Gone are the days when mobile phones were viewed as the antithesis of learning. With nearly every student carrying a device at all times, what better way of delivering learning than by harnessing mobile technology and making education more stimulating, personalised and collaborative?
mSchools does just that. mSchools is a multi-faceted mEducation programme of Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCapital), in partnership with the Generalitat of Catalonia, Barcelona City Hall and the GSMA. It is focused on empowering students and teachers to integrate mobile technologies into the classroom, opening up new ways of teaching and learning that improve achievement and employability.
Last week, the mSchools mEducation programme celebrated its fifth anniversary in Barcelona with the mSchools Student Awards 2018; in these five years, mSchools has reached over 130,000 students and 3,300 teachers with the collaboration of more than 450 industry experts.
The mSchool Student Awards brought together more than 500 students from all over Catalonia, along with 2,000 members of the educational community. The innovation, enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit of the students was clear as they presented their projects – 118 of them to be precise – to a team of international judges including Mats Granryd, Director General of the GSMA; John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA, Ltd; and Carlos Grau, CEO of MWCapital, as well as the Ministers of Education and Digital Policy of Catalonia and other professionals and experts in the technology sector.
The projects spanned three categories: App Education, Mobile History Map and Scratch Challenge, with sustainability, biodiversity, gastronomy, gender equality and applied mathematics in the city amongst the most important themes in the projects created by the 25 award-winning teams. To continue developing their digital skills, some of these students will be able to participate in the mSchools TechCamp, a summer camp that combines outdoor activities and team building with training workshops on different aspects of Internet of Things (IoT), digital design and coding.
Mobile technology is an essential tool in student learning, inviting innovation, encouraging entrepreneurialism and connecting millions of people to the benefits of mobile learning. Mobile can also help teachers deliver a range of ways to improve student retention by building bridges between in-school and out-of-school learning for students at risk of falling behind their peers or dropping out of formal education systems altogether, by allowing them to learn in ways and at times that suit them best.
For more information on the mSchools Student Awards visit: http://mschools.mobileworldcapital.com/our-initiatives/mschools-student-awards/. Learn how mSchools is helping to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in this #Case4Change video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCJQv7OSSJ8