Global education is in crisis. The majority of children do go to school, but the learning results are poor, and teachers in many countries are lacking quality teacher training. To tackle this challenge, a team in Finland developed a mobile lesson planning tool for teachers called “LessonApp.”
“The reality struck us when we were travelling in emerging countries to train teachers. Many of the teachers we met were doing their best, but they didn’t have the resources or skills to develop their teaching competence,” Ellimaija Ahonen, Co-Founder and CEO of LessonApp says. “During this era of unlimited flow of information and efficient communication technology, how is it possible, that we cannot offer basic pedagogical knowledge and tools for every teacher around the world?” Johanna Järvinen-Taubert, teacher trainer and Co-Founder of LessonApp questions. “Coming from Finland, a land of excellent learning results and a strong ethos of equality, this seemed fundamentally unfair to us.”
Team LessonApp aims to equip teachers with the understanding of the learning process and, with the tools provided by the app, to help teachers plan efficient and inspiring lessons themselves. The ultimate purpose is to offer quality education for all and increase the joy of learning in classrooms – for both students and teachers.
“During the Finnish teacher training, teacher students are taught different options for designing lessons in a pedagogically productive way. We gathered all the knowledge we have related to learning and activating teaching methods, and packed the data into an easy-access format for mobile phones,” says Ahonen. “We guarantee that everyone gets the basic version free of charge – with no time limitations. That is our contribution to solving the education crisis and sharing the good that we have. It is time to make a big impact with digitalization.”
Now, LessonApp Premium has just been launched on February 16th. “This pioneer collaboration with Ministry for Education of Malta provides every primary teacher an access to LessonApp Premium. We are excited and looking forward to hearing the results and feedback,” Johanna Järvinen-Taubert summarizes.
LessonApp is available in PlayStore, AppStore and at www.lessonapp.fi/download.
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