Member Article

Child physical activity levels increase across the globe thanks to UK edtech app

More than 60,000 children around the world are benefitting from a more positive relationship with physical activity in schools, thanks to an innovative app developed by a London edtech firm.

Backed by investors including Heimir Hallgrimsson, the coach who led Iceland’s victory over England at Euro 2016, miMove, a ground-breaking app which is used by young people to log their physical activity in and out of school, with teaching staff being able to view and analyse the data of different cohorts in real time, is now being used by more than 150 schools in 21 countries around the globe.

miMove founders Greg Dryer and Marcella Griso, who draw upon extensive experience in education and working with young people, believe it can address high levels of child physical inactivity, one of the world’s biggest problems, by offering unprecedented support to young people and educators.

The founders plan to build on their success to date in 2022, with enhancements being made to the app as more young people, schools and teachers join the growing number of users. With 60,000 young people registered to use the app, Indonesia and the Philippines are the latest countries to introduce miMove, building on successes in the UK, the United States, Europe, East Asia and the Middle East.

miMove avoids capturing scientific data like steps and heart rate, as the founders cite research which indicates high levels of monitoring are intimidating to all but the most active students. For teachers, miMove gives schools live data on their students’ physical activity with a dashboard allowing teachers to see at-a-glance, headline data.

Most importantly, miMove aims to capture each student’s voice, their emotional responses and reflections, with a one-way messaging feature enabling teachers to support and motivate their students, while ensuring children are protected. The app also has a built-in assessment tool to monitor progress.

Among the miMove success stories is the work of Ben Langford, Head of PE at 1200-pupil Crawshaw Academy in Leeds. The impact of miMove at Crawshaw was recognised by the school winning the School Sport awards at the 2021 Leeds Sport Awards, alongside fellow winners Leeds United coach Marcelo Bielsa and England star midfielder Kalvin Phillips.

Ben said: “When the first Covid-19 lockdown was implemented I researched online platforms to shape what our PE offer could look like for students while they were at home. We rolled out miMove and saw such immediate value that it will be used long term as a mainstay of physical education throughout the school.

“Greg Dryer’s knowledge and standing in the PE field gives us confidence in miMove’s ability to develop habits for lifelong participation in physical activity. We have a deeper understanding of our students’ activity levels in and out of school, we have built a stronger rapport with our young people plus the ability to track emotional responses opens up important wellbeing conversations. With it now being established in three year groups, we are seeing increasing levels of engagement and expect it to become the norm within Crawshaw’s culture for PE, school sport and physical activity.”

The international successes include the work of Jordan Manley based in the US state of Kentucky. Teaching physical education at STEAM Academy in Lexington, he used miMove to support a goal of ensuring all their students develop a positive relationship with activity. The partnership resulted in Jordan winning 2021 Kentucky Physical Education Teacher of the Year.

Jordan said the real-time user experience around monitoring data had caught the imaginations of students and educators alike. Jordan said: “miMove has been a key piece of technology that has helped me to shift my paradigm about assessment in PE. The app has created a foundation that I can build from to create more authentic, meaningful assessments for students.

“miMove is at the forefront of the work that needs to be done in physical education. Our profession must embrace a shift to a more meaningful, student-centred experience that focuses on building students’ confidence and self-efficacy with physical activity in order to fulfil any thought of preparing physically literate individuals or ‘lifelong movers.’ This app builds the students agency while giving the teacher a war chest of actionable information about their students.”

Founder Greg Dryer, who established and was the Director of the Centre for Physical Education, Sport and Activity at Kingston University, is proud of the progress to date by north London-based miMove. He said: “As countries across the world rebuild following the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s more important than ever to actually know how active young people are so that we can ensure all the efforts that go into supporting their physical activity are effective.

“It is no longer sufficient to merely advocate for activity. We need to up our game and be driven by evidence. miMove provides this intelligence. The impact that miMove has had in 21 countries highlights how positively the app can be used to increase levels of physical activity worldwide.

“By harnessing digital technology based on our deep understanding of education in the 21st century, miMove offers real insight and practical support, whilst constantly evolving with new features. In so doing, it provides the first ever means of gauging impact of a whole range of programmes and initiatives, from schools’ current provision through to major global events like the Commonwealth Games that all aspire to increase youth physical activity.

“We are looking forward to further success in 2022 and beyond as we build on our partnerships to date working with more schools, education partners and young people around the world to get them moving as part of the Covid-19 recovery.”

Co-founder Marcella Griso, an experienced inner London secondary school teacher, said miMove would continue to evolve during 2022. She added: “miMove is now even easier for students to access, as they can log-in via any online device including phone, tablet, PC or laptop. We wanted to increase access as we are aware that many schools do not permit phone use and some students do not have access to mobile devices.

“We will work with our partners to continue to improve miMove based on usage data and feedback from users. Everything we do is driven from our understanding of end users and their needs.”

Among the miMove investors is Heimir Hallgrimsson, whose coaching career after leading Iceland to success went on to include being Head Coach of Al Arabi in Qatar. He is joined in backing miMove by Whiteboard Capital, a boutique VC firm in Mumbai and a London-based private investor, plus seed funder Encourage Ventures, Bangalore, headed by ex-Sequoia, Sandeep Kapoor.

Heimir said: “We need to do much more to help our young people, whether they aspire to elite sport or wish to use physical activity to improve their quality of life. We need to help them form these good habits during their school years to set them up for adulthood. miMove is the first of its kind and I’m excited to see the impact it is beginning to have.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chris Leggett .