Liang-Bi Chen and his collaborators from National Penghu University of Science and Technology in Taiwan created a revolutionary application for educational technology. When used correctly, this powerful new tool can greatly improve the learning experience in classrooms. The system incorporates any device with a screen and webcam to monitor and observe students’ handwriting and drawing live. This technology will help foster deeper and more authentic interaction between teachers and students.
This is possible by utilizing the gesture tracking library of Mediapipe technology, which focuses on tracking 21 different joint points of the hand. This innovative approach allows for touch-free interaction, thereby promoting improved hygiene within educational settings, a pertinent consideration in today’s health-conscious environment.
This system is already an effective way to track changes in handwriting over time. It supports automatically uploading students’ writing results to a cloud platform to evaluate that writing after class. Chen and his team have investigated its accuracy. Most recently, they found that it works with full 100 percent accuracy when 5 to 10 students are using it at the same time. The accuracy is still jaw dropping at 96 percent when the number of students increases to 30. This showcases its strength in classroom environments with large cohort sizes.
“These [challenges] include limited interaction between teachers and students, and students struggling to understand lesson content in real-time,” – Liang-Bi Chen
The implications of this technology are substantial. With this tool, teachers can better reach and teach to every large group’s individual needs. It allows for immediate feedback on students work, project it on a large screen and/or shares it for simultaneous teaching. This aspect is especially useful in creating interactive learning experiences.
“The teacher receives real-time video and drawing results from each student, which are integrated and displayed on a large screen to facilitate synchronized teaching and interaction,” – Liang-Bi Chen
Chen’s proposal is bigger than just a push to teach handwriting and drawing. Its powerful underlying architecture is flexible enough to support broad educational use cases, powering a whole-of-education digital transformation agenda.
“We believe that education is one of the most promising areas for [digital transformation]. Although this system was initially designed to support handwriting and drawing instruction, its core concept and architecture can be adapted to a broader range of teaching scenarios,” – Liang-Bi Chen
It costs only $6,250 to implement this system for a maximum of 30 students. This price point allows countless educational institutions to access the version of the program that fits their needs. Chen and his colleagues have patented the technology. They’re now in the process of seeking out partnerships with schools and hardware developers in Taiwan to get it into classrooms.
“Our goal is to continually refine and promote this system, ensuring that every child has access to a safe, interactive, and affordable learning environment,” – Liang-Bi Chen