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Apps for Good FAQs
Applying to be an Apps for Good Education Partner
1. Who is eligible to be an Apps for Good Education Partner?
The Apps for Good course has a proven track record in a wide range of contexts and can work in most cases where you want to give your students a meaningful and inspiring computing education.
At this time, we are accepting applications from schools and colleges in any part of the UK and for students 10-18 years of age in Primary, Secondary, FE Colleges, learning centres and informal education settings.
The course has been successfully delivered as part of the ICT/Computing
curriculum/Curriculum for Excellence, as a timetabled enrichment activity or as an extracurricular club/offer.
The course is designed for teachers with any level of experience or subject knowledge.
We do require that the course be delivered to groups of 20 students or more at each school, college or learning centre.
If this doesn’t apply to you, please contact us at [email protected] to find out how else you can get involved.
2. When should I complete the application form?
We are accepting applications now and the application process will close at the end of June.
Before completing an application, it is important that you have sign off and support from the senior leadership team at your school, college or learning centre and that you understand what you are committing to as an Apps for Good Education Partner. As part of the
application process, we will send out an automated email to the mentioned senior team member so that they are aware the application is in process and next steps.
3. Who from my school, college or learning centre should complete the application form?
One educator per institution should complete the form. Ideally this should be the educator who will lead on delivery of the Apps for Good course as this person will become our lead contact once you are accepted as an Education Partner.
4. What information do I need to provide in the application form?
If you have the information to hand, the actual application form should take approximately 20
minutes to complete. The questions are mainly multiple choice/tick boxes - we won’t ask you
to complete any long essays! You will be able to save your form and return to it at a later
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date, however we would encourage you to complete and submit as soon as possible. In order to be fully prepared before completing the form, you will need the following information:
Your name, job title and email address – this should be an email address that you wish to use throughout the academic year
Why you want to become a partner – this comes in the form of a tick box, but you may want to think about it ahead of time as we are keen to know what motivates our partners to apply
Where you first heard about Apps for Good
School Name, type, address, postcode and region
School Phone number, Website and Twitter handle
Number of Students Plan to deliver the course to – we understand this will be an estimation, but please be as accurate as you can be. We’d prefer you to under- promise and over-deliver!
Year groups you intend to teach the course to
If your school/college/centre has any experience of delivering cross curricular, project based and/or pupil-led learning
Planned course delivery model (as part of the timetable, a timetabled enrichment course, an after school club/offering or a mixed model)
Senior Lead Teacher name and Senior Lead Teacher Email Address – the senior member of staff who will oversee the Apps for Good course
IT Infrastructure – whether your school network is managed externally or internally
Network Manager Name and Network Manager Email Address – the network manager who will aid you with any network/technical areas of the Apps for Good course
5. What happens once I have submitted my application?
Once your application form has been submitted, you will receive an automated email confirmation. Please check your junk/spam or promotions folder for this email.
6. How long does it take to review the application?
Applications will be validated within 10 working days from receipt of a completed application form. During the validation process, we may need to contact you for more information or to clarify certain areas of the form. Please don’t be disheartened by this; it is our way of
confirming you have met our requirements and have all the necessary components to deliver the course effectively.
7. What happens when my application is approved?
Once your application is approved, you will receive an automated email indicating that you
are now an Apps for Good Education Partner and outlining the next steps required to help
get you fully on-board as a partner. These will include signing up for training and gaining
access to the Apps for Good online platform.
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We prefer to communicate by email as it’s the quickest and most direct way to reach our partners, so please be sure to look out for emails so that you can keep on top of the steps after your application is approved.
8. In becoming an Education Partner and signing the Apps for Good agreement, what are we committing ourselves to?
As a partner, we ask you to agree to do the following:
A lead educator and named senior team member will be attached to the project for the duration of the course;
All educators who will be delivering the course to students will take part in an online Train the Trainer session;
Every effort is made in terms of staffing, timetabling and technical support to ensure that the course will be delivered in its entirety to at least 20 students within the academic year; and,
The school will work with Apps for Good to ensure the senior team member, the educator(s) and students complete all data requests (e.g. the beginning and end of year evaluation questionnaires) in a timely fashion to allow us to measure impact and improve the course.
9. Is the school charged a fee to be an Apps for Good Education Partner?
The Apps for Good course is free for non-fee paying schools/colleges and community centres. All fee-paying schools/colleges and community centres (private and independent) must pay a partnership fee of £250.
However, if an Education Partner receives training and does not go on to deliver the full course to 20+ students, they will be charged £250 to cover the cost of training and administration.
10. What equipment will my school need?
In order to run the course effectively, as a minimum you will need to provide one laptop and one smartphone per team of 3-5 students. All computers/laptops used by the students during the course should have Java, Google Chrome and the app building tool of their choice.
We also recommend that you install Skype and set up a webcam for your sessions with one of our Apps for Good Experts. Read more about our Experts and Expert sessions in the
“Apps for Good Experts” section below.
11. Are there any indirect financial implications for the school?
There can be some indirect costs for the school in running the course. These include:
Staff time: A prerequisite of the course is that the Education Partner commits at least one
staff member to serve as the lead educator to deliver the course and one person of sufficient
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seniority within the school, college or community centre be attached to the course and liaise with Apps for Good should the need arise.
Equipment: It is recommended that each student team has access to a mobile device (i.e., one device per 3-5 students). If the school does not have existing devices within the school and/or chooses not to let students use their own devices, then there will be costs to acquire this equipment. (See also “What equipment will my school need?”)
12. As an Apps for Good Education Partner, what does the school receive?
As an Apps for Good Education Partner, you will have access to:
Online course content with teaching notes and materials, based on current industry practice
Expert community of over 600 technology professionals and entrepreneurs
Apps for Good online platform for accessing content, managing all aspects of the course and connecting with Expert volunteers
Online training and induction to the course
Examples of good practice and case studies from students and teachers
School-to-school support for implementation via our Ninja Education Partners
Additional training opportunities, including coding skills and tools
Opportunity for students to enter our national competition and travel to London for the Awards
About the Course
1. Does Apps for Good work with students directly?
Apps for Good provides educators with the course content, training and connections to Experts, and then lets teachers do what they are best at – inspiring and guiding young people. We do not deliver the course directly to students. We believe that supporting and empowering educators is the best way to change a generation.
2. What coding does the course teach?
The Apps for Good course teaches coding, but understands that educators will be at very different stages in terms of their students learning to code. We have built in opportunities throughout the course for the students to build working prototypes; it is then up to the educator to choose the depth of learning (see prototyping tiers below) that is most appropriate for their students.
For the revised course content from 2013/2014 onwards, there are four prototyping tiers for educators and students:
Tier 1 – Basic: Balsamiq click-through wireframes/ POP app
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Tier 2 – Building blocks: AppInventor 1&2 plus AppShed
Tier 3 – Web: starting with Blockly (show Javascript) and HTML+CSS (including code in JSBin or Thimble), then moving to plug-ins, framework and libraries and APIs
Tier 4 – Social: Javascript, social Plug-ins and Facebook API (public & private) including JSBin, but also Facebook developer account
3. Who is this course aimed at? Is it designed only for my school/college/community centre’s ‘computer geeks’?
The course does develop programming skills, but it is NOT just a coding course – the focus is much broader and has traditionally appealed to a diverse range of students. An important part of the course involves the designing and building of app prototypes; however, educators can choose tools to suit students’ interest and ability, from simple building block tools like AppInventor or AppsShed to more complex programming languages like CSS or JavaScript (see also “What coding does the course teach?”).
The Apps for Good course teaches computing while also developing skills in problem solving, communication, teamwork and critical thinking. Students will go through the complete product development process – from idea generation, feasibility and business models, through to coding, design and marketing – building their business, creativity and entrepreneurial skills.
4. Does the course address the demands of the new Computing Curriculum in England?
The Apps for Good course addresses the demands of the new Computing Curriculum in England. For a detailed mapping of our course against the new Computing Curriculum, please visit our website here or email us at [email protected].
5. What age group is the course designed for?
This is a flexible course and can be delivered to students between the ages of 10-18. In 2013/2014, the majority of students in the course are aged 14, but we have had the course delivered to great success to both older and younger students.
6. Can the course be used as part of the IT/Computing curriculum? What support for assessment and curriculum mapping is provided?
The course can be delivered as part of the IT/Computing curriculum, as timetabled
enrichment time or as an afterschool or lunchtime club. There are materials mapping it to
the English National Curriculum, the Curriculum for Excellence, etc. There are also
materials mapping the teaching to OFSTED criteria for teaching and to other accreditation
programmes such as the CREST awards. Contact us at [email protected] for
these documents.
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7. How long does the course last? How should we structure it?
This is a flexible course and can be delivered in as little as 30 or as many as 50 hours. We recommend that the course last approximately 30 contact hours. The majority of Education Partners offer a weekly session with “top up” sessions on enrichment days, inset days, etc.
8. How do I access the course content?
The course content is accessed via the Apps for Good Platform. You will need to log in to the Platform to be able to access the content. This log in is created as part of the on- boarding process after you have been approved as an Apps for Good Education. The platform contains course plans and teaching materials which you can download and customise as appropriate.
9. Do I have to follow the scheme of work exactly? Can I adapt the course content to suit my classroom and students?
The course content is designed so that educators can adapt it to their classroom setting.
Each module provides a range of materials and resources that you can pick and choose to meet your students’ needs. The course content also outlines the key competition
deliverables for each module. As long as your students have these deliverables they will be able to enter the Apps for Good competition at the end of the course.
10. What will students get when they finish the Apps for Good course?
Every participant successfully completing the Apps for Good course through an Education Partner will receive an Apps for Good certificate, but this is not a formal qualification. We have mapped the course against the National Curriculum/Curriculum for Excellence and schemes like the CREST Awards http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/crest.
Apps for Good Awards
1. What are the Apps for Good Awards and when and how do my students enter?
The Apps for Good Awards are our national competition in which the best student app teams compete for the chance to have their app prototypes built professionally and publicly
launched, with the support of Apps for Good, our app developer partners and our sponsors.
The Apps for Good Awards marks the end of the course and the preparation to enter the competition is part of Module 5.
The Awards are broken up into three stages:
1. Competition – all Education Partners are eligible to enter their student teams into the
competition. The competition opens in April and is part of Module 5. More information
about what is required for the entries can be found in the Module 5 course content.
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2. Shortlisting - Once the competition has closed, we work with our Experts and sponsors to select the top app ideas. These top app ideas become the finalist app teams. We will contact your school by email to let you know if your student teams have been selected as finalists.
3. Judging and Awards Event – All the finalist teams are brought to London’s Tech City for a dragons’ den judging process and Awards event. Following the judging
sessions, we host a public event in which the teams showcase their app ideas and there is a public ceremony where the winners are announced.
We provide all Education Partners with more information about the competition, including key dates, so please look out for this in our emails.
2. Why should I enter my students in the Apps for Good Awards?
The Apps for Good Awards are an opportunity for your students to become real world entrepreneurs – to have their app prototypes built professionally and publicly launched with the support of Apps for Good, our app developer partners and our sponsors. For those teams that are selected as finalists, the judging and awards event in London are a fantastic opportunity for students to travel to London’s Tech City, get extra mentoring and support from London’s top tech companies and start-ups, and to pitch in front of some of the leaders in the technology industry. Past judges have included the CEO of TalkTalk and the Head of Mobile Technology at Thomson Reuters and companies such as Songkick and Decoded have hosted the finalist teams to help them prepare for their pitches.
But there is more to it than that. Our teachers tell us that having their students enter the competition gives them a great sense of accomplishment and closure after a year of working hard on their app ideas. It also provides them with a goal to work towards throughout the year. We also see pitching and competing as part of the real world business,
entrepreneurship and app development process.
Apps for Good Experts
1. Who are the Apps for Good “Experts”?
Apps for Good Experts are technology professionals and entrepreneurs who help bring the real world to the classroom. It is a community of more than 600 people from around the world who are passionate about technology education and are keen to share their skills and knowledge with your students.
Our Apps for Good Experts work for big corporate partners as well as new start-ups in a wide range of fields across the tech industry. They are all volunteers who are not paid for their time. Many will be taking time out of their work days to give an Expert session.
Our Experts mentor your student teams throughout the course in one-hour sessions via
videoconference or in person. They are a great resource to help your students to progress or
pivot their app ideas while giving hands-on industry advice and providing inspiration and
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motivation. Experts can also give you a hand in tackling the more challenging areas of the course and making computing education more relevant to industry.
2. When and how do I connect with the Experts?
For each module of the course, we recommend the number of Expert sessions that should be held and what topics the Expert sessions should cover. It is then up to the educator to decide when to bring the Experts in as suits their individual course.
During the course, you can request an Expert session using our online platform, giving the date, time and topic for your session. An Expert will then sign up for the session.
Confirmation emails will be sent to both of you to get the logistics for the session rolling, such as providing your Skype names and email addresses so that you can have a pre- session conversation.
It is the educator’s responsibility to contact the Expert ahead of the session. For more information on how to request an Expert, please read our Expert Session Checklist.
3. Are Experts CRB checked?
As Experts do not work directly with individual students and do not interact with students without teachers present, we do not require our Experts to be CRB-checked. We ask schools to ensure that teachers (not students) initiate Expert sessions and that a member of staff is always present when students and Experts interact, whether face-to-face or remotely.
4. Can I use my own industry representatives?
Schools can use their own local industry representatives. However, we strongly encourage schools to have their own representatives register as Experts via our website or to contact us at [email protected]. This way we can be aware of all of the Experts that are working with the students and ensure the Experts have a full understanding of what their responsibilities are. They might also become interested in volunteering with other Apps for Good Education Partners!
Apps for Good Educators
1. How much experience/expertise does the educator need to deliver the course?
While experience of coding is a real advantage to delivering the course, the course does not require an educator with extensive IT/programming skills or experience, but rather someone who is motivated and committed to learn new skills and work as a facilitator in learning rather than being the “expert”.
Although Apps for Good is not the same as traditional ICT, IT teachers should find the
course straightforward to deliver, as would most teachers who are confident and enthusiastic
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