Covid has impacted and changed every industry as we know it. The pandemic highlighted changes to our needs in how we connect to one another as people. For high school students, this is no exception.

We met with several high school students in the United States and Costa Rica who described their experience as isolating, boring, and lonely. The solution they created for themselves was to reach for their phones to connect with their friends through a messenger like WhatsApp, or social media like Snapchat or Instagram.

Pass Class is a solution to the anxious feelings high school students face in a virtual learning environment. Since it was natural for them to pick up their phone to pacify these anxious feelings, Pass Class asked the question if it were possible for their phones to be a vehicle through which they can be engaged.

Pass Class is an integrated desktop and mobile learning platform. Teachers are able to conduct the lessons for the day from within the desktop environment and students use their phones as a remote to complete tasks. In the highlighted example, the students are prompted to gather into virtual groups–similar to zoom breakout rooms–in order to collect photos of flowers that reflect their biology lesson. Once all the groups have completed the task, they are brought back into a virtual whiteboard where the instructor is able to see and review each of the group’s work.

Pass Class creates strong virtual connection by combining physical movement, connection to the physical environment, and an engaging interactive virtual platform. With these elements, high school students are able to stay engaged in their lessons as well as feel more connected to their peers from within a virtual environment.