A sunny day in Karlstad, and conversations about AI in schools

The sun was shining over Tingvallagymnasiet when Forum Smarta Hållbara Karlstad opened its doors on 22 September. We were there to present Edith and talk about how AI can give staff in schools and student health services more time for their students.

Karlstad is no coincidence for us. Since this spring, Edith Care has been part of DigitalWell Incubator, based right here in Karlstad, and the municipality has long been at the forefront of digitalising welfare services. That was clear in the conversations after the presentation.

Among others, we spoke with psychologists and school psychologists, staff from student health and social services, school leaders, preschool principals and the municipality's digital development team. The questions came from different directions but landed in the same place: documentation takes time away from what staff are actually there to do. In student health, the mentor, teachers, special needs educator, school psychologist and principal follow each student together, and every point of contact has to be documented. In preschool, follow-up and analysis must be written by staff who would rather be with the children.

A development officer in student health services summed it up in the municipality's own post after the event: "If this can ease our administration and the investigation around a student, that would be very good."

That is where we believe Edith makes the biggest difference. Edith prepares and quality-assures the text so that the person making the assessment has time to make it. The record system remains the source, and the person who signs is always a human.

Thank you to Karlstad Municipality, DigitalWell Ventures and Health Data Sweden for a well-organised day, to the other startups taking part, and for all the conversations. We are bringing several threads home and look forward to following up on them this autumn.