2014/05/14/adaptive-learning-are-we-there-yet.aspx

About the author

Wojciech Wiśniowski is a biotechnologist — with an emphasis on “technologist”. A tech geek, always happy to spend a fortune on state-of-the-art gear to stay ahead of the curve. A devoted product manager and product owner with over 10 years of professional experience in discovering the impact made by modern technology and the possibilities it offers in enhancing and facilitating the learning and teaching process. And he is always delighted to share his passion with others.

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Students’ Engagement and Motivation

Psychologist broadly define learning as a process based on experience, that can lead to persistent change in behaviour and cognitive development. Why do we ever stop studying?

Why do we ever stop studying?

Or should I say why do we not? What is there so deeply influencing, that drives us to spend countless nights, or worse — weekends, on acquiring new knowledge or skill set. And why do we lose it over time? Actually, do we?

Give yourself a moment to think about it — you will probably find at least a few reasons strong enough to ignite your motivation. The question is — what do we do to preserve it?

To answer this question, we should start with understanding the actual concept of learning. Psychologist broadly define learning as a process based on experience, that can lead to persistent change in behaviour and cognitive development. To further clarification, a behavioural change based on past actions can be seen in our reluctance or willingness in doing something, e.g. a student keen on picking up Spanish classes in high school due to great Spanish teacher from their secondary school. Cognitive development is a little harder to observe, however, we increasingly notice how teachers’ actions affect students’ learning process and preparation toward national examination. How can we determine in specifics a factual causal connection between our children’s homework and the employability competencies required in today’s society? Therefore, how can we expressly identify what the drive for our kids to stay engaged in their homework is?

One of the tactics we all apply, even unconsciously, is reinforcement and punishment strategy, which ideally should teach our kids hard-work and systematicity. Reinforcement is shortly described as adding a positive or removing a negative stimulus, whereas punishment is the exact opposite. E.g for having done the homework we reinforce our student positively by giving them a good mark, for not having done the homework though, we punish them with a bad mark (positive punishment) or we remove the good mark (negative reinforcement). This method, however well-known and proved, does not take cognisance of personal condition that can affect students preparedness, and therefore using psychological conditioning, might be fruitless and demotivating.

One of the logical solutions to this problem is paying more attention to personalized education. It is agreed by social researches globally that such approach has a great value and impact on individual progress. However, in reality of overcrowded classes or rapid pace path — it still might be too challenging to execute.

Schools and educators, aware of the situation, are constantly looking for new innovative improvements, deciding to e.g. adjust schooling individually, implementing AI technology or providing students with a specially tailored learning support devices.

Unfortunately, having it all is not always enough to motivate our student to do their best, and it is because students , same as all of us, lifelong learners, we all need personal touch, support on the toughest raises, clarification — why it does not all go the way I planned.

This is why we have created NUADU and why we cooperate with schools and publishers all over the world, gathering their opinions about our product in classroom reality. NUADU’s main functionality focuses on giving the teacher all possible tools and (what is most important) time to manage their students learning flow individually, keep them engaged in the process by instant feedback on their actions and ability to use positive reinforcement even if students are not in the classroom. Knowing their students, teachers can provide them with different types of exercises and learning games, supporting different types of learners, e.g. visual, auditory. But according to our subscribed teachers, the most valuable is the fact that they are able to assist their students far more than just during weekly classes, precisely planning their progress based on the data NUADU provides them with. From the details as math exam on equation in one’s primary, to really powerful data as general learning gaps at students goals and objectives roadmap.

We are at the beginning of our journey with Asian schooling known as one of the most demanding but effective in the World, on the other hand, much too stressful and heavy. We are hoping to learn as much as possible from our partners here, to see what else we can do to make the educational development accessible for everyone, everywhere. At NUADU, we all believe that everyone can achieve success, can become a long-life learner, can realise their trigger and be able to keep it on fire — all you need is… to want.

Adrianna Trembińska is a multicultural, business psychologist who specialises in Chinese culture & market. Having professional experience in both education and information technology, Adrianna joined NUADU as International Business Developer.
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When Technology Meets Assessment

As schools become increasingly equipped with devices and wireless access, a growing proportion of the assessments are now administered online or through devices such as computers or tablets.

Education has been a priority for many centuries. In recent years, the world has seen an unprecedented increase in technology that has transformed education sector at many levels. For instance, digital transformation of educational institutes where wireless technology is creating efficiencies for daily routine instruction, consider augment reality which is creating real life scenarios to boost students learnings, have a look at the long list of online learning tools where the creative exchange between a teacher and a student in real time is boosting collaboration and overall performance of class projects. Similarly, the transformational effects of technology can be seen in digital assessments where data driven analysis is providing spot on strategies to bridge the missing learning gaps of students. In other words, digital assessments are generating data that can help in understanding student’s knowledge and then utilising the data to support instructional decisions. In addition, digital assessments also show an accurate view of the student’s knowledge at that moment in time.

When assessment is discussed as a topic, some of the common assessment types include formative and summative assessments. These two types are used extensively in today’s classroom to measure student’s learning and performance. Formative assessments take place typically after a chapter, unit or course. The use of tests, quizzes or assignments help educators to gauge students’ understanding on the subject matter. These assessments also serve as a mean to give feedback to the students before the final or summative assessments, so the students can bring their current skills and knowledge up to speed. Summative assessments, on the other hand, are usually planned at the end of each school year or the end of their studies. This is a final “hurdle” that students must complete and pass before they can progress to the next level.

As schools become increasingly equipped with devices and wireless access, a growing proportion of the assessments are now administered online or through devices such as computers or tablets. The use of technology allows students to take an assessment outside of the classroom, at their own pace and time. It also ensures that results are administered as feedback which are almost instantly available to students, without the long wait. The use of data analytics allows educators to see many relevant details such as how long it took students to answer questions or how many times a student failed to answer a question correctly before getting the right answer. With the deployment of technology in assessments, educators can tailor their teaching to the needs of the students, resulting in a more personalized way of learning for the student there by boosting their learning and understanding of the subject matter.

While there is little doubt about the advantages to use technology in assessments, question arises if digital assessments can improve the learning experiences for students. Do the digital assessments make the experience more interesting and engaging to learn for the students? Or will it become a distraction in class?

In the next few blogs, we will discuss how digital assessment backed by data not only helps to create an engaging class, but also improves students’ learning.

This entry was originally published on Edukinect blog.

Written by Saima Rashid & Cheng Bee Lim–August, 2018
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Data-Driven Education

One of the main advantages of digital educational tools is their ability to process massive amounts of data in seconds to produce exactly what the teachers need — just-in-time actionable insights about each and every student based on objective data. With the right tools, nothing is left to guesswork.

At NUADU, we appreciate the challenges currently facing educators.

With overcrowded classrooms and limited time to cater to every student’s needs, teachers have no choice but to rely on technology to boost their efficiency and effectiveness. But which digital solutions are most well positioned to support teachers in their quest to support students?

One of the main advantages of digital educational tools is their ability to process massive amounts of data in seconds to produce exactly what the teachers need — just-in-time actionable insights about each and every student based on objective data. With the right tools, nothing is left to guesswork.

This is why at NUADU, we believe in data-driven education — using data to empower all the stakeholders in the educational process. We know how impactful a data-driven approach to education can be and that’s why we are now sharing our platform with educators and students around the world.

That’s how we do it

Managing educational data is extremely challenging and requires an efficient and well-designed platform — ideally, a platform capable of processing data about all aspects of the educational process.

At NUADU we used data to:

  • Create a personal learning and assessment environment for every student [LEARNING ANALYTICS & DIGITAL ASSESSMENT];
  • Provide teachers with insights into their students’ educational needs and the tools needed to address these needs just in time [DATA-DRIVEN INSTRUCTION];
  • Allow authorities to monitor engagement and effectiveness at the school and district levels [EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE MONITORING];
  • Help publishers control content quality based on its usability [CONTENT PERFORMANCE ANALYTICS];
  • Give parents an objective picture of their child’s progress [PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT].

Teacher

I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.

Albert Einstein

DATA-DRIVEN INSTRUCTION

In the past, tracking the performance of dozens and even hundreds students throughout the school year and across grade levels was impossible. It was also impossible to adjust the learning environment to meet each student’s specific needs. NUADU offers a solution.

With NUADU educational data about every student is not only stored but also analysed to enable teachers to:

  • See and compare every student’s performance for selected subjects, classes, and groups in a given time period;
  • React just in time to address the needs of students who are at-risk by giving them extra practice (e.g., the suggested training sets contain variants of 10 exercises with the lowest score received by the selected group of students);
  • See which exercises are too easy or too difficult for selected students, groups, and classes to adjust the difficulty of subsequent homework assignments;
  • Differentiate and indivdualize instruction on the basis of student results to address students’ needs more accurately;
  • View student results by activities, topics, and curriculum objectives and goals to monitor progress and make adjustments as needed;
  • Adjust the difficulty level and the type of exercises assigned to groups and individual students based on performance;
  • View all attempts and time spent on activities by students and add comments, in line with formative assessment methods, to help students overcome difficulties;
  • Download all the reports as Excel or PDF files.

With NUADU’s tools, teachers can automate many ongoing tasks and leverage data-based insights to more effectively mentor students.

Student

Achieve greatness.

NUADU

LEARNING ANALYTICS & DIGITAL ASSESSMENT

In the world of pens and paper, students rarely receive valuable feedback when they need it. This is because summative assessments (e.g., final exams) still reign over formative assessments (e.g., mid-unit diagnostic assignments). Moreover, despite being increasingly aware of their learning preferences, most students still lack the agency needed to manage their learning process. Students live in the digital world but most schools still reflect the learning conditions of the analogue world.

NUADU data allows students to:

  • Scan exercises to be completed and to filter this information by deadline, ensuring that no homework assignment is ever missed;
  • Immediately view their results for every exercise and activity;
  • Feel gratification when they perform well and motivation when they need extra practice;
  • View their results and progress graphs by subject and activity type in a selected time period to assess how they have improved over time;
  • Act upon the results by selecting self-practice exercises and receive instant feedback to see the effects of their effort;
  • Keep track of all exercises throughout the school year and across grades to see the big picture (the “what I have learned”);
  • See the real-world application of what they learn by keeping track of the cognitive and employability skills they have developed (the “why I am learning this”).

In NUADU’s data-driven learning environment, digital resources, analytics, and formative assessment tools enable students to become self-reliant learners. Students benefit from personalization and immediate feedback.

Parent

Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.

Maria Montessori

All parents would sleep better if they knew that their child had access to the tools needed to be an independent learner. At the same time, most parents would also sleep better knowing that their child was actually making good use of their digital devices and Internet access.

NUADU offers parents the possibility to:

  • Monitor their child’s results per specific exercise, activity, topic, curriculum objective and goal, and subject in real time;
  • Keep track of all their child’s progress throughout the school year and across grades to track their progress over time;
  • See the real-world application of what their child is learning (e.g., what cognitive and employability skills their child is developing);
  • Set goals for their child and receive notifications about their child’s progress.

With NUADU parents can stay up-to-date on their child’s educational progress on a daily basis or the system can notify parents only if and when their child is lagging behind.

Principal

Headmasters have powers at their disposal with which Prime Ministers have never yet been invested.

Winston Churchill

EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE MONITORING

In many schools, annual exam results and periodical staff meetings are the only source of data a principal has to make long-term decisions about staffing, resource allocation, and the curriculum. In the most innovative schools, administrators cite data-driven instruction as one of the most important practices contributing to their success.

With NUADU, principals can:

  • View activity logs of all the students and teachers in a given school;
  • View activity reports, which include the number of activity sets assigned and median student results;
  • Review insights on the platform’s knowledge base;
  • Access live reports for selected students and subjects;
  • See comparable statistics for all users in the school;
  • Generate reports as PDF files.

With NUADU, educational performance monitoring becomes easy and the ongoing control allows principals to make the right decisions at the right time.

Local authorities

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

Benjamin Franklin

The responsibility of allocating educational funds to yield the best results can be daunting, especially if decisions are driven by a single source of feedback — exam results.

NUADU offers local authorities real-time access to:

  • Reports on the number of student, teacher, and headmaster logins in time;
  • Statistics on the number of assigned and completed activities per district and school;
  • Data on the effectiveness of the educational process based on student activity results.

At NUADU, we believe transparency is essential. By offering instant access to actionable real-time data, with NUADU, local school authorities can make informed decisions more quickly.

Publisher

Content is King.

Bill Gates

CONTENT PERFORMANCE ANALYTICS

With NUADU, it is easier than ever to separate quality digital content from poor content.

Data collected by NUADU can be used to:

  • Monitor how frequently the publisher’s educational resources are used and in what context (e.g., lessons, homework, tests, and self-training);
  • Compare the proposed and actual difficulty level of each item by analysing the number of attempts at a task, time spent on it by students, and its completed versus abandoned rate;
  • Discover which competencies (e.g., cognitive skills and employability skills) are developed most using a specific publisher’s content;
  • Improve content by collecting teacher’s feedback;
  • Infer which areas are most problematic for students and make business decisions about content strategy.

These insights combined with NUADU’s content creator tool can help eliminate or refine poor content.

Conclusion

Our mission to harness data in the service of education is not yet complete. At NUADU, we continue to analyze usage data, talk to users around the world, and assess the obstacles that prevent our users from reaching their peak performance. Equipped with this knowledge and driven by a passion to make learning more effective for every student, we are constantly upgrading our platform. In NUADU’s ideal world, every teacher would have more time to mentor students and every student would spend more time realizing their educational goals.

About the Author: Malwina Otto – UX designer with 10+ years of professional experience in Ed-Tech, hoping to see how AI transforms education. Product / UX Designer at NUADU.