Meet the Mini-Devs at Newlands Intermediate

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of attending the launch of an exciting new education app called Mixiply at Newlands Intermediate School here in Wellington.

The story of Mixiply started back in 2017, when digital design teacher, Marianne Malmstrom , attended the Future Realities – AI, IoT and AR/VR Hackathon in Wellington where she met up with Jim Taylor, who is the Emerging Technologies Architect at Theta (NZ) . Jim and Marianne ended up collaborating on a pitch for the Hackathon which their team ended up winning!

Jim realised there was an opportunity for students and Theta to work together. Theta agreed, and put up some development money, with the caveat that the students would be part of that development. This is part of the Theta innovation lab philosophy: you don’t develop new technologies in a lab in isolation, you have to involve the end users.

Their collaboration resulted in Marianne returning to her job at Newlands Intermediate and establishing a student group she called her MiniDevs. Marianne’s idea had gelled nicely with Jim’s plan to design a platform that would allow users to create pop-up mixed reality ‘museums’ using the Hololens – an idea that Marianne hoped would help schools move past content and focus on the learning that happens when students create their own content.

Marianne now runs a series of HackMinis (her version of hackathons for kids) for every class at Newlands Intermediate. Every team must use Mixiply to document their learning and give the final presentations – because it was built for self-driven learning. With this experience under their belt, her students have also participated in another Hackathon organised by Microsoft, in which they had the opportunity to pitch their ideas, form teams and create a prototype for an app, game or activity that will benefit their community. 

“This is a real product – whether it actually comes to fruition and is launched isn’t the point. The process is what we’re interested in, because this isn’t a game or an exercise. The entire process is incredibly authentic,” Marianne says. “We’ve all come together in this space, the kids, the educators and the developers. With our three perspectives, we can create something much more robust and authentic.”

Jim, an emerging technologies architect at Theta, agrees wholeheartedly, and says he’s privileged to have the opportunity to experience the lateral and innovative thinking the MiniDevs have brought to the development table. “It’s great to be able to come and work in the community and help these guys and girls understand what’s involved in the software process. But they’re also helping us, because we’re getting first-hand, invaluable input into the platform. The kids are really good at challenging you and introducing you to new ideas that maybe as a grown-up, somebody who’s a bit more formal in their thinking through years of working in the industry, might not have come up with. It really helps with the creative process, having that interaction.”

Jim is quick to say that Mixiply isn’t just a tool — “it’s a comprehensive ecosystem that empowers users to create, learn, and innovate. By combining state-of-the-art technology with intuitive design, Mixiply is setting new standards in digital creation and collaborative learning,” he told me.

Here’s some screenshots they shared with me of the AI in action …

plus this aid for capturing reflections:

… and the new interactive, collaborative whiteboard …

As you may tell, I was enormously impressed with what I saw and heard at Newlands, and through my conversations with Marianne and Jim – not just with the product, Mixiply, but also with the entire process of how it has been developed, and continues to evolve. This is a superb example of what can be achieved through effective partnerships between schools and their community – drawing on the wealth of talent that exists beyond the school gate and bringing this into the experience of the students’ learning. Of course, none of that happens just by saying it should – I need to acknowledge the passion and enthusiasm of Jim and Marianne, as well as the permission-giving leadership of the NIS principal, Angela Lowe. This is an example of the learning ecosystem working well!

Want to learn more?

The AI in Education Community of Practice, coordinated by Tim Gander from AcademyX, currently has over 500 members, all interested in sharing the challenges and opportunities they face in understanding more about AI in education. They hold fortnightly virtual meetings on Monday’s from 5pm. Their next meeting, on Monday 2 September will feature Jim and Marianne speaking about Mixiply and their experiences together in establishing the MiniDevs group, and how the product is being used and developed by the students. Click here to join this community and receive an invitation to the next meeting where you can hear more of Jim and Marianne’s story.