Cyborg Mobile worked with Seattle Public Schools, a large K-12 public school district, to design and execute a first–of–its–kind digital learning solution to address the equity gap in student achievement.
Cyborg Mobile began by directing a discovery phase to locate and align existing school district equity collateral with open source material. Using Agile methods, Cyborg Mobile corralled key personnel to meet and collaborate, and as a result, was able to quickly identify the critical path and gain immediate traction in the project.
In less than two months, Cyborg Mobile presented its findings to a cross-department steering committee, which received them enthusiastically. Fueled by the initial collaborative success, the district then determined that they wanted a way to effectively distribute the content to thousands of school district employees, a much wider audience than it had ever dealt with previously. To meet the need, Cyborg Mobile innovated a solution that resulted in a first-of-its-kind equity training application.
Cyborg Mobile designed The Eliminating Opportunity Gaps (EOG) Digital Toolkit, a fully responsive mobile web application, to make training materials easily accessible by each employee’s personal computer or mobile device at any time. The training content was presented in short, easy–to–digest videos that were arranged into six modules that could be completed incrementally. Each module contained practical tips on how to create more equity balance throughout the school system, YouTube-standard videos that discussed important subject matters, and a section for users to write their thoughts on the issues in journal fashion. Checkpoints were also built into the user experience (such as quizzes and on-screen prompts) to ensure optimal assimilation of the materials as participants progressed through the modules. Also built into the software interface was the ability to track who received the training so that future data correlation and feeder pattern tracking could be used to establish benchmarks and determine long–term success.
The toolkit Cyborg Mobile designed, developed, and implemented was a first-of-its-kind in many aspects. It took traditional professional development and introduced it to an interactive, online, mobile–responsive experience. It also made training more widely available and shortened training time frames while reducing the staff’s time away from their main work.
The toolkit was initially presented to a group of 32 educators and staff to test. The results of the pilot program demonstrated success on numerous fronts. The teaching staff completed their training in just six weeks, rather than taking the entire school year. The platform eliminated the need for hiring instructors and substitute teachers. Most importantly, the platform expanded the accessibility of the training to the entire ecosystem of adult pedagogical and administrative staff. The trained staff have already begun to use their training to contribute to a more positive learning environment. One educator summed up many sentiments by saying, “I have always wanted to make a difference in regards to EOG. I have never really known what role I could take, but after seeing the toolkit, I feel like I literally have tools to start making a difference right now.”
The EOG Digital Toolkit has since been expanded to Seattle, Bellevue, Renton, Issaquah, and North Shore Public School Districts.