SmartEducator - Q&A's
Have a look at some commonly asked questions about SmartEducator, and if you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask below.
General FAQs
Where do we start? There are many benefits for both teachers and students. In addition to freeing up 8 hours of time per week for teachers to focus on what they love – teaching, and time for family and their own wellbeing, which is invaluable - it also provides teachers with objective feedback as to where the student currently sits academically, and highlights areas where more learning is required. This helps the teacher to identify individual students needs for greater learning, working towards a more personalized learning experience for all. SmartEducator also boasts considerable benefits for the student, encouraging engagement and participation by allowing the student to enter their assignment in a format that suits them - be that handwritten or typed documents or even spoken word. This 'levels-up' the assessment process for all, and is particularly important for special needs students. The analytics serve to validate the efforts of teachers, to include corrective action taken with individual students, which could be used to support them during state assessments or accreditation reviews. In terms of reporting, it provides an instant, clear picture for parents at parent-teacher conferences. There is also a 'well-being' element to SmartEducator, not just in terms of unburdening teachers, but also the analytics highlight any downward trend in students which can raise a red flag to teachers of any underlying problems that require investigating further.
Easy to use, teachers can enter a grading rubric or assignment, or choose to use an assignment that already exists. Teachers may also choose to edit an existing assignment to better suit their style and curriculum. SmartEducator grades the assessment in a matter of seconds and furthermore, provides deep analytics for greater understanding and a more personalized learning experience. Dashboards and prompts guide the teacher through the system in a very easy and efficient way. It is important to note that at all times, the teacher is in complete control and can alter any grade or make adjustments as they see fit.
Time, clarity, well-being, analytics, student benefits and all the reasons we have mentioned, coupled with the fact that we will also offer free platform usage via our website. The SmartEducator platform transforms the time dedicated to assessments, and - alongside the additional benefits - we are confident that teachers and schools will benefit significantly. Remember, that there is no other product available that can grade assessments while providing all the additional benefits and support that SmartEducator does - it is revolutionizing the education space!
No. SmartEducator is a platform specifically designed to support teachers, not replace them. Its primary goal is to give teachers 'time back' by reducing the considerable burden of the repetitive administrative duties of setting and grading assessments by 8 hours per week. It serves to enhance the teaching experience for our valued educators. It offers additional benefits such as objective, justified feedback on individual students' assessments providing deep analytics that help the teacher by tracking the student's performance over time and highlighting where further learning is required. The struggle with workload is well documented, a workload that eats into a teacher's personal time and wellbeing. SmartEducator by Sendient aims to 'give-back' time - a goal of 8 hours per week of time, while also ensuring the teacher is always in control.
Privacy And Security FAQs
Privacy and security are at the core of Sendient's SmartEducator operations. All data is pre-processed to ensure that personally identifiable information is never shared with any third-party AI provider. We are proud to say our platform is certified against internationally recognized security standards, including Cyber Essentials Plus, PCIDSS and ISO27001. Protecting student data and ensuring that it cannot be used to train AI models is core to our mission. This robust approach to data security gives our users assurance that their information remains protected and secure at all times.
Throughout this journey, teachers and other key individuals from the education sector have been 'sounding' boards and a source of inspiration within the design and build phase. We have teachers across all subjects from public, private and special education schools utilizing our platform and app. Their feedback will help us to ensure that SmartEducator is the invaluable tool to teachers that it is designed to be. We have been overwhelmed by the response to the trial and have a waitlist of teachers to be onboarded. We are confident that the trial will result in our goal of saving teachers 8 hours of administration throughout the working week as being achieved, and that the current excitement our platform has generated throughout the education sector will be justified.
Teachers and students are given individual logins. Privacy and security are at the core of Sendient's SmartEducator operations. All data is pre-processed to ensure that personally identifiable information is never shared with any third-party AI providers. We are proud to say our platform is certified against internationally recognized security standards, including Cyber Essentials Plus, PCIDSS and ISO27001. Protecting student data and ensuring that it cannot be used to train AI models is core to our mission. This robust approach to data security gives our users assurance that their information always remains protected and secure.
Pricing FAQs
Teachers are already investing in apps to help them in their work, apps that do not deliver the functionality of SmartEducator which is reshaping the future of assessment for the benefit of the teacher, and student. In all walks of life, people invest in tools to assist them with their work, hobbies and well-being, this in an investment that contributes positively to a teacher's work life balance and well-being while also enabling them to positively impact the learning experience of the student. The teachers we have worked with have suggested that they 'couldn't put a price on reclaiming time'. However, in an ideal world, schools, districts, state governments, and even third-party corporate sponsors could all potentially cover the cost of using this platform for society's valuable educators.
You can pay monthly for SmartEducator, and pause your subscription when required. If you pay annually, you not only have access to the platform throughout the year for work that arises during school breaks, but it's also offered at a more advantageous price! We are convinced that when you try SmartEducator and experience the many benefits, you won't want to be without it.
The biggest issue facing the education sector at the moment is the retention and recruitment of teachers. Teacher fatigue is an overwhelming problem but also a barrier to attracting people into the profession. This platform is specifically designed to enhance the well-being of teachers by dramatically reducing the time spent on administration such as grading assessments. It is an investment in both teachers and the education of the students with benefits for all parties concerned. SmartEducator will positively impact the quality of learning and work towards a more personalized learning journey which is the future of the education sector. Teacher burnout, the costs associated with substitute teachers and the time and energy spent on disengaged students are all costs that will be reduced by the implementation of SmartEducator making it practically self-funding.
Product FAQs
Sendient, the team behind SmartEducator have spoken to thousands of teachers and assessors and a common theme highlighted is the problem of 'fatigue' in grading or assessing. Despite the very best efforts, fatigue sets in and grading standards may differ from the first paper graded, to the last, especially after a long day of teaching. The teachers we have worked with while developing the platform also highlighted that they themselves are capable of an element of natural bias - knowing that a particular student has worked hard, or are capable of more, or maybe experiencing turmoil at home. We are all human. This is not a criticism of teachers; these are issues raised by teachers and assessors. SmartEducator provides objective, justified grades ensuring consistency in assessment for a fair, transparent and accurate evaluation of an individual student's performance. However, if a teacher wishes to change the grade awarded, they have the power to do so. But the overarching benefit and the reason for developing SmartEducator in the first place is the 'time saved', the 'time regained' to spend teaching, or self-care and well-being – work life balance. You cannot put a price on regaining time to spend with family, friends or on hobbies.
The government published a paper on the desire to use AI in order to reduce the administrative tasks that teachers are burdened with by 5 hours a week. SmartEducator beats that! AI is currently being used in schools by both teachers and students in a fragmented way. SmartEducator is safe, easy to use, saves time and gives an unbiased understanding of how a student is performing. In terms of using the platform, guidance is given to teachers who sign up to the platform, on how to use it, but it has been ergonomically designed so that it is very easy to use with dashboards and prompts.
SmartEducator is a tool designed to support teachers, but it is important to note that teachers are in control at all times. Teachers set their assignment. SmartEducator grades the submissions objectively using the criteria set by the teacher. It provides feedback and strong analytics that the teacher can use and consider. It is important to note that SmartEducator is not biased, it doesn't know the student, it assesses the quality of work submitted and the teacher can use the results and justification provided to challenge or change a result, should the need ever arise.
If a teacher signs up to use SmartEducator students will be required to use it to upload their assessments. The vast majority of young people and households now possess mobile phones, laptops and computers, but if they do not have access to a phone to upload their homework, a written submission can be provided to a teacher who can then take a picture of it, or scan it and upload it on their behalf in a matter of seconds. Voice recordings are also accepted by SmartEducator which will also be useful to students.
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