SBIR Phase I:VIBES: An Intelligent Application for Emotional Support During the COVID-19 Crisis

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响包括需要1）学生参与社会情感学习，2）辅导员，教师和学生协调一致的方式来支持学生的心理健康，以及3）学生在隔离期间的连接。从小学到中学的过渡需要新的社交技能，在一个更大，更复杂的环境与同龄人冲突的可能性增加。讽刺的是，这一点也标志着需要与同龄人建立更稳定和亲密的关系。换句话说，对关系的最高需求点与最动荡的机会相吻合。所有这些挑战现在都与COVID-19同时存在，COVID-19导致学校关闭，粮食短缺，父母失业，社会孤立和支持系统不稳定。该项目将开发一个可扩展的工具，用于支持教师，辅导员和课后/校外辅导员，使学生参与社会情感学习。在基于网络的系统中，学生将能够积极和一致地跟踪和反映他们的想法，感受和情绪;教师/辅导员将有一个仪表板，可以查看学生的挑战和定制的建议，让学生参与社交情感学习活动。拟议的项目将开发一个智能在线自我跟踪系统，以支持中学生的社会情感成长。我们必须解决的关键技术挑战包括：定义和完善教师/辅导员会发现教育上有吸引力的用户体验，学习者会参与其中;为远程学习内容设计一个策展过程，以确保所有用户的安全;设计算法来支持跟踪学生的社会情感健康;并创建一个推荐系统，根据以前的互动确定向学生建议的最佳干预措施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project includes the need for 1) student engagement in social-emotional learning, 2) coordinated and consistent ways for counselors, teachers, and students to support the mental health of students, and 3) student connection during times of isolation. The transition from elementary to middle school demands new social skills in a larger and more intricate environment with an increased probability of peer conflicts. Paradoxically, this point also marks a need for more stable and intimate relationships with peers. In other words, the point of highest need with respect to relationships coincides with opportunities for the most turmoil. All of these challenges now exist in parallel with COVID-19, which has caused school closings, food scarcity, parental unemployment, social isolation, and destabilized support systems. The project will develop a scalable tool for supporting teachers, counselors and after school/out of school facilitators engaging students in social-emotional learning. Within the web-based system, students will be able to actively and consistently track and reflect upon their thoughts, feelings, and emotions; teachers/counselors will have a dashboard with a view of students’ challenges and customized suggestions for students to engage with social-emotional learning activities. The proposed project will develop an intelligent online self-tracking system to support social-emotional growth for middle school students. The key technical challenges we must resolve include: defining and refining a user experience that teachers/counselors will find educationally compelling and with which learners will engage; designing a curating process for remote learning content that will ensure safety and security of all users; designing algorithms to support tracking of student social-emotional well-being; and creating a recommendation system that determines the best interventions to suggest to students based on previous interactions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.