Hydrohex developed materials for swimming lessons to be used by the City of Espoo instructors working at Leppävaara Indoor Swimming Pool.
The ‘Modernizing Sport to Foster a New Active Generation’ initiative implemented by the City of Espoo aims to improve residents’ exercise opportunities and increase their activity levels with the help of digital phenomena. Hydrohex is one of the partner companies that had the opportunity to test their operations in Espoo in the past year.
In the pilot project, Hydrohex developed materials for swimming lessons to be used by the City of Espoo instructors working at Leppävaara Indoor Swimming Pool. The individual needs of swimming instructors were taken into account, and the videos for the lessons were edited according to their wishes.
what was studied in the pilot project
The pilot project studied if the interaction between the instructor and the pupils can be improved in this way, as better interaction contributes to the quality of the lessons and the amount of active learning time. For this purpose, the pilot project monitored the swimming lessons of school groups.
Many children and young people go swimming with their school. Primary school pupils in Espoo take about four swimming lessons per year. As such, it is important that the time reserved for the lessons is used as efficiently as possible.
According to a 2022 study by the Finnish Swimming Teaching and Lifesaving Federation (FSL), the overall level of swimming ability has decreased notably even though swimming lessons are included in the school curriculum. Even though the digitalisation of education has been a notable trend starting from the 2000s, swimming lessons have not kept up with the digital development. The pilot project brought digital materials into schools’ swimming lessons.
Videos make instructions more efficient and support children speaking different languages
The measurements performed during the pilot project showed that the Hydrohex digital solutions reduced the number of disruptions during school groups’ swimming lessons. More time was spent on providing instructions and practising swimming when Hydrohex was used during a swimming lesson. This means that the swimming lesson participants received more instruction and were able to do more practice repetitions compared to those who did not have access to video materials.
Feedback from the pupils showed that using video materials for swimming lessons is pleasant and stimulating, which makes it easier to observe the movements and skills.
In particular, pupils who do not speak Finnish or Swedish as their first language felt that the video materials were significantly helpful in understanding the key parts of the exercises. The Hydrohex swimming lesson materials were also used to hold swimming lessons for refugee schoolchildren from Ukraine. The language neutrality of the digital videos received praise from the pilot participants.
Pilot project improved occupational wellbeing of swimming instructors
The swimming instructors who participated in the Hydrohex pilot project said they had benefited from a digital solution. Improvement was seen in occupational wellbeing, for example, which is a noteworthy development, considering the labour shortage in the field and the stressful working conditions at a pool.
According to the feedback from swimming instructors, the calming effect of the Hydrohex learning materials reduced absences due to voice-related health problems and made it easier to provide high-quality swimming instruction. One of the goals of the Hydrohex pilot project was to reduce the stress related to swimming instructors’ work and improve the equality of school groups with varying skill levels.
Hydrohex Swim School Videos
During the project, we created a tool for the swimming instructors to use. This tool is a collection of swimming videos, aimed to help swimming instructors in their work.
