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Monash University today launched MWorld, the world’s first comprehensive, university-produced educational App for children.
“We’ve tied the thrill of discovery and the joy of storytelling to amazing educational content. MWorld will fuel the love of learning and improve engagement with literacy for a generation of Australian children,” says Monash University’s Justin Bokor, creator of MWorld.
A year in the making, the MWorld app takes the power and credibility of university-generated content to 8- to 12-year-olds – well known as a highly discerning audience.
MWorld uses stunning graphics and multimedia, lively narration and an engaging game system to make learning irresistible. MWorld is unique in the breadth and diversity of the material, covering the natural world, early civilisations, the modern world, art and music, and much more.
“Our goal at MWorld is ambitious. We want to help drive improvements in learning and literacy for 1 million Australian children and 500 million children worldwide over the next decade,” Mr Bokor said.
“Screen time is far too often used to dull the mind, but it has so much potential to educate and illuminate.”
MWorld has been designed and developed in consultation with teachers, parents, children and experts from Monash University and beyond. It is being launched together with a case study program for schools across Australia.
“We’re putting MWorld to the test in schools across the country so teachers can incorporate MWorld into their learning programs and drive engagement with learning and literacy,” Mr Bokor said.
“We’ve had declining standards of reading literacy for more than a decade now, according to OECD data – but we can turn this around. As JK Rowling has shown, write good content and kids will flock to it in droves.”
Quality content and storytelling is everything in MWorld. Topics include ‘Fangs – How Do Animals Eat?’, ‘Early Australians’, ‘Sleep and Dreams’, ‘How to Write a Song’ and many more. Each topic is authored by a well respected academic, then brought to life by a talented team of designers, film producers and young Australian narrators.
“MWorld showcases Australian innovation and creativity. People think you have to go to Silicon Valley to innovate, but we have some of the world’s finest talent right here in Australia. We’ve got superb universities, brilliant academics, world-class film producers and game designers, talented young actors and abundant entrepreneurial spirit. We aim to make MWorld a global brand that embodies the great strengths of Australian education, innovation and creativity,” Mr Bokor said.
The iPad version of MWorld is available now in Australia and internationally, with Android and web versions scheduled for release in 2015. MWorld can be previewed at discovermworld.com/amazing-world.
(Source: MONASH University)
