By Andrew Edwards
Staff Writer
Duwan Walker has taken his talents from the gridiron and moved them to Alabama’s public school systems.
After serving as defensive coordinator under Bill Clark at Prattville High School from 1999-2008, Walker then made the jump to the collegiate level by following Clark as an assistant to Joey Jones at South Alabama. Walker then was hired by Clark at Jacksonville State as defensive coordinator before following him to UAB to fill the same DC position.
Walker served as DC under Clark at UAB in 2014, a year before the program shut down. However, once the sport was brought back in 2016, Walker remained in his DC position to help revitalize the team.
“It was difficult to pull it all back together. Most coaches left, accepting positions at other schools. A lot of our players left, and understandably, so we had to basically start at ground zero and build a team from scratch,” Walker said.
But it was during that time off that Walker found his true calling.
“While the program was shut down, I had a lot of time to really get to know my family again. It was there that the vision came to develop a program that really bridges the gap to what’s missing in the high school transcript process. We wanted to develop a program that takes high schoolers transcripts and interprets them into a simpler form where parents, students, educators, and coaches can track his or her progress toward not only graduation, but also NCAA eligibility,” Walker said.
And thus, Hi.Ed. was born – standing for Hyper Individualized Education Design.
The process is entirely web-based and can be accessed from any mobile device. Typically, school systems will buy the product for their students to use; however, Walker made it clear that individual students can buy the product, completely independent of whether the school offers it or not.
When broken down, the system can be viewed from five different components.
The first, being Academics. Here, the student can easily track their graduation requirements.
“The program takes the transcript and makes it user-friendly and easy to understand. You may go to five different high schools with five different types of transcripts, but this program creates a common language and builds transparency from school to home,” Walker said.
The Academics page shows what credits the student has taken at whatever schools they have attended, and how many they still need to take to graduate. There is a separate section where students can see their overall GPA and compare it to the base GPA requirements that Alabama colleges will accept. The same goes for ACT and SAT scores.
Moreover, Hi.Ed. allows the student to see when and where ACT testing will take place in Alabama for the remainder of the year.
Next, is the Athletics component – which tracks the student-athlete’s progress towards NCAA eligibility for their freshman year. It interprets high school core classes (English, Math, and Science) as well as ACT and SAT scores, and presents itself in a way that helps students and parents alike to understand the intricate NCAA freshman requirements.
Then, there’s the Composition Results component that pulls data from the first two. It allows you see how the school is performing overall. In Athletics, it lets you see what percentage of your students are on track to graduate and be eligible to play immediately in the NCAA.
The fourth component is the market, which is where third parties can come in and advertise surplus materials. It can be used as a platform to allow for businesses and other colleges to connect with one another.
Finally, there is the virtual life component. This is a gaming portal where students can go in and explore what type of major they may want to be a part of in college. It also teaches students what life is like after school.
“We have three goals with virtual life. We want to teach students how to budget. We want to teach them how to be responsible, such as credit scores. We also want to them to understand retirement. It’s completely changed the dynamics of education in the classroom,” Walker said.
Within this portal, students can rent a house, buy a car, and choose a career path. Students have to log in everyday, pay bills, and deal with real life problems – such as what to do with a car that has a dead transmission.
Currently, Walker’s tech has found its way into 22 schools in Alabama – some of which are Troy City Schools, Thompson, Midfield, Spanish Fort, and Montgomery public schools.
“The experience has been awesome, and the schools have been on board with the implementation of Hi.Ed. Our mission is to assist counselors and administrators. How can we help YOU be more effective and efficient,” Walker said.
In just two short years, Walker is changing the way the transcript process will be viewed forever – and he’s not stopping there.
“We’d love to see every student in the state of Alabama take advantage of this tool. We want it to be a common language that Hi.Ed is making a difference, not just in our state, but across the country as well,” Walker said.
It started with a vision, and now it’s a reality. Walker’s tech is sweeping the state, making the transcript process easier for high schoolers, guiding them in the right direction, and teaching them valuable life skills every step of the way.
