Volunteering from home for the 2020 Apps for Good Awards
This year due to coronavirus the Apps for Good Awards went fully online. 122 teams and individual young people entered. We needed help to shortlist entries and give meaningful feedback so we turned to our community of corporate supporters and Experts and an amazing 145 professionals stepped forward.
Using our online platform the volunteers were able to view young people’s work and give feedback. They could volunteer flexibly and from wherever they were working. Entries were reviewed over 1,800 times, feedback that will help young people learn and develop.
We asked three volunteers from Apps for Good partner BNY Mellon about their experience.
Louise from London was our top shortlister, reviewing 90 entries. She volunteered because “I love using technology to make my life easier and this was a great opportunity to see cutting edge ideas. It was a way of volunteering during COVID as it was virtual.”
I love using technology to make my life easier and this was a great opportunity to see cutting edge ideas. It was a fantastic way of using my skills and experience to volunteer during lockdown, as we were able to support virtually.”
Louise Clark, BNY Mellon
Manchester based Aidan said “The best thing about shortlisting was seeing the innovative ideas surrounding mental health and the environment. These are two topics I’m passionate about and it’s encouraging to see the younger generation so aware of these issues.”
Young people entered ideas based on all three Apps for Good course topics - Mobile App Development, Machine Learning and Internet of Things. Louise said “Machine Learning is becoming increasingly important so it is wonderful to see so many creative and practical ideas.”
Apps for Good want young people to harness the opportunities of technology and make a difference in their community. Volunteer Kim, from Edinburgh, was impressed that so many young people were using what they see in their surroundings to develop ideas.
“They’ve identified gaps in the market – it’s brilliant that they are trying to do something to close these gaps or improve everyone’s future”. Asked which ideas stood out, Louise said “I liked the rubbish bin that gave you credit for recycling and the litter picking video game. There was a great app/machine learning idea which gave a “tidiness” score for a room.”
“Seeing the future talent of the UK gave me a window into how bright the future is for us all if we have these guy’s coming through at the back of us, they just need opportunities to grow and develop.””
Presenting an idea is often as important as the idea itself and Kim said “the confidence they demonstrated in either providing a visual overview or video to promote these ideas was superb, I probably would have not been that confident and thought provoking when I was their age.”
“Seeing the future talent of the UK gave me a window into how bright the future is for us all if we have these guy’s coming through at the back of us, they just need opportunities to grow and develop.”
Apps for Good are now working on new ways for volunteers to support young people. If you’d like to volunteer or find out more please email experts@appsforgood.org