DanielChristian-Beacons-n-educ-2015

A potential scenario

A teacher takes a group of students on a field trip to their city’s recycling center.

The city has installed sensors/beacons next to their bins. They’ve also made Wi-Fi available (but only during normal hours of operation).

Upon arriving, the city’s beacons sense that mobile devices are in its proximity — including one that’s been pre-registered as a K-12 teacher — and thus take the following steps:

  • A request for permission to display content is received by each mobile device
  • If approved, a video of the city’s mayor is sent to each of the students’ mobile devices, explaining what the city is trying to achieve with their recycling operations
  • This video is followed up with a graphic that relays how many tons of recycling are processed each week/month/year — as well as other relevant information
  • After that, a brief quiz hits the students’ devices, asking them a series of questions about what was hopefully learned from the trip
  • Upon submission of the quiz, the National Audubon Society has arranged with the city to transmit gift certificates worth $5.00 to each device — with an option to accept the certificate or not — and sends an interesting item to the devices from one of their sites

Meanwhile, upon returning to school:

  • Another quiz is sent to each student’s device, using the concept of spaced practice/repetition to again assess whether the learning objectives were reached re: that days’ field trip
  • Once the student clicks on the submit button for the quiz:
    • their score is registered in the system and an answer key appears
    • simultaneously, a notification is sent to the child’s parent/guardian that says that Billy has completed the field trip to XYZ recycling center, and encouraging the parent/guardian to ask Billy some open ended questions (in fact, 2-3 are provided to help with the conversation later on). That email could also let the parents know when the center is open and if they have any special programs going on (like Christmas tree disposal and recycling for Christmas tree lights)