Ragunda municipality

After reading about AV1, Malin contacted her principal and explained what the school needed and how the school robot could be a solution. The principal jumped at the idea and immediately bought three robots for the municipality.

"We chose to bring in AV1 because we wanted to create as normal a school situation as possible when things are not normal, such as illness or problematic school absences," says Malin.

Malin further explains that she and the principal saw the purchase as a cost-saving measure, as the school would normally have solved the situation through homeschooling. The pupil would then have had to work on assignments at home, both on their own and with the help of a teacher. A solution they had tried before and which had not been optimal.

"It is expensive to have two teachers, and it is also questionable in terms of work to have teaching at home. With AV1 we have avoided double planning and home visits. Another advantage of this kind of tool is that the classroom environment becomes quite natural for the student. After all, it's the school's job to create good school attendance, in various ways," says Malin.

Experiences and challenges with AV1

According to Malin, the experience of AV1 at Hansåkerskolan has been positive, both from students, guardians and classmates, and many have been surprised that the technology exists. She also describes how the pupils have curiously asked questions when the robot has appeared in the classroom and that they are usually satisfied when they receive an answer that the absent pupil cannot participate physically, but is on site via their robot.

Although Malin sees predominant advantages with the school tool, she emphasises that there are some challenges that the school should be aware of. The biggest challenge, according to her, is stable and good internet, as schools located in a sparsely populated municipality, as Hansåkerskolan does, do not always have access to it.

The AV1 comes with inbuilt 4G, but this is not always enough for long lessons. So a good internet is important to have in place at school," says Malin.

In addition to stable internet, she also believes that the school and teachers should be prepared to do extra planning on how to teach when you have an AV1 in the classroom. She points out that double planning is not required in the same way as for homeschooling, but that it can be good, for example, to link a film to the student in advance if this is something that will be shown during the lesson. According to Malin, preparations like this give the student the opportunity to learn the same content as the other students in the classroom.

The biggest benefit is togetherness

According to Malin, the biggest benefit of AV1 is that students who are absent can follow the lessons in real time. That these students do not miss the chatter in the classroom.  

"What I can see with AV1 that has really helped us is that it creates a sense of belonging to the school, the student is not here but can still follow the lessons, they get to be part of the class, there is no double track and it feels incredibly important for me as a principal to create that condition for my absent students," says Malin.

Malin also explains that she is happy to have AV1 in her school unit, even though she hopes not to have to use it because of the pupil's reason for being absent from school. However, she emphasises how nice it is to know that the next time the school finds itself in a situation where a student is going to be absent, they can start an intervention immediately. An intervention that, according to Malin, minimises absences and the loss of knowledge that might otherwise occur.

When asked what she would say to other schools that are thinking about acquiring AV1, the answer is:

"Just go for it! There is absolutely nothing to lose, only to gain."

Malin's advice to other schools

• Have access to stable internet
• Have a clear dialogue with parents and students about what AV1 is and what it can do. So that they understand that it is a tool, that it is a bridge back to the classroom, that there are some differences to being in the classroom physically.
• Inform teachers at school about how AV1 works. It can be good to be open about the fact that "we learn as we go", as most people are usually in favour of this.
• Choose a person in the school who is extra responsible for the school robot and the student who uses it. A person that the AV1 user can turn to if it does not work properly. In our school, that's me.

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