mSchools Awards 2024

The mSchools Awards recognize initiatives that empower the educational community with innovative practices. We celebrate the creativity and commitment of teachers and students who integrate technology into education. Explore the winning projects and discover inspiring stories. Join us in future editions!

Open Call

Discover the new mSchools Awards

We strongly believe in change from the classroom. That’s why we want to recognise initiatives that contribute to empowering teachers and students through transformative educational practices.

Discover this year call new features: two ways to participate that recognise educational proposals that contribute to improving social challenges through digital tools and resources.

You can participate in 2 modalities:

Contest modality: awards for proposals from the mSchools programme with a renewed character.
Open Call modality: awards for innovative proposals with emerging technologies.

The great social challenges

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING: Skills and strategies to build a positive social and emotional climate.

ART AND CREATIVITY: Art as a resource for social cohesion and transformation.

CITIZENSHIP AND GLOBAL AWARENESS: Environment, society and planet.

LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND DIVERSITY: The richness of plurality.

MEDIA EDUCATION: Literacy and critical view.

EQUITY AND INCLUSION: A world for all.

mSchools Awards 2024

In collaboration with the Department of Education of the Generalitat de Catalunya, we present the new mSchools Awards 24 with renewed determination to recognise transformative educational proposals.

We encourage you to participate and design good classroom practices that integrate digital resources to contribute to improving people, society and the environment. Participate in either of the two modalities or both if your proposals fit.

1. Contest modality

What are we looking for

We aim to acknowledge the excellence of educational projects in Catalan schools that integrate and apply digital resources.

Digital resources and tools

In this modality, proposals must be created and implemented using only one of the following digital tools and resources:

- App Education
- Scratch Challenge
- Mobile History Map
- Programmable boards: Micro:bit, ED1 or Arduino

Social challenges

The proposals must contribute to the improvement of at least one of the following four topics:

- SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING: Skills and strategies to build a positive social and emotional climate.
- ART AND CREATIVITY: Art as a resource for cohesion and social transformation.
- CITIZENSHIP AND GLOBAL AWARENESS: Environment, society and planet.
- LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND DIVERSITY: The richness of plurality.

Awards

Full details will be announced soon.

Consult Terms and Conditions here

2. Open Call modality

What are we looking for

To acknowledge and disseminate innovative educational proposals carried out in schools in Catalonia.

Digital resources and tools

This modality is open to proposals that integrate at least one of the following digital resources:

- Augmented and virtual reality
- Artificial intelligence
- Digital fabrication and maker creation
- Audiovisual digital resources and tools
- Robotics and programming
- Other emerging technologies

Social challenges

Proposals must contribute to the improvement of one of the following 6 topics:

- SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING: Skills and strategies for building a positive social and emotional climate.
- ART AND CREATIVITY: Art as a resource for cohesion and social transformation.
- CITIZENSHIP AND GLOBAL AWARENESS: Environment, society and planet.
- LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND DIVERSITY: The richness of plurality.
- MEDIA EDUCATION: Literacy and a critical view.
- EQUITY AND INCLUSION: A world for all.

Awards

Full details will be announced soon.

Consult Terms and Conditions here

The big final

Are you ready to transform the world?

Feel free to present your proposals in either of the two modalities. If your proposal is selected, you will take part in the final event, a day to share, to communicate, to meet, connect and learn.

1 morning, hundreds of students, teachers and innovative educational proposals.

And you, are you mSchools?

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the two modalities?

The Contest modality recognises the work carried out by students and teachers during the school year within the mSchools programme's initiatives: Scratch, Mobile History Map and App Education. As a novelty, programmable boards are included: Micro:bit, Arduino and ED1.

Also, this modality promotes the acknowledgement of proposals focused on the social challenges of 4 of the thematic topics.

The Open Call modality acknowledges proposals integrating other emerging digital tools and resources than those mentioned in the Contest Modality. Proposals can be related to the call for digital impulse in education carried out by the Department of Education in Catalonia. The Call is open for initiatives using augmented and virtual reality, Artificial Intelligence, digital fabrication and maker creation, audiovisual digital resources and tools, robotics and programming or other emerging technologies.

In this case, proposals can address any of the 6 thematic areas.

Can proposals not yet implemented in the classroom be submitted?

In both modalities, proposals must have already been implemented in the classroom, and in the Contest modality, proposals must have been developed during the present school year.

What happens if the proposal responds to more than one theme topic?

The form must specify the main area the educational proposal contributes to. Secondary areas can be selected.

What happens if the proposals use more than one digital tool or resource?

In the Contest modality, you may only select one digital tool option.
In the Open Call modality, you can name one main digital resource and assign secondary ones.

Can I submit a proposal already presented in other prizes and calls?

In the Contest modality, proposals can't have participated in previous prizes and calls and must have been developed during the present academic year.

In the Open Call modality , you can submit proposals that have been presented but not awarded in other competitions.

Can I submit more than one proposal per teacher?

Yes.

Who can participate in a proposal?

In both modalities any educational center in Catalonia can participate: public, concerted or private and those teachers who are active.

Third-sector organizations working with educational centers cannot participate in this edition. It is necessary that teachers are the ones who design, adapt or adopt an educational proposal in their classroom or school.

If you find that your case is special, please contact us so that we can evaluate it: contact@mschools.com

What is the minimum and maximum number of teachers and students per proposal submitted?

The minimum number of participants per proposal submitted in any of the two modalities of the mSchools Awards is 1 teacher and 2 students, and there is no maximum.

It is also allowed to submit proposals developed between several schools.

Is it possible to submit the same proposal in both modalities?

Yes, as long as the educational proposal raises the work on at least one social challenge and one digital resource contemplated in the bases of each of the two modalities: Open and Contest.

What is the format required to submit the deliverables for the Open Modality?

All projects submitted to the Open Modality will need to:

- Fill out the registration form on the mSchools website.

- Create a link to the project (web space / digital environment -sites, drive, genially...) that describes, documents, contextualizes and justifies the proposal carried out.

Please make sure that all contents are presented in a proper and orderly manner, and that the links are publicly visible. This will facilitate an agile evaluation of all projects.
All visual material shared must have the authorization of the image rights.
Remember that you have time to submit and edit your initiative until 14/04/24.
More information about the deliverables in the legal bases of the call.

Contact: contact@mschools.com

Promoters

Resources of interest

Rubrics

https://xtec.gencat.cat/ca/centres/premis-i-concursos/concursos_mschools/mschools-student-awards/mschools-student-awards-2024/

mSchools Lab

Identification, piloting and impact assessment of digital solutions with the potential to improve and digitally transform education

Introduction
The challenge
Call Results
Pilots

Collaboration

mSchools Lab is an open innovation program promoted by Fundació Barcelona Mobile World Capital Foundation through its program Digital Future Society and mSchools. Its goal is to foster collaboration between educational centres and the EdTech industry to respond to the educational communities’ real needs through technology’s transformative, safe and healthy use.

Through public-private partnerships, we advance the identification, piloting and impact evaluation of digital solutions with the potential to contribute to improving and digitally transforming education.

We want to catalyze the collaboration of all stakeholders with the possibility to contribute from different perspectives to digitally transform and positively impact equitable and inclusive learning.

Lab Process

Definition of a concrete challenge

Open call for solutions

Selection of winners

Adaptation and planning of pilots

Implementation of pilots

Evaluation and dissemination

Promoters

mSchools Lab is an initiative promoted by Mobile World Capital Barcelona, through its programs Digital Future Society and mSchools.

In December 2023 we launched the first call to identify innovative digital solutions at national and international levels to answer the challenge:

How can technology contribute to motivation, personalised learning approaches, and academic success?

In recent years, society has changed profoundly and rapidly, and this has not necessarily shown in the practices and content of educational institutions.

In 2022, with 13.9%, Spain topped the early school dropout rates in the European Union, which went hand in hand with poor academic performance. Experts partly attribute this failure to the Spanish education system’s absence of flexibility and excessive rigidity. Within schools, learning paths tend to be uniform to comply with a single curriculum for all and do not respond to diverse and personal contexts, interests or objectives.

Educational success and learning are correlated, among other factors, with motivation. Motivation increases, for example, through personalised learning approaches or if learnings are meaningful and provide personal value to the learner, contributing to their self-knowledge, a better understanding of their reality and the active construction of a future with scenarios that involve them and enhance their capabilities.

Focus of solutions

1. Students motivation

Strategies to find personal value, purpose and relevance in learning and thus increase concentration and active involvement in pedagogical processes.

2. Improvement of personalised learning approaches

Diverse and flexible teaching strategies to identify, re-significate and create interests and skills.

3. Lifelong learning

Strategies to develop agency, self-responsibility, soft skills and 21st-century skills to “learn to learn”.

4. Academic success and reduction of school dropout rates

Strategies to develop skills, improve school outcomes and increase access to opportunities after compulsory education.

What do we offer?

Piloting: Pilot your solution in a real educational context to validate your proposal and its impact.

Funding: €25,000 for each of the two winning solutions to be piloted in educational centres.

Visibility: Get high visibility of the pilot’s implementation in various events.

How to participate?

The call for proposals has ended and we are in the midst of the evaluation process.
At the end of March, we will announce the two winning solutions.
If you want to know about future calls sign up in the following form.

Access the form

Resources of interest

Terms and Conditions 23-24

Download the Terms and Conditions here.

https://mschools.com/wp-content/uploads/ENG_TC-mSchools-Lab.pdf

Application Template 23-24

To submit your proposal, you must complete the online application form. This form does not allow you to work online and save your answers. For this reason, we provide a Word template to work offline.

https://mschools.com/wp-content/uploads/1a-Ronda-Formulario_ENG.docx

Winning Solutions

Annie Advisor

Helsinki

Annie is a Student Support Bot designed to mitigate school desertion and foster a more caring, attentive and responsive school environment. Sending WhatsApp and SMS messages at pivotal times in their academic path, Annie checks if students need support and provides necessary information and connections to resources both at their school and in their local community.

Annieadvisor.com

“Troba la insígnia per al teu futur" Nexes Interculturals / Cities of Learning

Barcelona / Global

A territory-based platform and community initiative to connect youngsters with digital and in-person learning opportunities according to their interests. Their achievements are rewarded through digital “Open Badges” which allow them to create their digital portfolio to showcase newly acquired competencies while giving teachers a more complete vision of their student's abilities and interests.

Nexes.cat
Global.cityoflearning.eu

Piloting of the winning EdTech solutions

If you are part of a public or charter school in Catalonia that includes grade courses from 3rd and 4th Compulsory Secondary Education, and you are interested in participating in the piloting of one of the two solutions during the school year 2024-2025, for a period of 6 to 9 months, please fill in the following form.

Completing this form does not commit or bind you in any way; it is simply an overview of all the centers that have shown interest in order to further analyze the sample.

This will help us get to know you better and ensure that the sample of centers is varied and diversified. It will also allow you to reflect on some important parameters for the pilot.

Fill out the form

Finalists

EduKimple

Madrid and Barcelona

Collaborative platform for teachers including up-to-date content, pedagogical approaches and methodologies developed by experts and according to today’s social and environmental challenges.

Edukimple.com

FirtEdu

Barcelona

Use of data analytics and artificial intelligence to analyze the correlation and patterns between reading skills at primary schooling and academic performance in high school.

FirtEdu.com

KitCo Valley

Barcelona

Games and dynamics in the metaverse to guide students in a personalized process of self-knowledge, personal growth, development of soft skills and emotional management.

TuKitCo.net

Project Invent

San Francisco

Invention training for educators to support student teams as they solve challenges faced by real community clients through the creation of impactful technology-based solutions.

ProjectInvent.org

More than 100 proposals

With the first phase of the initiatives selection closed, we have confirmed the Call's success with more than 100 proposals from around the world, a figure that reflects the existence of a large and vibrant EdTech ecosystem.

National and international ecosystem

International participation of 41%, with the presence of proposals from the United States, Europe, Africa, Latin America, the United Kingdom, Canada, India and Asia. On the other hand, we want to highlight the national participation of 59% most of them from Barcelona.

Typology of organizations

Regarding the organization's typology and as an example of the diverse ecosystem of EdTech solutions, the majority of received solutions, 69%, are from Startups, 17% from SMEs, 6% from Corporations, 5% from Foundations and 3% from Universities.

Variety of technologies

About the suggested technologies, the majority, 60%, are platforms or Apps. Then 22% are solutions that use Artificial Intelligence, followed by 11% of proposals that use Immersive Technologies (Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality) and, finally, 7% use other technologies such as Robotics, 3D and different types of Hardware.

Evaluation process

The first evaluation round to identify innovative digital solutions contributing to motivation, personalization of learning, and academic success concluded with 16 semi-finalists. Based on additional information about the future pilot’s implementation in schools, six finalists were selected to present their initiative at the Pitch Day at the end of March.

An external jury of representatives from Academia, Public Administration, the EdTech Industry and Educational Centers selected both winning proposals, “Annie Advisor” and “Troba la insignia per al teu futur”, which will be adapted and piloted within the 2024-25 school year in public and charter schools in Catalonia.

Piloting in Catalonian Schools

Once the two winning proposals are selected, work sessions will be held with the educational centers to plan the scope of the projects and ensure a successful implementation for both parties.

The pilots will be carried out in public and charter schools in Catalonia during the 24-25 school year with students from 3rd and 4th Compulsory Secondary Education and will last for 6 to 9 months.

Beyond both pilot’s impact evaluation, we will share with the entire educational community the learnings and conclusions of the process that may be of interest.

Support and Evaluation

During the pilot phase, the involved schools will have the support of the winning proposals teams and the mSchools Lab team. In addition, as part of the process, an external academic institution and expert on the selected topics, will assess the impact of digital solutions and disseminate the results and learnings of the process.

Stay up to date and join the mSchools Lab community

If you want more information about the mSchools Lab call, wish to follow the process closely, or are interested in participating in the pilot in educational centers, register your interest in this form.

If you have any questions, you can contact us at lab@mschools.com.

Media Literacy Challenge

Challenge for Media Education

The Challenge for Media Education promotes Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in formal education institutions through the identification of best learning practices, and the transfer of tools, resources, materials and concrete learning experiences specifically created to address MIL-related issues in their classrooms.

Introduction
Teacher training
Extra learning resources
Selection of learning experiences

The Challenge for Media Education promotes Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in formal education institutions through the identification of best learning practices, and the transfer of tools, resources, materials and concrete learning experiences specifically created to address MIL-related issues in their classrooms.

The challenge has identified the best MIL-related experiences undertaken in schools from Argentina, Catalonia, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Portugal and will train other teachers from these communities in the design of learning experiences around these topics, building on the previously selected best practices.

To achieve that, more than 50 experiences in integrating MIL in these communities’ classrooms were preselected in collaboration with ENACOM CAC, CRC, IFT, CONCORTV y ERC as well as other stakeholders from the educational ecosystem and the public sector. The selected six will be presented by their authors during the MWC Barcelona 2023.

The second part of the challenge will build on these identified practices to train teachers in the design and implementation of innovative learning experiences that have MIL at their core.

It is necessary to provide students with resources and tools so they can learn how to compare and contrast information, assess mass media, recognize evidence, identify biases and politicized statements, distinguish between false and truthful information, and, also responsibly create and share their own content.

mSchools,

2023

What is a learning experience?

A learning experience is a proposal developed along a series of sessions (such as a project, an itinirary of activities, a didactic unit…) with the aim of achieving real, significant, situated learning, and where active/agile methodologies, challenge students facing them with problems and challenges that enhance their competencies, while placing them at the core of their own learning process.

Topics of the learning experiences

Misinformation: Education for the critical consumption of information

- Improve reading comprehension, critical listening, and the ability to communicate.

- Learn to contextualize, compare and contrast data, and to distinguish between false and truthful information.

- Analyze mass media platforms with a proper mindset.

Active and responsible digital citizenship.

- Promote the freedom of information, the freedom of expression and inclusive societies through dialogue and action, encouraging the creation of spaces for discussion and debate.

- Shape conscious and sensitized individuals who know how to inform themselves about the main worldwide issues, as well as how to look for possible solutions.

- Develop social and emotional skills: leadership, autonomy, trust, curiosity and civic and social responsibility.

- Foster content creation that contributes to bulding more inclusive societies.

Digital identity and online security

- Educate on digital rights and responsibilities.

- Recognize the right to privacy and understand the dangers that come with the use of internet, as well as the dynamics underneath algorithms, advertising and influencers.

- Learn to protect personal data, to reduce the digital fingerprint, and to build a solid and healthy digital identity.

Selected learning experiences at the MCW 2023 in Barcelona

Selected teachers will have the opportunity to present their teaching proposal at a special event in Barcelona within the framework of the MWC 2023, the most important technology-related event worldwide, which is held in Barcelona from February 27 to March 2 in 2023.

Organizing Institutions

This initiative has been developed by mSchools in collaboration with the following audiovisual regulatory authorities: The Consell de l’Audiovisual de Catalunya (CAC), the Comisión de Regulación de Comunicaciones (CRC) from Colombia, the Consejo Consultivo de Radio y Televisión (CONCORTV) from Peru, the Ente Nacional de Comunicaciones (ENACOM) from Argentina, the Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (ERC) from Portugal and the Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (IFT) from Mexico.

Phase 2: objectives

The main purpose of this second stage of the challenge is focused on training teachers from the 6 educational communities who participated in this initiative in the design and implementation of a learning experience related to Media and Information Literacy.

Structure and methodology

The design of the learning experiences will be divided into three stages:

Inspiration phase
Ideation phase
Implementation phase

The methodologies that will be used in this process will be:

Design thinking
Collaborative learning
Gamification
Learning by doing
TPACK

Who can participate?

Teachers that will undertake the stage 2 training have been selected by the challenge’s regional partners.

Learning resources to work on MIL projects

Communication education program of the Audiovisual Council of Catalonia

eduCAC

https://www.educac.cat

Educational project to combat misinformation

Learn to Check

https://www.learntocheck.org/

NGO that fights against fake news and manipulation on the internet.

Desfake

https://www.desfake.cat/

NGO that promotes critical thinking and reflexive use of tech

Faro Digital

https://www.farodigital.org/

Selected classroom experiences

Discover the selection of educational proposals about MIL

Coming soon

Get (mis)informed: a proposal to manage information

This experience aims at providing students with the necessary strategies and tools to manage the avalanche of information they face every day. For this purpose, a new “class” called “Get (mis)informed” was created using material from their TikToks.

By Montse Jiménez Vila and Elisabet Avellí

Informing the Youth: a school podcast

“Informing the Youth” is an educational experience in which secondary students work in communicational media to make a podcast that reflects their impressions and criticism on the topic: Do radio contents reflect society?.

By Enedina Mónica Velázquez Mendoza

Animation as a strategy for interculturality

Students create didactic content collectively through the stop-motion technique to spread ancestral knowledge and contribute to building more inclusive societies. At the same time, the community learns about ICTs and technological advances.

By Frank William Cayapur Delgado

The critical construction of news and the risks of naïve percepctions

A pedagogical proposal based on Audiovisual Literacy in which students become prosumers (producers and consumers of content) and critical protagonists of media discourses.
They learn to interpret information and create the pre-production / production stages of a news show using ICT tools and assuming the necessary roles.

By Paula Valenzuela and Analía Moschini

A Radio with Andean children

Classroom learning projects that link Quechua children with community members, to produce programs broadcasted by regional radio stations, showcasing their life, cosmovision, heart, and living heritage.

By Margarita Gutiérrez and Alejandro Molina

Onlife.com@BEMM

The experience involved implementing didactic itineraries of Media and Information Literacy at school and with the families, which focused on collaborative creation and production of multi-modal content, strengthened by the Always ALERT! campaign.

By Rui Abreu and Maria da Graça Madeira da Silva

mSchools Awards 2024

Discover the new mSchools Awards

The great social challenges

mSchools Awards 2024

1. Contest modality

2. Open Call modality

The big final

Frequently asked questions

Promoters

Resources of interest

mSchools Lab

Identification, piloting and impact assessment of digital solutions with the potential to improve and digitally transform education

Collaboration

Lab Process

Promoters

How can technology contribute to motivation, personalised learning approaches, and academic success?

Focus of solutions

What do we offer?

How to participate?

Resources of interest

Winning Solutions

Piloting of the winning EdTech solutions

Finalists

More than 100 proposals

National and international ecosystem

Typology of organizations

Variety of technologies

Evaluation process

Piloting in Catalonian Schools

Support and Evaluation

Stay up to date and join the mSchools Lab community

Challenge for Media Education

What is a learning experience?

Topics of the learning experiences

Selected learning experiences at the MCW 2023 in Barcelona

Organizing Institutions

Phase 2: objectives

Structure and methodology

Who can participate?

Learning resources to work on MIL projects

Selected classroom experiences

Discover the selection of educational proposals about MIL

Coming soon

You may be interested in...