Lopsided Student Development.
Problem:
The purpose of education provided in a school or university is the holistic development
of a student, both academically and socially. Nowadays, due to the extremely competitive nature
of universities and employers, schools focus predominantly on the academic development of students
and neglect, often, investing in their social development. As a result, students are pushed to improve
their academic record, leaving their personality development in the shadow. This is more pronounced with
students who go on to have extremely technical careers; they tend to face the highest level of social exclusion at the workplace.
Solution:
With access to Bugscore360, schools are able to choose all attributes that
contribute to a person’s score and therefore are able to monitor all aspects of their
personality development process. Identifying areas where a student is lacking as a person,
and not only as a student, is critical. With Bugscore360, the teaching staff has the opportunity
to develop students in a complete manner and produce more academically and emotionally balanced people
that will ultimately add a greater value to society.
Lack of quantitative and qualitative data on teachers and students.
Problem:
Today, if one enters a school or university and wishes to find out who are the highest
and lowest ranked students or teachers, typically, the only documents one can peruse
are test/exam grades, grade point averages and/or student/teacher evaluation forms
that may have been completed months ago (thus rendering them out of date). There is no
way of sorting students and teacher rankings on a range of customised attributes
(i.e who are the most improved, who have the most potential,
who have the best teaching skills, patience, attitude etc.).
Furthermore, if one wishes to see how quality across a class of students,
teachers or an entire school/university has evolved through time,
there is no way to visually and quantifiably produce this data.
As a result of the lack of such data, when receiving new students
into their grade, teachers know little about their social history,
how it has evolved and numbers that show the evolution of their perceived strengths
and weaknesses. The same applies to colleges and universities receiving
students and having little information about them apart from their grades.
When it comes to the time of graduation and showcasing themselves to potential employers,
again, employers have little information about the student apart from his/her stated academic
achievements and other accolades they have added to their CVs. How they were perceived by
their colleagues and professors during college and how their strengths and weaknesses
(along with skills) evolved over the years, are all questions that employers
can not answer until they invest in them and find out later first hand.
Solution:
With access to Bugscore 360, scores are being given by teachers and students in real-time.
While scores are discreet and decision makers decide who can view whose score,
the system creates a scorecard of student and teacher opinion on every person in a school
or university. The scores can be decomposed into individual attribute scores
(i.e social skills, attitude, helpfulness etc.) and their evolution through time
can be charted. This way, interested parties can see an objective view of what those
around a particular person think about them and how their score and thus, perceived
quality as a person, has evolved through time.
Poor quality teaching staff.
Problem:
In many academic institutions, the teacher and professor evaluation period takes place
just a few times a year. As time elapses after the review period, the validity
and currentness of reviews reduces, thus rendering them unreliable after a
certain point in time. Furthermore, teachers may only put their best foot
forward around review periods thereby taking a more lenient stance on their
effort levels and attitude during unmonitored periods. As a result, teacher
and professor quality may be inconsistent over the longer run and result in
a drop in the academic institution's reputation and quality of learning students receive.
Furthermore, weaknesses and skill gaps amongst teachers and professors may remain
uncovered for longer than necessary.
Solution:
With access to Bugscore 360, students will be able to provide
feedback at any point during the year, which means, along with the
embedded alert system, senior academic decision makers in the institution
will be alerted to drops in score (or on specific attributes indicating specific
weaknesses) of teacher and professors quickly. Remedial action which may include training,
can therefore be taken much quicker. Any increases in score of lower quality teachers/professors,
after such remedial actions have been taken, will also show decision makers if said actions
have paid off or not.
Inability to identify hidden talent.
Problem:
Nowadays, many schools often have an oversized student-base
and low teacher-to-student ratio; one where it becomes difficult
for all students to be closely monitored and assessed thoroughly.
In addition, many students are often shy and do not get the opportunity to
shine in a classroom environment where social pressures may dominate.
Furthermore, on many occasions, the opinions of teachers on particular
students and their hidden potential in some area, may not be shared amongst staff
(as only problem students and those with explicit weaknesses or strengths tend to be focused on).
This means that many students who may have hidden talents or great potential,
are not given the necessary time and resources to harness said potential.
Solution:
With access to Bugscore360, students are assessed
throughout the year by their peers and teachers,
so should any of them have qualities (hidden strengths or weaknesses)
that are not explicitly known to the teaching staff,
they become more readily apparent.
In addition, staff members can now share their opinion on students with faculty
members more easily and in a remote manner (i.e other teaching staff can sort
student scores by teacher, thus being able to see how various teachers have rated a pupil).
Furthermore, qualities of shy or underestimated students can be brought to the attention of
teachers more efficiently, via the feedback of fellow students, thus making them aware of hidden
skills or talents a particular pupil may possess.
Bullying & lack of mutual respect.
Problem:
Many schools suffer from the common and yet, very painful problem of bullying
and lack of respect between certain groups of students and often, between students and teachers.
While the short term effects of bullying can result in social exclusion for the people being bullied,
the longer term psychological impacts can be much more dire. Bullying stunts the social and intellectual
experience of not only those being bullied but of those around them as the environment created is
not conducive to healthy learning. Often, bullying is not confined to students but teachers can be
targeted and vice versa, teachers in rare occasions target specific students.
While the aforementioned problems inevitably come to the fore,
it is often too late and the negative impacts of bullying can be felt by many parties.
Depending on the severity of bullying, bullying can result in expulsions and the involvement
of psychiatrists; a situation that can cost the school its reputation and can hurt the social
reputation of subjects engaging in bullying and those being bullied. If teachers are involved,
such incidences can have career altering impacts. All of this can be mitigated through the use
of a real-time rating and feedback system.
Solution:
With access to Bugscore 360, the moment bullying begins, it is flagged to the appropriate senior authority.
Those subject to bullying have a discreet venue (the Bugscore 360 scoring portal) through which they can
score down the bully (may it be a student or a teacher).
If enough students engage in this, any major problem down the road can be nipped in the bud as the bully
is immediately identified (with a reliable amount of scores), spoken to and warned. This feedback
happens through a dynamic alert system that is customised by decision markers. An iterative process such as
this, over time, will quell bullying and reduce social inclusion issues at the school. When bullies know that
their scores are monitored and can drop when they engage in ill-meaning behaviour,
they are being held accountable by the masses. This real-time feedback system can also apply to teacher-to-student
bullying or vice versa; when a group of students bully a teacher.
