Kognito has created products for each level of education — elementary, high school and higher ed — that include fully animated students who react to each conversation choice.
The Placer County Office of Education (PCOE) has begun to adopt the technology, using funds from the Mental Health Services Act through Placer County Health and Human Services. This funding allows the county to pay $20,000 a year over three years. Placer began using Kognito in the fall, although another version was offered previously, and the program will not be fully implemented until next fall, according to PCOE Community Affairs Director Kindra Britt.
Other districts that have begun implementing the program include Palo Alto Unified School District, Riverdale School District, Merced County, Oxnard School District, Sequoia School District and San Mateo Unified High School District.
"A lot of these districts did pilot, then adopt," Kognito's vice president of strategic partnerships, Jennifer Spiegler, told Techwire. "They [simulations] were free for a time, as part of CalMesa prevention and early-intervention statewide grant program, and at that time Palo Alto included them as part of a wellness curriculum that was optional for their teachers. They subsequently expanded."
Palo Alto is expanding to the student and LGBT versions. Palo Alto trained at least 540 users, according to 2016 data, of whom 94 percent found it useful and based in relevant scenarios. In addition, 95 percent of those users believed that it would help troubled students.
"The reason users are delighted is because this is a really engaging, hands-on experience," Spiegler said. "It's not sitting in a meeting or listening to a narrated PowerPoint slide show."
Some users have asked for more challenging scenarios, while others felt the student responses seemed appropriate.
"It's challenging as instructional designers, where you're designing for a class of user, not individual users. If you make it too hard, they're going to be disengaged," Spiegler said.
Pricing is based on the size of each district, but the product is "infinitely scalable," which allows counties to purchase licenses for multiple districts.
"An average district is going to pay around $10,000 or $15,000," Spiegler said.
Kognito is also developing anti-bullying and substance-abuse intervention programs.
