The South Korean company Sam Corporation was the first foreign company to test and develop its solution on our development and testing platform with pupils from Helsinki’s schools. With the pilot, Sam Corporation also established a company in Finland and is competing for a place in the incubator programme.
Sam Corporation is an educational technology company that offers plenty of opportunities for storytelling and interactivity. Their solution, known as Story Creator, was tested on our development and testing platform. The game helps users create their own stories by combining images, music, writing and speech.
In February, a packet of physical Story Creator games was sent to Finland, allowing pupils to play with them at school and also at the Helsinki Education Hub. Different cards and themes inspired them to create a variety of stories. Afterwards, pupils were able to test the Story Creator app, which is under development, and provide feedback and development suggestions on it along with their teachers.
Foreign companies are now also included in the business-oriented experiment
The experiment was carried out using the Easy Access Co-Development operating model. The EAC model allows companies to easily and effortlessly co-develop their educational product or service with schools. The business model is flexible and shaped by the needs of companies and the prospects of schools where possible.
Sam Corporation is represented in Finland by CEO Jaebum Park and Co-founder & Director Dr. Bang Lee. “We were able to collaborate with several groups of pupils and teachers, and evaluate the content, usability and functionality of the product. We received valuable feedback for further development,” says Bang Lee.
Hub lessons – a new concept
The pilot was carried out as a long-term process at Kulosaari Primary School, where teachers used the game in everyday teaching. In addition, for the first time, Hub Lessons were tested at the Helsinki Education Hub.
“An interesting solution and Bang Lee’s expertise in child-centred design gave us the opportunity to try out a completely new concept: Hub Lessons,” says Marjo Kenttälä, Innovation Agent of the innovation platform. Hub Lessons are workshops in which pupil groups can participate one to three times.
“The workshop will be supervised by a company representative, and we will help and support the implementation of the workshop,” Kenttälä continues. During the Hub Lessons, Story Creator was tested and commented on by groups of pupils from the Helsinki International School and Töölö Primary School.
Sam Corporation has now established a company in Helsinki. In June, we will know whether the company will start in the Edtech Incubator Helsinki programme next autumn. The incubator programme is part of Helsinki Education Hub’s operations.
