Objectives

• Introduce App Inventor (30 minutes)
• Build a first app, “I Have a Dream” and get acclimated with the App Inventor tool (45 minutes or longer depending on setup time)

Outline

1. Prepare your lab
2. Introduce App Inventor
3. Students build first app: I Have a Dream Tutorial
4. Portfolios
5. Homework

Preparation

The new setup system for App Inventor is much improved. If you are working at home or in a lab with WiFi that is not firewalled, setup can be amazingly easy. But if you are in a lab at a school or organization, test your setup-- things can be tricky. The MIT setup instructions.

For the first day, try to eliminate as many variables as possible in terms of the computers and devices you use. Plan on things taking longer than you think and problems arising. Once you get past the setup stage, App Inventor works terrific

The best scenario is that you have devices for the students, a classroom/lab with computers and WiFi without firewalls. In this case, you should need very little setup:

• Install the MIT App Inventor 2 Companion on each device. This will allow students to test their apps.
• In the settings for each device, make sure to  “Allow Unknown Sources” in the device’s Security Settings. This will allow students to download apps to their phone.
• Make sure the computers and devices can connect to the same WiFi connection.
• Open App Inventor at ai2.appinventor.mit.edu and make sure you can test an app with “Connect | AI Companion”.
• Test to make sure this all works.

If not all students have devices, you may want to have all or some use the emulator. You’ll need to:

• Install the App Inventor software on each computer (or have students do that on their laptops)
• Open App Inventor at ai2.appinventor.mit.edu and make sure that the emulator pops with an app when you “Connect | Emulator”. Also, make sure sound plays on the emulator and images from the app load correctly.

You should probably create setup instructions specifically for your class. Here is a sample from Professor Wolber’s University of San Francisco course:https://sites.google.com/site/cs107f14/setup

1. Introduce App Inventor (30)

You can use this Google Presentation or modify it to your liking. The presentation is meant to be interactive:

• Shows the blocks for an interesting app (No Texting While Driving) and give audience a chance to talk amongst themselves to to figure out what it does.
• Demo the “Raffle App” and let the audience text in to win. You can give away a book or first choice on devices you have available. Be sure and:
• introduce Designer, Blocks Editor, and live testing of app (either on device or emulator)

• Talk about the apps that can be built with App Inventor.

2. Students build their first app: I Have a Dream (45-1:15)

Get the students building and exploring as soon as possible. There are two ways to provide the first experience:

• Teacher demos each step and students follow along.
• Students use written/video tutorial and teacher just facilitates and demos as needed.

A key to this first lesson is how students will test their apps on a device or emulator. You may want to demonstrate this part even if you don’t demonstrate each part of the app.

Pass out or have the students open/download the “I Have a Dream” tutorial.

You can also refer students to the video tutorial as well.

3. Students create their portfolio and add “I Have a Dream” (30)

Ask the students to create a web portfolio where they will “publish” all of their work, including tutorial apps like “I Have a Dream” and more creative projects. Step them through:

• Creating a Google Site site (or other) with a simple profile
• Downloading (Building) a .apk file from their App Inventor “I Have a Dream” app.
• Creating app page for “I Have a Dream” and attaching the .apk file to it. The page should have title, description, screenshot and QR code for the app.
• Creating a QR code for the webified .apk file, using a service like qrcode.kaywa.com, then placing that QR code on their portfolio app page.

Instructions for creating a Google Sites portfolio.

Instructions for creating an app page.

4. Homework

a. Ask the students to read/watch the following Learning Nuggets:

Events

Conditionals

Ask the students to read some interesting articles about app building, coding, and App Inventor. Here is a list of articles: http://appinventor.org/biblio. Here are some discussion questions based on those articles:

1. (Lohr, Abelson articles) What does Hal Abelson mean when he says, “The goal is to enable people to become creators, not just consumers, in this mobile world”? In what ways would attaining this goal help the world?
2. (Thompson article) Consider this quote from Clive Thompson:

“Software, after all, affects almost everything we do. Pick any major problem—global warming, health care, or, in Finnegan’s case, highway safety—and clever software is part of the solution. Yet only a tiny chunk of people ever consider learning to write code, which means we’re not tapping the creativity of a big chunk of society.”

Why do you think society hasn’t “tapped the creativity of a big chunk of society”? in terms of software development?

3. (all articles) How does App Inventor help tap the creativity of a broader group of people? What are some cool apps that have been developed with App Inventor?
4. (Loukadis article, others) Why was Android chosen as the platform for App Inventor instead of iPhone?
5. (Shirky, Abelson articles) What is situated software? Can you envision a world where ordinary people create personal software for their own phones and tablets?
6. (Videos) Do you think App Inventor can help young people learn software skills that will help them be more creative? What is STEM? How is App Inventor helping teach high schoolers?

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