Driven by our core mission to educate the next generation and cultivate new forms of knowledge, CityU fosters a culture of entrepreneurship where innovative thinking is inspired and nurtured. It is an ongoing commitment that we strive to demonstrate through our support for local start-ups, through which young entrepreneurs are introducing thoughtful and functional solutions to address existing gaps in society. These solutions include emerging innovations in the field of educational technology (EdTech).
Relieving the burden of paperwork for SEN support that matters
Have you ever wondered what paperwork is like for teachers and social workers today, particularly for those in special education? According to government statistics, there are currently around 50,000 special education needs (SEN) students attending ordinary schools; where many processes and procedures are involved when it comes to individual assessments. This has been incredibly challenging for SEN teaching staff and social workers who often find the amount of complex paperwork daunting, leaving them with little-to-no time to provide SEN students with the support they truly need.
In a bid to solve this problem, Snaildy – a recipient under CityU Knowledge Transfer Office’s SEEDS funding programme in June 2020 – launched a new digital platform that aims to streamline administrative processes for SEN education frontline workers. Its co-founder Patrick Lau, who was a social worker in a secondary school shared, “I felt ashamed for not having any time to talk to my SEN students and ask after their needs – even for months! All because I was cooped up in my office, buried in documents.”
Aware that there was a lack of smart solutions in the market at the time to solve the frontline workers’ pain points, Patrick sought help from his college friend, Rex Law, to build a system for enhancing efficiency in providing SEN support in schools. After two and a half years of hard work and dedication, they managed to complete the Snaildy platform with their own development team.
As motivated start-up founders, Patrick and Rex want to continue utilising the advantages of technology to lay the groundwork for a more connected SEN service ecosystem, as they facilitate the growth of SEN students to promote a more inclusive culture among schools, families and the community.
Snaildy – enhancing efficiency via SEN data storage and access
Unlike traditional software designed for handling documents, Snaildy is a Cloud platform that stores, groups and organises thousands of files related to SEN students. Besides updating data across files simultaneously, it can also export individual data sets for easier storage. This saves users the trouble of updating data multiple times in separate locations. It also prevents the confusion from finding inconsistent data across files should users forget to update any of them.
On top of storing data, Snaildy enables the generation of detailed reports for sharing with parents or the Education Bureau in a more efficient way. Based on data sets, the smart system can even conduct automatic analyses and offer suggestions for individualised educational plans (IEPs). “We’ll be moving towards big data development and AI for more accurate suggestions in the future,” Patrick added.
In addition to centralising the handling of SEN-related documents, including all kinds of records and evaluation reports, the system also collates all the assessments and strategies social workers, educational psychologists and class teachers have conducted. This integration enhances communication amongst different parties, making future planning and assessments a lot easier as users can simply output reports from the platform without complex paperwork or the risk of human error. A user-friendly system, it offers different interfaces for reading and extracting student profiles, IEPs or progress reports from. For extra security, all data are double-encrypted and can only be accessed by designated staff.
Maximising opportunities for progress amidst the pandemic
Snaildy was launched at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when there was much confusion over online teaching arrangements worldwide. Patrick and Rex shared the mixed reactions from schools when they tried to introduce the product to them: “Although staff were feeling drained at the time, they were also inspired by the idea of accessing SEN students’ data as usual while working from home.”
While it has been a challenge trying to reach out to potential users – “we even have difficulty making cold calls!” – there is now more awareness around using technology to improve administrative efficiency. This continues to create more opportunities for the duo, who charge annual subscription fees for Snaildy access depending on the number of SEN students in the school.
To date, the system has been recognised by various local bodies and awarded in several entrepreneurship competitions. A few dozen primary and secondary schools are currently benefitting from Snaildy, one of which has over 160 SEN students. On top of maintaining a support system for schools, Snaildy now also provides schools and NGOs with diversified SEN support services such as workshops, talks and sharing sessions, in fostering mutually cooperative relationships within the SEN field.
As its name suggests, Snaildy’s co-founders hope to progressively improve SEN education in Hong Kong one step at a time – with snail-like patience. With more and more schools using the system, frontline workers will finally be able to focus their time and effort on what truly matters: the needs of their SEN students. As one of the many who have supported them on their journey, CityU is proud of how far they have come in driving innovation to meet the challenges of the digital revolution head on.