mSchools presents a showcase for educational applications evaluated by teachers and education professionals

• The major markets offer thousands of education sector applications, which makes it difficult and laborious for individuals to select the right ones. Toolbox is a resource to identify the solutions that best adapt to classrooms
• Toolbox offers teachers, students and parents access to mobile content that is previously evaluated, classified and of great educational value
• The initiative forms part of the mSchools programme, backed by Mobile World Capital Barcelona and GSMA to promote learning through the use of mobile technology

May 20, 2015

mSchools launches ToolBox, a showcase for educational mobile applications evaluated by Catalonian teachers in accordance with educational and curricular compliance criteria. The platform came about with a view to grouping education applications that are useful for the improvement of learning and teaching processes.

Starting today teachers can access and register on the toolbox.mobileworldcapital.com platform to provide their feedback on the content. Toolbox already boasts more than 100 tested applications and will continue to grow thanks to contributions from educators. All the information is accessible for anyone wishing to search for education applications, for both classroom and domestic use.

The main app stores for mobile devices currently list thousands of education-related apps. In this scenario, Toolbox makes it easier for the educational community to introduce and evaluate these applications, based on its own experience and observing the methodology established by the Regional Government of Catalonia’s Department of Education. Through these contributions Toolbox will function as a go-to resource facilitating searches for apps aligned with the school curriculum. The platform also allows teachers to share their most positive experiences using these applications by including their comments and reviews.

In an initial stage members of the education community can assess paid and free applications available for the iOS and Android operating systems.

Toolbox forms part of mSchools, the programme backed by Mobile World Capital Barcelona in collaboration with the Regional Government of Catalonia, the City of Barcelona, and GSMA to promote learning using mobile technology.

Evaluation methodology

Teachers’ participation with Toolbox will make possible the creation of a directory of education apps chosen and evaluated by teachers. Applications for mobile devices are classified according to different criteria: type, education level and subject, among others.

Each app has its own data sheet with a brief description, information on its characteristics – age, language, basic skills on which it focuses, type of resource, accessibility, privacy, advertising levels, etc. – and details regarding access to the application: download links, operating systems, etc.

The applications evaluated can also include sections for experiences in which teachers present how they have applied them in the classroom, specifying type of activity, tasks performed, projects on which the application or applications were used, time usage, and evaluation method.

Official presentation of Toolbox

Toolbox was rolled out for the education community on May 6, when attendees learned about the procedure to evaluate and share applications with their colleagues. The training session, led by the directors of the Learning and Knowledge Technologies (LKT) Area of the Regional Government of Catalonia’s Department of Education, drew some 50 teachers from all across Catalonia.