For Teachers
Device stuck or unresponsive?
Check internet first. Tap the gear icon and check:
- Are you connected to school wifi?
- Tap the Wifi name, look for Privacy Setting
- Set to
Use device MAC(not "Randomised MAC") - Try holding down the power button and restart
Quick fix: If you have internet trouble, you can hotspot to your phone as a short-term fix. A lesson with 20 minutes of teacher input and 100 student questions uses roughly 0.05GB of data.
Linking and unlinking student devices
On the student device, tap "Unlink". From the list of teacher devices, select the name of the teacher device you want to link to. Each teacher device displays its name in the top left of its screen.
Logging into the teacher portal
Go to app.robynrobot.com and login with whatever you normally use to login to school email (Microsoft or Google).
For Students
Good questions to ask Robyn
Students get the best results when they're specific about what help they need:
- "I came in late because I had a violin lesson. Please help me catch up. What is this lesson about? What did the teacher say? What should I be doing now?"
- "Help me get started" / "I don't get it" / "I don't understand what [x] even means"
- "I don't understand the teacher's explanation of [x]. Please explain it in a different way."
- "Please give me another example of [x]"
- "Please help me uplevel this sentence: [...]"
- "I have finished the task the teacher set. Please give me a more challenging version of the work."
- "Please give me five multiple choice questions to test my understanding."
Sharing a photo of work
To get specific help when sharing a photo, students can say what they want first:
"I am going to share a photo of my work. I would like you to [check the grammar / help me uplevel it / help me include a fronted adverbial / check it is correct]"
...wait for the answer, then upload the photo as the next question.
For School Leaders
Data privacy: the basics
Here's what you need to know to answer questions about data protection:
Teacher device
Robyn takes a snapshot of the board every few seconds and records audio during teacher input. The raw files are discarded after processing, so we only retain the text of what the teacher said and a text description of what appeared on the board.
Student device
Raw audio is discarded after transcription. Images are retained so teachers can view what students submitted, but can be deleted on request. We don't know which student is using which device, so we don't hold any personally identifiable information about students.
Note on retention: Currently we discard raw files 45 days after processing to retain test data for troubleshooting. We will reduce this gradually — long-term, raw files will be discarded moments after processing.
Useful documentation
- Data Processing Agreement — you will have agreed to this when the pilot started
- DPIA suggested wording — if you decide to complete a full Data Protection Impact Assessment, we have template wording available (responsibility for the DPIA lies with the school)
- Privacy policy wording — suggested text if you want to update your school privacy policy to mention Robyn Robot
Communicating to parents
If you send a parent communication about Robyn's arrival in school, here's a succinct description:
"Robyn Robot is a prototype robot teaching assistant. It sits quietly in the classroom watching the board and listening to the teacher. It can then answer questions from students about the lesson. Students can speak to it, or show it their work, and they will receive a spoken answer. Its aim is to help students make some progress without needing to wait for attention from their teacher: it will give them a hint to get started, or remind them about what the teacher said, or give them feedback on their work, or give them a more challenging task if they have completed the work set. It is rather magical."