A New Way to Navigate the Shawnigan Journey

“It is a technological advancement; it’s not meant to replace anything,” said Mr. Declan Bartlett, Dean of Academics, Senior Years. “It gives them agency over their Shawnigan Journey, and it is available 24/7; they don’t have to wait in line, and they can verify their information with the Guidance team.”

 

In a demonstration during the Academic Course Selection Fair last week, Angus and his fellow Academic Captain, Bella Z., showed an observer how to use the Compass to determine the best courses at Shawnigan for someone interested in their respective post-secondary paths. The Academic Captains were part of the development process for the Shawnigan Compass, as they did the beta testing. The Academic, Guidance and IT teams were also involved, as was Heimbecker Inspiration Chair for Experiential Learning Ms. Emily Coolidge.

 

“We’re calling it an opportunity for students to sandbox ideas about careers,” said Mr. Bartlett. “It gives students an idea about what is on offer at Shawnigan, so they can have better and deeper conversations when they talk to the Guidance team, their Advisors, or their parents.”

 

The Compass was built in NotebookLM, which is powered by Gemini, Google’s AI platform. It has been developed with Shawnigan’s own documentation, including documents around course descriptions and selection process. The way it is built on NotebookLM, it can only comment on information that has been uploaded to it. It will tell students prerequisites for courses they will need to take, and they can upload their transcripts to find out how many credits they have and what they need next.

 

“It won’t make stuff up,” Mr. Bartlett stated. “If it doesn’t have the answer, it will tell them it isn’t in its documentation.”

 

Information on the platform is also not accessible outside of the Shawnigan community.

 

“We operate Google Workspace for Education and NotebookLM within a secure, School-administered domain,” Mr. Bartlett explained. “This means all student work and data remain under our control and are protected by enterprise-level security safeguards. Student information is not sold, mined for advertising, or shared outside the educational environment. We carefully review and configure all digital tools to ensure they meet privacy expectations and align with our responsibility to safeguard student data.”

 

All students have access to the Shawnigan Compass, including Grade 8s who want to jumpstart their academic aspirations before they have regular appointments with Guidance Counsellors.

 

The Compass will continue to grow, with plans to upload documentation from the BC and AP curricula. The Guidance Office will be able to add information from specific universities.

 

“We will update it year on year,” said Mr. Bartlett. “It is a living platform, and all the sources will be verified by us.”

 

The Academic Captains, who are in Grade 12, were excited to show it to the younger students, and admittedly wished it had been available earlier.

 

“It would have been nice if we had this,” Angus said.

Even with access to the Compass, Mr. Bartlett noted that the course-selection process is still “human-heavy,” with extensive involvement from the Guidance Office, advisors, parents, and other staff. The Compass was officially rolled out during the Academic Course Selection Fair, where staff members and senior students were stationed at tables in the library to let younger students know what will be available for next year.

 

“It helps limit the number of course switches next September,” said Brynn H., who was stationed at the AP Capstone booth. “The students will be better informed when they make their choices.”