Fancy yourself an app designer? O2 Learn gives you the chance to be one

Appskool is an exciting new competition on O2 Learn aimed at giving schools and students the chance to design a mobile “app” with an educational or learning theme.

What is it and how can you get involved?

The competition, designed in partnership with a leading app design agency, will see the winning school have their app developed and launched live on a mobile platform. A prize worth up to £50,000!

If you like the sound of designing an educational app and are between 13 and 18 year old, you just need to send through your application to enter by Saturday 31st December.

The Process:

• There will be three short teaching modules to complete between December 2011 and February 2012.
• When you have completed all 3 modules, email a short video presenting your design by February 24^th 2012.
• We will review all submissions, provide feedback and choose 5 finalists.
• The finalists will be invited to take part in the final module and present their idea in person to a panel of judges consisting of senior executives from O2 and a leading application developer.

If you would like your school to take part in this exciting competition and learning experience, please go to http://www.o2learn.co.uk/o2_appskool.php  where you will find more information on the competition and the modules.

So what can you win exactly?

• The winning team will have their app developed into a fully launched version for public download. A prize worth up to £50,000.
• The winning team will have the opportunity to visit our offices and see the app being created and launched.
• If the app is chargeable or generates any revenue, 50% of the profit will go to the winning school and the rest will be reinvested into O2 Learn so that we can continue to provide access to the best teachers to all students.

Why are we doing this?

With so much focus on the global recession, deficits and cuts, many young people are feeling disenfranchised.   Youth unemployment hit one million last week and more needs to be done to help young people find opportunities in the new digital economy.  

These factors were the inspiration for AppSkool, which was designed to provide school students with the inspiration and relevant experience to help them make better choices in the new economy.

Whilst the school curriculum provides a solid academic foundation, it is our belief that school students should also be exposed to the realities of the business world early to provide additional context and demonstrate the relevance to their personal futures.

We hope this competition will bring students together to work as teams to design a mobile application with an educational purpose.  We want to use our expertise to provide a learning experience that is fun and provides a real life example of modern business, demonstrating how skills can be used in the modern economy.