We plan to develop an immersive app that
- Helps develop an empathetic understanding of children’s lived experiences through taking teachers through children’s lived experiences through choice based scenarios;
- Engages teachers in immersive and interactive decision-making process within a virtual classroom-lab;
- Collates, documents, and provides access to best practices used by teachers in similar contexts;
- Engages teachers in critical dialogue and reflection on classroom practices; and
- Engages teachers in a capstone project to develop their own classroom practices.
The intervention will draw on research, theory, and contextually relevant lived experiences, while ensuring the focus remains on the realities of classrooms. The immersive and empathetic nature of the app is crucial to the intervention, and these are promoted through rich storytelling and choice-based scenarios. These promote a deep understanding of lived realities of diverse students, classroom choices, and innovative classroom practices. These are complemented by active dialogue, reflection, and sharing through discussion forums, reflective questions, and access to a database of successfully implemented teacher practices.
At the heart of the intervention is the goal to empower teachers. We aim to forefront teacher voice, highlight practices used by local teachers, be non-prescriptive (by aiding empathetic understanding and supporting experimentation), and promote teacher agency.
Our sister organization, Stand Up for Health, is a Canadian non-profit that shares a similar vision. They have built a similar app for healthcare providers.
