Schools, TVET colleges and universities
Make classes, run the grid lab and robot sessions, mark hand-ins, give the concept check, ask MCM for help and follow your pilot. Only your school sees your learners’ names.
MCM Educator · for schools, colleges, universities and officials
The platform behind the robotics programme
MCM Educator is where the MCM Robotics education programme runs: classes with picture sign-in on class tablets, the grid lab, robot sessions behind a safety checklist, the educator bootcamp and ready-to-teach sign-off, and a measured 90-day pilot. It keeps as little as it can about learners and shows it only to the people who teach them.
Now: a demonstration platform with made-up schools. The first pilot schools follow the legal review.
- Platform
- Demonstration, made-up schools only
- Sign-in
- Password + emailed 6-digit code
- First stage
- Explore · Grade 4–6 · 16 hours
- Pilot
- 90 days · 4 phases · 6 measures
- Learner names
- Never seen by MCM or officials
Who it is for
One platform, four kinds of user
Learners
Sign in on a class tablet with the class code and their picture card, only while the class is open. Grade R to 3 have no sign-in: the educator records the activity. Grade 10 and up get their own sign-in later.
MCM trainers
Register and test each robot, sign the bootcamp modules, take a school to ready to teach, answer support requests and run the pilot with the school.
Officials
Follow the institutions and the pilots in your district or province, as totals and per pilot school, with no one named and nothing that rests on fewer than 5 people.
Choosing the robots first? Plan your lab with the Education Navigator
What is built
From the class tablet to the pilot’s decision
The first slice covers one school running the 90-day pilot at the Explore stage (Grade 4 to 6), from the robot’s acceptance test to the decision at the end.
Classes and picture sign-in
An educator makes a class, adds learners by first name and initial, prints their picture cards and sets up the classroom tablet as a class device. Learners sign in only while the educator has the class open: the class code, their name, then three pictures in the order on their card.
The grid lab
Learners plan a robot’s route on a floor grid with Forward, Turn left and Turn right, run it, find the bug and try again. The platform runs every program itself and keeps the result, and shows the same program as Python.
Robot sessions behind the safety checklist
A robot runs only after a six-point checklist on the operator’s phone: emergency stop tested, marked zone, a trained adult who runs it and stays, firmware as on record, Bluetooth off, isolated network. The platform also checks that the robot passed its acceptance test and that the person running it is trained. If one box is empty, nothing starts.
Hand-ins and marking
Learners hand in their first try and their improved run of the Fix the bug task, with a few words on what they changed. Educators mark each criterion from 1 Not yet to 4 Excellent, and the platform works out the weighted total.
The concept check
A short check at the start and at the end of the course shows what the class understood. It is not a test: learners see no score, and the platform scores the answers itself.
The bootcamp and ready to teach
Four bootcamp modules of 4 hours, each signed off by MCM. A school is ready to teach when two staff have all four modules, an approved lesson has been rehearsed with its unplugged fallback, a robot has passed its acceptance test and the support route with MCM is agreed. The platform refuses the sign-off while anything is missing.
Lessons MCM approves
The six stages of the teaching ladder and their course outlines are on the platform. Explore has six lessons, each with its steps, safety notes, robot part and an unplugged fallback. Only lessons MCM has approved reach a class.
Support requests
Schools raise a request and get a reference, like SR-000012. Safety concerns and robots that cannot be used go to the top of MCM’s list, and the time to MCM’s first answer and to the solution is measured.
The measured 90-day pilot
From the day the robot passes its acceptance test: a 90-day clock in four phases, checkpoints taken from the records, six measures and a decision with MCM at the end.
The measured 90-day pilot
Ninety days, six measures, one decision
Day 1 is the day the robot passes its acceptance test. Each phase has checkpoints taken from what the school already records, and a checkpoint is late when its phase ends without it.
- Days 1–15Accept and prepareA robot that passed its acceptance test, two educators through the bootcamp, a lesson rehearsed, ready to teach signed
- Days 16–30Simulate and introduceA lesson taught, a supervised robot session, the baseline concept check
- Days 31–60Teach one cohortA hand-in marked, three or more robot sessions
- Days 61–90Review and decideThe post concept check, the cost inputs, the decision
The six measures
- Learners who complete an assessed taskLearners with a marked hand-in, out of the learners in the pilot classes.
- Before-and-after concept scoresThe average change between the baseline and the post check.
- Educators teaching without supportTheir last three pilot lessons with no MCM trainer present and no support request open.
- Supervised robot hoursWith the sessions, the cancelled ones and any incidents.
- Support requestsWith the median hours to MCM’s first answer and to the solution.
- Full cost per learner-yearHardware, setup, contingency and running costs over the years in use, per learner, in Rand ex VAT.
The platform computes the measures from the records and recalculates them every 10 minutes; nothing is typed in twice. At the end, the school and MCM decide: more cohorts, more partners, more robots, or stop. Officials see each pilot school and the totals, rounded, with nothing that rests on fewer than 5 people.
Learners’ privacy by design
Names stay with the school
Learners are children. The platform keeps as little as it can about them and shows it only to the people who teach them.
| Who | Names | Lab work, marks and scores | Learners’ own words and feedback |
|---|---|---|---|
| Institution admin | Every learner at the school | The whole school | Yes |
| Educator | Learners in their own classes | Their own classes | Their own classes |
| MCM trainers and admins | Never | By pseudonym code only | Never |
| District and department officials | Never | Pilot figures only, nothing on fewer than 5 people | Never |
| Learners | Their own | Their own, on the class tablet | Their own |
- A learner is a code. Each learner has a pseudonym code, like L-7Q4K2M. The name is a first name and an initial, kept in a separate record. No full surname, birthday, ID number, address or phone number is asked for.
- Consent first. The school records that a parent or guardian signed the consent form, and keeps the signed forms itself. No consent, no sign-in; a withdrawal signs the learner out at their next step.
- Erasure is the school’s decision. The name, the picture card, the class places, every lab run, hand-in, mark and concept answer, and the sign-in go. The erasure is also written outside the database, so a restored backup cannot bring the learner back. A learner who left is erased 12 months later by the platform itself, a period the lawyer still has to confirm.
- Backups. Encrypted and signed every night, kept 30 days, with a restore rehearsed every week.
- An audit trail without names. Opening a page with learners’ names, every download and every erasure are written to the audit log, without the names.
Built around POPIA’s conditions for children’s information (sections 34 and 35). The consent form, the agreement between MCM Robotics and each school, and how long information is kept go through a legal review before the first real school joins.
Where it stands
A working platform, shown with made-up schools
The first slice, from robot acceptance to the pilot’s decision, with automated tests at every step and a security review by the people who built it. A test by someone outside the project comes before real schools join.
The demonstration platform at educator.mcmrobotics.co.za: made-up schools (Demo Primary School, Demo High School, Demo TVET College), made-up classes and learners, and the testers’ own accounts. Every page says so along the bottom.
The first pilot schools, once the legal review is signed off, the school has signed its agreement with MCM Robotics and its consent forms are ready.
Loaner robot bookings, file hand-ins, the lessons of the stages after Explore (their outlines are already on the platform) and a sign-in of their own for Grade 10 and up.
Questions
MCM Educator, answered
Who can register?
Schools, TVET colleges and universities, district offices and education departments, and partners of MCM Robotics. MCM Robotics reviews every registration.
What happens after I register?
MCM Robotics reviews your registration. If it is approved, you get an email from MCM Educator, "You are invited to MCM Educator", with a link to choose your password. The link works once, for 24 hours. After that you sign in with your password and a 6-digit code that MCM Educator emails you each time.
Can we use it with our real learners now?
Not yet. Until the legal review is done, access is to the demonstration platform, with made-up schools, classes and learners. Never enter a real learner, a real child’s name or a real school’s details there. The first pilot schools follow once the legal review is signed off, the school has signed its agreement with MCM Robotics and its consent forms are ready.
Does this website keep my password?
No. This website only takes your registration. You choose your password on the platform itself, at educator.mcmrobotics.co.za, and you sign in there.
Why pictures and not passwords for young learners?
Learners in Grade 4 to 9 sign in on a classroom tablet that their educator set up as a class device: the class code, their name, then three pictures in the order on their card, and only while the educator has the class open. Five wrong tries lock the pictures until the educator issues new ones. Grade R to 3 have no sign-in: the educator records the activity.
What do district and department officials see?
The institutions and the 90-day pilots in their district or province: totals and each pilot school. Never a learner or a staff member by name, never one learner’s marks or scores, and no figure that rests on fewer than 5 people. The figures they see are rounded, with the number of people given as a range.
Where is learners’ information kept?
On the demonstration platform there is none: every school, class and learner there is made up. Where real learners’ information is kept is decided before the first real school joins.
What does it cost?
Pricing for schools is set before the first pilot schools join. Ask us with Request information on this page.
- 01Register
Tell us who you are and what the access is for. The website keeps it and sends it to MCM Robotics.
- 02MCM reviews
MCM Robotics reviews every registration and replies by email.
- 03Your invitation
Approved? You get the email “You are invited to MCM Educator” with a link to choose your password. It works once, for 24 hours.
- 04Sign in
On the platform, with your password and a 6-digit code emailed to you each time. This website never sees your password.
Registration sent
We have your registration
Your reference is . MCM Robotics reviews every registration.
If it is approved, you get an email from MCM Educator, “You are invited to MCM Educator”, with a link to choose your password. It works once, for 24 hours.
We also sent a confirmation to your email address.
Question sent
We have your question
Your reference is . One of our team will reply within one business day.
We also sent a confirmation to your email address.
Approved users
Sign in to MCM Educator
Sign in on the platform with your password and the 6-digit code MCM Educator emails you each time. Invitation link expired or lost, or password forgotten? Email us and we send you a new link.