I've been working in Early Childhood Education for nearly 25 years. I am biased. I am a fanatical proponent of play and child-led activity over “pre school” pre-schools - those services that ape primary schooling and the limiting rules of sitting around with books and colouring various pages.
Our camera system will fit into any pre-school environment, with a plug and play type set-up. It will not be there to record video, however. The system creates a real-time, narrative account of play sessions, that will highlight the play journeys of the anonymised children in the room.
The system analyses the narrative, using indicators and patterns and identifies opportunities.
From these opportunities, Atomate will provide educators with routine suggestions for individuals, pairs, groups and for the educators themselves, freeing them from time-heavy paperwork demands. Educators will become agents of play and prosperity, rather than documenters. Our goal? Competencies and confidence in each child.
This fundamentally inclusivity-based and co-designed tool creates short, medium and long term intervention suggestions for individuals and groups, allowing educators to better use their time by minimising paperwork and compliance demands. Our system accumulates safe and secure data.
We have been talking! Talking to interesting and relevant people who might help us steer our new ship. NGOs and private service providers, industry experts and my mum. She's very proud of me! Our intention is to interact with the right people who can give us sound advice and be as supportive as my poor mother.
By combining the technical development and academic elements of my PhD studies, I am creating a system of co-design, where I can address the ethical concerns of stakeholders in each and every eco-system, while also create a tool that is filling a gap in best practice. I'm hoping to work closely with government level representatives in an effort to spread the idea further.
For now? Hold your horses! Wait for the other shoe to drop! Nothing beautiful was ever created quickly!
We are currently testing out prototype to ensure that we can have a high degree of validity and accuracy from the outset.
