- Educators go into teaching
in order to connect with students,
but we really think it is possible to equip educators
with more tools to make those connections easier.
- When you have a caring adult in the classroom,
that's only going to further the student's ability
to feel safe,
which will then translate into their ability
to thrive academically.
- What if we could leverage technology
to build relationships that accelerate student learning?
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
has brought together
a multidisciplinary team to develop a tool called Along
and it's helping teachers build stronger connections
with their students, and support their learning.
- I'm excited to be with my teacher now
that I know I can trust her,
and that she's not going to judge me.
- In education, not enough gets translated
from what we know about how students develop,
and that connection is a core piece
that unlocks their ability to be motivated and engaged.
- When students have strong connections with their teachers,
it can also lead to them
having stronger connections with each other.
Just one teacher-student connection can lead
to a whole school transformation.
- If we can create connection for that many more students,
that is a powerful role of technology.
- Early in the pandemic, when schools first let out,
we did a lot of research with students and teachers,
and one of the things that rose to the top
in those conversations,
was the absence of the connection.
One thing that we then came to realize though,
was that that connection
is something that teachers and students need year-long.
- You can't even overstate the power of relationships
for young people.
It shapes their sense of identity.
It gives them the confidence and autonomy
to shape their own lives.
- One way we want to innovate
is to build the solutions that may not exist today,
because it's hard to work across research,
into practice and into products.
I'm Sandra Liu Huang.
I am the Head of Education and VP of Product
at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
When Mark and Priscilla were thinking about
how could software be a part of their philanthropy,
I was so excited at that chance
to be able to build software in service of people,
and really, some of the toughest problems that we face.
For us, building something like Along,
is really about how do we make the connections
between the research and then the new tools
that need to be built for educators?
Along essentially takes research-based
questions and prompts—
we make those really easy for educators to pick up,
ask their students, and make those connections
as fast and as seamlessly as possible.
When a teacher asks a question,
they're opening the door
for a positive connection with students.
Kind of creates this like, bi-direction—
like, "I go, you go."
- Along allows for teachers and students to figure out
what is the right medium for them to communicate.
Some students might prefer to use video.
Some students might prefer to use audio.
Some students might just prefer to use text.
- When teachers and students are able
to share about themselves,
there's a connection at that
human level that is discovered.
- One of the unique things about working here at CZI,
is the opportunity to tap into lots of different expertise.
Worked with researchers, worked with educators,
worked with students.
We have the expertise of our tremendous product team,
our engineers, our designers.
I don't think there's any other place
where all those different disciplines can come together
to build a tool together.
- We're really fortunate to be able to work
with different partners in developing Along.
For example, Search Institute,
they have a framework for developmental relationships.
That became a backbone that we built the product around.
- Our mission really is to promote
positive youth development,
and also do research that impacts their lives,
that advances equity.
When teachers share about their lives,
it gives the opportunity for a true connection
with the young people that are in their lives every day.
- A really important question within Along is:
"What is something that you really value,
and why do you value it?"
It helps the teacher to share a little bit
about the things that matter to them,
but also at the same time,
it helps the teacher see them as a whole person.
- That gives us, really a starting point
to discover commonalities
in what we value and what we care about.
- Along allows you to build relationships with kids,
that maybe you wouldn't have time to in the classroom.
It's so valuable that every student has that opportunity.
- Through Along, I feel like I have the confidence
to finally tell a teacher how I'm feeling.
- I really want to say thanks to Along because without that,
I really don't think I would've built such a bond
I have with my homeroom teacher right now.
- When teachers have strong connection with their students,
they might be reminded,
this is the joy of why they got into the profession.
Seeing their students light up
and seeing that they're invested,
it also then translates into stronger learning
for their classes.
- Student well-being really is in support
of academic achievement.
What we hope for Along,
is that we're just getting started.
There are more pieces of this that we can build
with feedback from educators
in partnership with our grantees and other
experts in the field,
to really say, "What are the other aspects of learning
that need to be in the school building?"
How do we make more of those experiences
easier for teachers to do,
and that we can continue to build into similar experiences
like we have with Along today?