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HIS Vaccination Passport App

Our Story & Inspiration 

Personal Excellence & Leaders Linked, Locally & Globally             

 

The Team: 

Maka C (Grade 12), Luke B (Grade 11), Mr Lee (parent), Mr Voogt (faculty)

 

Problem-Finding: 

With the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, the commitment to keeping our community safe, and the desire to regain an element of social parent community on campus, how might we support safer access to campus in a streamlined way?

 

Solution-Seeking: 

The goal was to create a functional app that would immediately indicate at the gate access point that a parent has been fully vaccinated, without having to remember to carry their vaccination certificate which would need to be assessed by our guards.   

 

What did we learn?

We learnt that:

  • Making an app has as much to do with client design, user experience and communication as the actual technical programming skills.

  • It was helpful to test the functionality on a small group of our community to seek feedback.

  • We needed to ensure privacy of digital information

  • We needed systems behind the scenes for approving the application, both from a medical perspective and from a behind the scenes “true” approval in the programme.

  • Making an app that could be downloaded from Google Play or the Apple App store has complications that were not currently surmountable.

 

What was the outcome?

We designed a mobile optimised website on which community members can create an account and have their vaccine certificate approved.  This can be shown at the gate for smoother access to campus.

 

What’s the data?

Registration for the app was rolled out to the community and accounts were being approved and activated.  The total number of approved accounts is 242.

 

Thoughts on what might be next? 

We wonder if there might be a role for rolling this out to students.  Currently, we do not require vaccination for our students, so it is unclear what the purpose of this would be.  We have started rolling this out to non-HIS members who have reason to be on campus. After a few months of testing at HIS, we might consider offering it, for a cost, to other external schools or organisations that could benefit from such an app.  

 

Becomes part of HIS culture?

As we continue to navigate the pandemic, we see that the app will be a functional, integrated tool for parents.  In terms of sustainability, as Maka is in Grade 12 and has limited time to maintain the app and provide upgrades, Luke has shadowed Maka in the development of the system, and will be able to take this responsibility on as the year progresses.  In terms of STEM and design, we also believe that there is inherent value in learning programming and applying designing thinking. 

 

Scale across? Scale up?

We wonder how we can best embed STEM more at all levels of learning at HIS.  In addition to the HIS-supported EdX courses, how would this look like at a curriculum level for younger students?