To help neurodivergent students with conditions like dyslexia, ADD, ADHD or autism to study, students at the University of Connecticut have developed an AR app. Justin Nappi and Sudiksha Mallick have developed the learning platform called SmartCards AR, which combines augmented reality with flashcards. Students can scan the SmartCards with their tablet after which the device will display the associated scene in AR.
Justin Nappi majors in individualized adaptive programming and design. He works on the development and technology side. Sudiksha Mallick double majors in political science and human rights. She will be the spokesperson for the start-up. The augmented reality app called SmartCards AR is specifically designed for neurodivergent students in grades 2 to 5. These students have learning difficulties due to dyslexia, ADD, ADHD, or autism.
Idea based on own experience
“It was just something I had in the back of my head from my experience with video games growing up and how they helped me grow as a person, and also my experience with the education system as well,” Nappi explains. “I had undiagnosed ADHD growing up. Luckily, I did well in school and had the support I needed, but I would still always hear these teachers saying ‘Pay attention; stop distracting your classmates,’ and constantly being on me about my behavior.”
The SmartCards AR app works with physical cards that work as flashcards with pictures and pieces of information. However, when the cards are scanned using the SmartCards web app, the information becomes almost tangible with an associated scene in augmented reality. The first cards evolve around the solar system. They’ve tested the cards themselves and are developing them further with the help of an agency. The cards should be in children’s hands by April 2023 for them to test it and provide user feedback.
SmartCards AR app shows layers of the earth
The students can then interact with this information using hand gestures and buttons. “So, if you’re learning about the earth, we want you to be able to take the layers of the earth apart and look at it that way”, says Nappi. The cards however also interact with each other. If the students take the earth and the moon cards, place them together, and scan them with the web app, the moon will be shown orbiting the earth. Also, they’ll get related facts about the moon and the earth.
“[Justin and I] immediately connected over our goal of changing the way we think about education, and the way we view education, and the ways in which education is limited toward only certain types of students,” Mallick says. When they started researching, they found that 1 in 4 learners today are neurodivergent and have different learning styles that often aren’t conducted in the traditional settings. According to Mallick, these students are often removed from class as a result, even furthering the gap between them and their peers.
Started in Spring 2021
Nappi and Mallick started developing SmartCards AR during a course in Spring 2021 called ‘the Enterpreneurial Journey’, led by David Noble, director of the Peter J. Worth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and Tara Watrous, the Werth Institute’s head of entrepreneurial transformation. In this class, they were challenged to come up with a solution to a societal problem. Now that Nappi and Mallick are running a full fledged start-up, Noble and Watrous are still advising them and providing them with opportunities such as a participation in the Big East Start-Up Challenge.
“I feel like a lot of times when I talk to my peers in other schools who have done entrepreneurship, it’s this cut-throat, competitive environment where you’re constantly trying to climb the ladder,” Mallick says. “You’re constantly trying to get ahead of other people. You’re trying to pull them down to get up. Whereas the difference that I see at UConn – like what David [Noble] has really created – is that we are all trying to pull each other up to bring us all up together.”
Proud on progress Smartcards AR
Mallick and Nappi still see lots of work ahead, but they’re proud of how much they’ve grown as entrepreneurs after beginning with little to no experience. As Nappi shares, they’re also dedicated to the goal of “including everyone in the learning process and not discriminating based on how you learn.” Mallick adds: “Of all those moments that we could have chosen to stop, we continued to keep going. We thought that this was something that we really wanted to see. I think it goes to show how much we care about the issue as well.”
