Too many young people don’t have access to the skills they need to succeed in life. Since 2010 Apps for Good have been working with teachers to unlock the potential of over 200,000 students around the UK, and beyond, with our free technology courses. Our courses encourage students to think about the world around them and solve the problems that they find by creating apps and products with machine learning and IoT.
We combine giving students the freedom to tackle issues that matter to them (from food poverty, climate change and mental health issues) with partnering with expert organisations. These partnerships enhance student’s learning experience by pairing them with companies that they admire; like LEGO, Spotify and Deutsche Bank. Which provides opportunities for students to get direct access to people working in the technology industry and get real-world experience on how to develop their tech products. Industry interactions can bring to life the skills students are learning through our courses and how to apply these skills in the workplace. Volunteers can also show young people the many different careers they might be able to pursue with digital skills, and the many different routes to success.
Young people across Scotland have the opportunity to try out our free courses either self-directed, in after school clubs or as part of their curriculum. Each course involve students:
- identifying a real life problem they care about
- researching the problem so that they understand fully both the problem and who is affected by it
- designing a solution to the problem using their chosen technology
- building and testing a technical prototype
- presenting their solution
A teacher decides how they’d like to deliver the course, whether in-class or remote and if they’d like the additional support of the Apps for Good team and our experts to help them deliver the course.
“The opportunities that some of my students have had because of Apps for Good has really set us apart. It’s been absolutely incredible to think that a school in rural Scotland has managed to send kids down to London to internships at Thomson Reuters; for the Apps for Good Awards – some had never left the county before… A lot of my students have gone on to choose careers in digital simply because of where things started with Apps for Good.” – Chris Aitken (@skipperaitken), Educator, Wick High School.
Over the years others include:
- Midge Forecast (@mymidgeforecast), which uses topographical data to forecast midge density, helping predict a common Scottish menace
- Teen Health, providing teen-friendly info on sexual health and contraception
- Keep Fit Determination, which encourages young people to exercise and earn points in order to keep playing their favourite game consoles
- Safe Step, sensor enabled mats that alert caregivers and family members of the elderly when someone has fallen or gone missing via a mobile app
A key to Apps for Good success is that it places digital training within a real-world context, enabling young people to gain relevant experience, developing the skills and confidence to build digital products to solve problems in their communities and see a clear purpose to their learning.
If you’re interested in learning more and delivering an Apps for Good course in the 2021/22 academic year, visit www.appsforgood.org/courses.
