In our previous blog post on Artificial Intelligence (AI), we discussed AI being used to place unique patterns in a document to track copyright. This was just one example of the type of innovation Fuji Xerox is working on that could make the lives of teachers and school administrators easier.
At Fuji Xerox’s laboratory in Palo Alto (PAL) and at our Asia-Pacific Innovation Hub located in Sydney, we are working on other technologies that will also have applications in education.
An example of one of these technologies is LoCo.
What is LoCo?
LoCo is a new framework that can provide highly accurate room-level location sensing using a supervised classification scheme. LoCo uses Bluetooth sensors to track location via an app on a smartphone. LoCo has many applications that support increased collaboration. It has the benefit of enhancing existing communication systems and provides a framework to understand collaborative behaviour in a non-invasive way.
A short video is available which illustrates how LoCo works.
Applications of LoCo in Education
There are many applications of this in a business context, such as tracking meeting room usage and staff location where activity-based working is used. LoCo also has potential benefits in a school environment.
Examples of applications in education include:
- Identifying movement patterns. Looking at patterns of student movement during breaks to deploy supervision to the right locations. This could have the added benefit of stemming bullying or other negative behaviour by identifying hotspots for such activity and ensuring that adequate supervision is provided where needed.
- Roll call. Being able to identify if a student has arrived at school to provide parents peace of mind. This could replace traditional roll or check-in systems and allows both the school and parent to know that a student is safely on campus.
- Emergency management. Track the location of students, staff and assets during an emergency ensuring that all members of the school community have been evacuated to safe areas and that no one has been left behind.
- Flexible learning. Enable flexible learning arrangements by being able to understand the utilisation of learning spaces and deploy students to the right place.
- School tours and orientation. Pathfinders for new students or parents on school tours to interact with key areas of interest and find out more, with data pushed to an app on their phone.
Data collected by LoCo is private and it would be up to the school whether they use the technology to track individuals or whether they use desensitised data to track patterns.
Want to know more?
If you are interested in finding out more about these innovative technologies and the work of Fuji Xerox PAL you can visit their website http://www.fxpal.com/.
