They are an impressive group of Jordan School District students determined to make a difference and win a national competition with the development of a unique school safety app.
On this episode of the Supercast, we take you inside the JATC North web design class where students are already in the running for a prestigious honor on a national stage because of their determination to help keep students safe in schools across the country. This is just one example of the great work going on in Career and Technical Education as we celebrate CTE Month.
Audio Transcription
Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are an impressive group of Jordan School District students determined to make a difference and win in national competition with the development of a unique school safety app. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you inside the JATC North Web Design class, where students are already in the running for a prestigious honor on a national stage because of their determination to help students stay safe in schools across the country. They want to do it with a specially designed app they hope will give people peace of mind in an emergency.
We're here celebrating CTE Month at the Jordan Academy for Technology and Careers, the North campus at around 90th South and Bangerter, talking with the Web Design teacher. Go ahead and introduce yourself.
Melinda Mansouri:
My name's Melinda Mansouri and I've been at the technology center for the last 11 years and my program is web design. Our students, our goal is entry-level work upon graduation or completion of the program. So our students not only learn about design and code, but they are able to go in and do internships with schools and business partners by the end of the program.
Anthony Godfrey:
So they're ready to work when they graduate from high school and get an entry-level job in web development. Right?
Melinda Mansouri:
Yes. I have students all over the state working as web developers at different universities and schools. It's a great student job, whether they're doing freelance web development or actually doing some work-study jobs at the universities and there's so many websites and there's lots of work.
Anthony Godfrey:
There's a lot of work out there. Obviously, I'm on websites all day long and they all need a web developer. So tell me about what the experience looks like from a student perspective. It's four classes out of your high school schedule. It's available to juniors and seniors, is that correct?
Melinda Mansouri:
All of that's correct. Next year we also have what's called a Code Boot Camp that is specifically for some of our high schools that aren't able to offer Programming I that will help bridge the students from those high schools into the full programming that's offered here at the JATC or they can stay and be web developers, in which case they would have the chance to get more skills and more experience.
Anthony Godfrey:
And how do they get more information about the summer program?
Melinda Mansouri:
Oh, if you go to the website at jordantech.org there is all sorts of program information and there's an apply button. Everyone has to apply to come to the tech center, but don't be afraid of that. The apply is just a way for us to gather information and be able to add you into our programs. But don't be intimidated by it. It's pretty easy. It's just a Google form.
Anthony Godfrey:
And there's a morning option and then an afternoon option.
Melinda Mansouri:
Yes. And our students spend the other half day at their home high school doing what they've been doing. And so we also have transportation and so don't feel like you have to have a car to come to the tech center. You can ride the bus. We have buses from every high school and you can arrive by bus at your school and then take the tech center bus or the opposite on the way home.
Anthony Godfrey:
So if this is something of interest there aren't really obstacles in the way, jump in and give it a shot. Now tomorrow you're out at schools giving students some real-world experience. Tell me about that.
Melinda Mansouri:
Yes, each student is placed at a different school in Jordan District, whether that's with counseling center websites or different websites at all of the different schools. And they work in partnership with the person who's in charge of web at the school. We do updates, sometimes if they have a big project like a directory that takes a lot of hours of time, we'll help with some specific projects. Not every school has someone trained in website development, and so it's a real win-win. My students are working on the professional skills needed and we are so lucky to have Jordan District, everything from teachers to administrators, who are their mentors and helping them gain professional skills.
Anthony Godfrey:
And we benefit from the students' creativity and newfound skills.
Melinda Mansouri:
Yes, it's a win-win. And then the students head out into some type of a business internship fourth quarter. They spend a minimum of 40 hours doing real website work for a real business so that they've built their portfolio so that they're ready to work.
Anthony Godfrey:
They can show actual work they've done for a company and it doesn't have to be something they want to do as a lifelong pursuit. It can be like you were saying earlier, a side job or just something to get them through school, kind of a part-time job, or it can turn into a full-time career.
Melinda Mansouri:
It's a great place to start. And even if your intention is to do something else, whatever business you work for will have a website, and that ups your value if you can help work with the web developer for that website. An know if a change is a small change or if you're asking for a big change. Clients don't often know which they're asking for. So these are just great skills to have in today's job market in general.
Anthony Godfrey:
Fantastic.
Stay with us. When we come back more with Melinda Mansouri and her tech savvy students
Break:
In Jordan School District, we like to support students in and outside the classroom along with their families. That's where the Jordan Family Education Center comes in, offering support services and a wide variety of classes for students and their families, free of charge. You can take a class called Blues Busters for children feeling sad or worried. Just Breathe is a class that helps students reduce stress. Or how about a class that supports parents in helping their children make and keep good friends. There are also support groups and free counseling, all provided by Jordan School District school psychologists and counselors. To find out how you can benefit from free family support services offered by the Jordan Family Education Center, call 801-565-7442 or visit guidance.jordandistrict.org.
Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking now with three of the students in the Web Development program. Go ahead and introduce yourselves and what high school you're coming from.
Amanda:
My name is Amanda and I come from West Jordan High.
Dalton:
My name is Dalton and I come from Riverton High.
Jacob:
I'm Jacob and I come from West Jordan High.
Anthony Godfrey:
Now tell me about this app that you've developed. First of all, it sounds pretty interesting.
Dalton:
So it's a tracking app for schools, so in an emergency, they can find students quickly and potentially save or reduce injuries in schools.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me what was the inspiration for creating an app like this?
Amanda:
Well, I think basically how the situations we've been through in our schools, like when there is a fire or something like that and people can't get out safely or quickly enough, and that's where it came from, I think.
Anthony Godfrey:
So just out of concern for student safety. Tell me about the mock-ups and where are the ideas taking you right now.
Jacob:
So right now using Adobe XD, which is a mockup program, we've kind of made a layout of what we want the app to look like, and we've made paths and we've made notifications that will pop up when there's an emergency. And so we're using this to kind of formulate how it's gonna work. We've also made an actual physical website, like just using a code editor, me and my partner Aiden. And so it will, like, it's a working prototype. It doesn't have any of the backend stuff that will actually notify people yet.
Anthony Godfrey:
So it sounds like developing an app is a lot more complicated than some people might think.
Jacob:
Oh, yes. Extremely complicated. And we're also, another part of this is setting up actual hardware on doors. That is going to be a challenge because we're developers, not really engineers, so we're gonna have to find a way to do that.
Anthony Godfrey:
So tell me, ultimately what will the app accomplish based on the concept that you're working on right now?
Dalton:
So currently we have it set up for it, there's a potential for it to work as a kind of attendance system, which kind of incentivizes students to carry their ID badge with them so that we can actually track them in an emergency. So for example, there's an earthquake and part of the building collapses where students can't get out of the building and there's potentially more debris falling down in the building. First responders need to get there quickly so that they can get the clear out of the way for students to get out and so they don't get hurt.
Anthony Godfrey:
So in other words, we're able to find students in an emergency using hardware mounted above the door as long as students are wearing an ID badge and if we use the ID badge for attendance purposes, then students are required to wear the badge and then the system works in case of emergency. If you were trying to sell me on the app and it was fully developed, what are some of the things you would tell me about why we ought to use this app?
Amanda:
I would say for safety to keep students more safe in the schools, basically.
Anthony Godfrey:
So is this mostly an app that's designed for administrators and emergency service workers? Anyone who's responsible for tracking students in case of emergency?
Amanda:
Exactly, especially for them.
Anthony Godfrey:
Now, if this app were to take off, there are tens of thousands of schools in the country. So it has a really big potential and student safety is always first on our minds and on everyone's mind across the country. What are some of the obstacles that you've run into? Obviously, it's a complicated process and I think you talked with some of our own security personnel. What are some of the difficulties that you've come up against as you've explored this idea?
Jacob:
So yes, we have talked with the district safety advisor and he gave us some really good advice. So one of the biggest concerns right now is security and privacy. So if we're tracking where kids are in a building, like that information won't be compromised and used to someone's advantage. And that's a really big concern. But we have we have combatted that by having, when someone like logs into the system, it will send out an email to, I mean, hypothetically it will send an email out to all the parents whose students are involved. So they know not only that someone's logged in, but if their child is safe or in danger. We've also thought about automating like the 911 call. When someone logs in it automatically calls 911 so that no one is just logging on for fun or for their personal gain.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. So the 911 kind of becomes the alarm system that's connected to anyone logging in. So you'd log in only in case of emergency? Is there a parent application so that parents could track where their child is throughout the day?
Jacob:
Again, we're still in the beginning phase just working stuff out. We have thought about that. We have thought about even having students have an app that they could log in themselves to track or even have their phone be their badge that they sign in with. But we're not really sure. We're still kind of working it out, but we got possibilities open.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. I love the way you're exploring the idea.
Dalton:
One concern with allowing parents to track students is it becomes a security problem, whereas someone who isn't their parent might be able to figure out login information and access where the child is in the building. So if someone were to specifically target an individual student, they might end up being able to just track them with our system, which is a big problem with enabling parents to track their own students.
Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. And you're doing a nice job obviously of thinking through all the security concerns. And have you thought about an opt-out for parents where parents could choose not to have their student participate?
Amanda:
Yeah, that's basically, yeah, we have this idea that maybe some parents wouldn't like their students to be tracked and we would give a form out to parents and they could sign if they want their student in or not.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. All right. You're entering this app and this concept into a contest sponsored by Samsung. Tell me about how that's going.
Jacob:
So yeah, Samsung has given us $2,500 right now in Samsung products. And we're gonna use that I think for phones, for mobile development. And so then we can actually test our app on phones and the next phase will give us, I think it's like 10 grand with an additional like video media kit so that we can actually film and document our stuff.
Anthony Godfrey:
So when will you find out the next level of the competition?
Dalton:
It'll be February 15th.
Anthony Godfrey:
Have you submitted everything?
Dalton:
It's all done, yeah.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Well, I wish you luck. Tell me what's the name of the competition?
Amanda:
Samsung Solve For Tomorrow.
Anthony Godfrey:
So we've talked about the app, tell me more about the class. Of course, you're creating this app as an offshoot of the things that you're learning here, but tell me about the class in general, especially for those who might be considering enrolling.
Jacob:
So yeah, this class is awesome. We not only do coding for development, we also do the design and learn how to make a beautiful website.
Anthony Godfrey:
So the art and science of it?
Jacob:
Yes, art, yes. And that's what differentiates us from computer programming is that we also do Digital Me in this class. We all certify in Photoshop and Illustrator in the first couple of months and that helps us prototype and design websites.
Anthony Godfrey:
And do you look at websites differently now that you're seeing things from the design end?
Dalton:
Yeah, it's quite a bit different. When I took programming here last year and in that class, it's all about the code, and when I wasn't expecting the amount of art that goes into designing a website and how much time it takes just to get a simple website set up.
Anthony Godfrey:
So maybe there's a better appreciation for the websites that you access knowing how much work it takes?
Amanda:
Totally.
Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks very much for spending time with me. I'll let you get back to your projects. Good luck in the competition and my fingers are crossed for you.
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.