Member Article

Award-winning app miMove upgraded to encourage physical activity

Award-winning miMove is using tech as never before to enhance young people’s relationship with physical activity and incentivise them to be more active.

Adopted by over 80,000 young people across the world, the innovative software developed by London edtech company miMove has been supporting an increase in levels of activity among students at schools from the USA to the Philippines.

miMove was launched to encourage all young people to be more active. Evidence to date suggests an average increase in activity of around 150% per week for miMove users, with many young people also reporting increased activity for their family members.

Young people use miMove to record and share physical activity in and out of school, so teachers can capture unprecedented data on pupil activity and see emotional responses and reflections. New features on the latest version of the app include safe social connectivity.

Gamification has been introduced into Version 3. Users are able to collect miPoints, which turn being physically active into rewarded behaviour. Every time an activity is posted, points are allocated in proportion to the frequency and duration. Schools like St Thomas More in North London have already started incentivising and rewarding their students based on their point tally.

The safe social connectivity function allows pupils to connect with friends within their school to celebrate each other’s achievements, with access controlled by a designated teacher and settings allowing each student to choose the information they share.

A new target setting function encourages young people to commit to being physically active, receiving 10 points for setting a target and 30 points for meeting or exceeding it. Students can build “streaks” over consecutive weeks, when targets are met or exceeded, gaining more recognition.

Founders Greg Dryer and Marcella Griso, who drew upon their wide experience in education to shape miMove, have seen the app bring unprecedented benefits in schools and gain support from education organisations at 227 schools in 22 countries worldwide.

As well as giving teachers access to a dashboard of live data, miMove enables them to view and analyse different cohorts’ progress.

Among the many schools to benefit is St Thomas More School in Haringey, London. Head of PE Jessica Monsurate said: “We have been impressed by the latest functionality offered by miMove, which really encourages our students to track every participation in sport or activity they make.

“Our aim is to be as inclusive as possible, so whether you take part in team sports or individual activities outside of school, miMove makes you part of the community and encourages positive behaviours with rewards.”

Marcella Griso said: “We are excited to see how big an impact miMove can make with the latest functionality, which was developed by listening to the feedback from teachers and students and through the analysis of our data. We are really proud to have created the first app that draws upon functionality associated with social media to motivate young people to be more active”

Greg Dryer said: “We are extremely proud to launch the new iteration of miMove, based on the feedback from users. Early indications show that the app is having a very positive effect on activity rates. We look forward to making further progress over the next few months.”

The launch of the new version comes after miMove and partner Aspire Active Education Group won the Tech Collaboration prize, ahead of fellow finalists the University of Birmingham and the University of Wolverhampton, at the West Midlands Tech Awards, a celebration in December of top tech and digital companies and entrepreneurs.

The award recognised the impact made by miMove and Birmingham-based Aspire in encouraging young people at 14 schools to be more active.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Osborn Communications .