William M. Davies Jr. Career & Technical High School in Lincoln has an app to screen its students for COVID-19, which was developed by Davies students.
Software engineering instructor Joe Mazzone led the charge for the innovation following R.I. Department of Health guidelines, joining forces with the school’s Women in Technology club.
PBN: This scenario is a great example of showing students how technology can meet a real-life, unforeseen need. Did that add a certain extra sense of meaning to this project for students?
MAZZONE: Absolutely! Learning truly comes to life when students see the purpose behind it, when the project they are working on has meaning. I try to make those connections with every assignment. Students were excited to talk through the problem of creating an app for COVID-19 health screening because it immediately impacted them. I gave them a chance to be part of the solution by giving them the opportunity to contribute to the design of a product that would allow them to safely return to school.
I have always seen the power of learning brought to life when students are given authentic, real-world problems to solve. That is why I am so invested in programs like Technovation, which I mentor as part of Davies’ Women in Technology club. As part of Technovation, teams identify a problem in the community that they want to solve and create a business and mobile app to solve it. This past year, a team of girls created an app for school evacuations that allows for fast and efficient attendance-taking so that missing individuals could be identified and located more easily. Their app is what inspired the health screening app and served as an excellent starting point for the underlying technology required to implement it.
PBN: How does the app work?
MAZZONE: Our first priority for the app was ease of use and implementation – having the least amount of clicks, as users will be using the app every day before school. Using the user’s existing Google account, we authenticate their login, so no need for new usernames and password; all they need to do is successfully log into their @daviestech.org Gmail account. The login persists on the user’s device, so they theoretically only need to complete the authentication once, unless they force log out of the device.
After that, they are presented with the screening tool, which is four questions related to symptoms and exposure of COVID-19. If the user answers “no” to each of the questions, the app thanks them for their response, wishes them a good day and gives them a few reminders like, “Don’t forget your mask.” If the user responds “yes” to any of the questions, they are presented with a big red stop sign and not permitted on campus.
In order to return to campus, they will need to attest to completing all the steps outlined by the R.I. Department of Health. The app is so important because now we have an effective system to track people that are reporting symptoms or exposure, and we can also track any spikes in symptomatic and exposed people in the Davies community. Because of the app, we can leverage technology and see trends, analyze data and prevent outbreaks at our school.
PBN: In developing the app, were there any challenges or obstacles along the way?
MAZZONE: The biggest challenge was keeping up with changing guidance and regulations by RIDOH and the R.I. Department of Education. We had to update screening questions, change what data was collected, and other things many times throughout development. Anyone who has developed an app and listed it on the store knows it is bothersome to have to upload a new version when you are just changing a few words in the app.
Rightfully so, we also had to ensure the data was secure and that the Davies community was comfortable using an app that asks health screening questions. We worked with our school reopening committee’s parent subgroup and collected their feedback on how much information they were comfortable with the app collecting. We also went through the security precautions in place to ensure the data being collected and stored was secure. Our user guide shows how to check if an installed app is accessing location services.
One of the most frustrating challenges was Apple’s restrictions on apps related to COVID-19. I went back and forth with Apple for weeks, changing wording in the app, adding citations and changing UI/UX to comply with Apple’s policies. This school year, I’m excited to talk through the review process with my students, so they can see some of the restrictions and regulations in place when distributing an app on Apple’s app store.
PBN: How can creation of this kind of screening software be applicable to solving other kinds of real-world problems once students enter the workforce?
MAZZONE: The software-development skills required to develop this app are extremely transferable and include user authentication, storing and retrieving data from a cloud database, data security and privacy, development for different devices, and many other skills. Many of my students are already thinking about different apps they can create for the community. My hope is that my students will take what they have learned and become citizen software developers – people that develop software to solve problems in their communities.
PBN: Creating an app to keep the Davies Technical High School environment safe – working with students who are part of the school community to get that accomplished – may mean more to you than most, yes?
MAZZONE: Yes! As a Davies graduate, one of my goals in life is to support the Davies community. Davies was the first school I attended where I felt welcomed and where I realized I loved learning. I would not be a teacher if the teachers at Davies did not inspire me to be one – especially Stephen Cardoso, who is now a Pre-Engineering Technology teacher colleague. I truly love going to community events to stand in front of the Davies table and tell everyone what a wonderful school Davies is.
This app showcases the power of a career and technical high school; it shows what CTE students, CTE graduates and CTE teachers are capable of and how they are changing the world.
Susan Shalhoub is a PBN contributing writer.
