Solving World Issues One Smartphone at a Time

By Alex Lussier, Laura King and Alice Havel, Adaptech Research Network

At a Glance

Discipline

Social sciences
Applied arts
STEM
Health science

Instructional Level

College & CEGEP

Tasks in Workflow

Social Plane(s)

Individual
Group

Type of Tasks

Collecting & seeking information
Discussing
Solving problems
Reviewing & assessing peers
Creating & designing
Reading

Technical Details

Useful Technologies

Smartphones recommended but laptops and tablets also suffice
An open innovation platform such as Viima or Nureva's Span Workspace

Class size

Small (20-49)

Time

Single class period (< 90 mins)

Instructional Purpose

Application & knowledge building

Overview

The purpose of this activity is to familiarize students with the potential of online tools for problem-solving.

Students will be divided into teams of 3 to 5 people. As an in-class activity that can be completed for homework, each team will be assigned the same problem to solve using online tools on their smartphones. It can be a complex math problem that introduces new formulas they haven’t been taught yet or an important social problem like hunger, poverty or the lack of privacy in the 21st century. Students will be encouraged to think outside the box and consult online resources (journal articles, videos, newspapers, etc.). Students will be given online tools such as the Google Suite, the Microsoft Suite or Span Nureva to assist them in putting all their ideas together as a team. Halfway through the activity, the class will briefly come together in order to share each team’s findings.

We are grateful to the Entente Canada-Quebec for funding this project.

Instructional Objectives

To realize the potential of creativity and open innovation for problem-solving
To learn to evaluate the ideas of their peers and give constructive feedback
To become aware of new pedagogical ways to use smartphones

Workflow & Materials

Activity Workflow

View on CourseFlow

Contributor's Notes

Benefits

The students practice their skills in teamwork and become acquainted with different apps and technology
They become more familiar with current world issues and/or complex problems of interest to them (how to reduce traffic jams in Montreal, how to stop the destruction of the Amazon Forest, how to find an eco-friendly alternative to plastic, etc.)

Challenges

If using Google Suite, those students with iPhones will need to download the google-relevant app and be logged on to their gmail to access all the features (1)
When sending a link for a Google Suite document via MIO, students with iPhones will have a harder time accessing the document (2)

Tips

For challenge (2) once the student has installed the goolge-relevant app, the student must click on the option ‘open with Safari’ so as to be able to use all the features like sharing hacks and editing

Applied Strategies

Project-Based Instruction

Analytical skills and knowledge management

Problem-Based Learning

Teamwork and collaboration

Case-based Learning

Real-life scenarios

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Published: 08/06/2020

Copyright: © 2025 Lussier, King and Havel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication on this website is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.