Mobile World Capital and GSMA invest €2.5M in an educational programme to introduce mobile phones in Catalan classrooms

• The mSchools programme is committed to training secondary school students in the creation and use of mobile solutions.
• The investment will be made at a rate of half a million euros per year for the next 5 years, with the aim of improving academic performance and reducing the dropout rate.
• With the active participation of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, GSMA partners with the Generalitat de Catalunya to develop mobile initiatives in schools.

July 18, 2013

Mobile World Capital Barcelona and the GSMA – an umbrella organisation for the world’s leading mobile operators – today unveiled an educational programme to help secondary school students in Catalonia work with mobile technology in the classroom. The programme, called mSchools and supported by the Government of Catalonia, aims to reduce school dropout rates, improve student performance and ultimately better prepare students for the needs of today’s digital world.

GSMA, through Mobile World Capital Barcelona, will invest 2.5 million in this initiative until 2018. The investment includes management and specific technological development and will take the form of half a million euros per year for the period 2014-2018. This initiative is the continuation of a pilot programme carried out earlier this year by the GSMA itself and the Generalitat de Catalunya.

New subjects, use of apps and prizes for the most active students

The organisation that brings together the world’s leading mobile operators teamed up last February with the Generalitat de Catalunya and Barcelona City Council to develop mobile initiatives in schools. From there, the GSMA carried out a pilot scheme. Ninety-five percent of the students who participated said that learning via mobile devices was motivating. The findings of this pilot are coupled with GSMA’s previous experience in implementing similar programmes in countries such as the UK.

The introduction of mobile solutions in Catalan classrooms will be addressed through four initiatives:

• App Education: is the name of the academic programme focused on the conceptualisation and design of apps that will form part of the 4th ESO Computing subject. The aim of this subject is for students to come up with creative concepts in the form of applications that can be useful in their daily lives. Professional technology developers and a dozen companies will support and advise the students, providing industry insight and pursuing the viability of the projects.
• The boosting of student entrepreneurship: through a programme designed to encourage and promote local initiatives in mEducation that will be led by teachers and industry associations.
• The Mobile Learning Awards: will recognise the most active and innovative teachers and students in the creation and use of mobile solutions. These awards consist of two prizes for students (best videos showing educational initiatives in the mobile field and best idea for an app) and one for teachers (those who generate the most innovative initiatives in the educational field). These awards represent a great opportunity to take the pulse of the educational community and identify the main trends in Catalonia in the field of Mobile Learning.
• Under the name Mobile History Map, mSchool will place special emphasis on content creation: students will become active developers, geolocating points of interest near their schools. They will collaboratively create and edit descriptive content about their immediate surroundings. This part of the programme advocates the use of mobile technologies applied to non-technical subjects and the humanities.

Boosting the new education from the mobile world capital

The educational environment is also one of the areas where the Catalan capital of mobile technologies wants to express its vocation for transformation and mSchools is the driving force that will change the way in which mobile technology is used in schools. In this way, Catalonia will be a pioneer in implementing a new teaching model, with the GSMA committed to extending this programme to the rest of Spain. Mobile World Capital already has other programmes underway that bring mobile technology to students, such as school visits to the Mobile World Centre, the space that Mobile World Capital has in Plaça Catalunya.

Involvement and commitment of companies and institutions

The mSchools programme will also count on the commitment and participation of institutions and private companies. The organisations participating from the start are A Crowd of Monsters, Barcelona Loves Entrepreneurs, Incubio, King.com, Social Point, and Softonic, which will support the App Education course with their expert staff. Mobile operators Telefónica, Vodafon,e and Orange will also support the mSchools initiative.
Go to the mSchools website to watch the video and download the presentation.