We Have an App for That
2014 Ohio Educational
Technology Conference
Columbus, OH
Edison Community College
• More than 3,000 students
• 30 Technical Fields
• More than 600 dually-enrolled high
school students
• Student age range 16 - ?
Who Am I?
• Leslie Spivey, Associate Professor,
Computer Science Department
• Programming Degree Program
• Computer Games and Simulation Programming
and Design Degree Program
• Edison Community College, Piqua OH
How Do We Fix This?
• Programmers are real people with
other interests and are nice folks.
• Teachers, in particular, have an
opportunity to change these
stereotypes.
How Can You Get Involved?
• Computer Science Teacher’s Association
(CSTA)
– It’s free!
– It’s a network of educators that care about
reversing this trend.
• CSEdWeek in December each year
• http://code.org and the Hour of Code
initiative.
• http://girlsintech.org/
WeAreIT!
• Schools all over Ohio are inviting middle
school and high school girls to campus for
“hands-on” sessions in STEMM discipline breakout sessions.
• Begun in 2004, with Edison Community
College’s flagship event. More than 200 girls
visit each of the host school sites.
• Edison Community College Event
What is Windows Phone App Center?
• A drag-n-drop environment for
creating applications for Windows
Phone devices
• Developed Microsoft
• Currently available in Beta version
only.
What is Windows Phone App Center?
• Apps can be built for immediate
publishing, testing, and sharing.
• When the app is ready for the addition
of advanced programming features,
Windows Phone App Studio generates
the source code.
Getting Started in Windows Phone App
Center
• You must have a Microsoft account.
This can be set-up free
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?Lin
kID=238657 )
What is AppInventor
• A drag-n-drop environment for
creating applications for Android
devices (looks much like Scratch)
• Developed by Google
• Currently being supported and
researched for further development by
MIT
AppInventor System Requirements
• Computer and Operating System
– MacIntosh (with Intel processor) – Mac OS
X 10.5 or higher
– Windows – XP, Vista, Windows 7
– GNU/Linux – Ubuntu 8 or higher, Debian 5
or higher
AppInventor System Requirements
• Browser
– Mozilla Firefox 3.6 or higher (If you are
using Firefox with the NoScript extension,
you need to turn the extension off).
– Apple Safari 5.0 or higher
– Google Chrome 4.0 or higher
– Microsoft IE 7 or higher
Getting Started with App Inventor
• You must have a gmail e-mail
account. This can be set-up free
(http://mail.google.com/mail/signup )
• There may be issues with your school’s
firewall. You will want to check on this.
What Do I Need to Get Started?
• Java 7 or higher Runtime Environment
(JRE7)
• Get appropriate version for your
machine at http://www.oracle.com
• AppInventor Software installed
(http://explore.appinventor.mit.edu/c
ontent/setup )
What Do I Need to Get Started?
• AppInventor Software installed
(http://explore.appinventor.mit.edu/c
ontent/setup )
• Windows Vista or higher
• “AppInventor” folder containing Blocks
Editors is installed in C:/Program Files
(x86). It must be moved to c:/Program
Files in order to work.
What if it Won’t Start?
• Turn off Pop-up Blockers
• Antivirus software (particularly AVG)
will prevent the Blocks Editor from
opening. Disable Antivirus software if
necessary.
• I have not had any issues with AVG,
but I have read postings about
possible issues depending on versions.
Starting AppInventor
• Open the web browser, and enter:
appinventor.mit.edu/explore/classic.html
• This is AppInventor1. AppInventor2 is
available, however AppInventor1 will be
supported until the end of the current school
year.
• Hello Kitty App Demonstration
Starting AppInventor
Hello Kitty
• To create the first app “Hello Kitty”,
download kitty.png and meow.mp3 at
http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/content
/hellopurr.html
• The .jpg is a picture of my dog Marley, any
animal picture could be used.
Hello Kitty
• The sound file for the dog was downloaded
from Open Source sound effects found at
http://soundbible.com
• This exercise also provides an excellent
opportunity to discuss copyright restrictions
with students.
No Texting Demo
• This tutorial demonstrates creating an app
that responds to text messages
automatically.
No Texting Demo
Additional Resources
• http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/co
ntent/windows-drivers.html to install
drivers not included in the installer
program. Please read carefully as it
changes frequently.
• Tutorials for learning App inventor http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/ai
2/tutorials -
Additional Resources
• APPInventor Forums – should join to get
access to helpful documentation,
including updated spreadsheet on
adapting to tablets, as well as network
other instructorshttp://androidforums.com/appinventor/
Additional Resources
• The app inventor repository - tips, tricks,
tutorials, and sampleshttp://www.tair.info/
• App Inventor Gallery - Questions? http://gallery.appinventor.mit.edu/#
Additional Tips
• http://appinventor.mit
• http://edu/explore/content/troublesho
oting.html
• http://explore.appinventor.mit.edu App Inventor Home page
Resources
Scratch
http://scratch.mit.edu/
Educator’s Guide to Using Scratch
http://www.scratchprogramming.org/
App Inventor Software Setup
http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/
App Inventor Teacher Resources
http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/teach.ht
ml
Resources
Science Teachers Association (CSTA)
http://www.csta.acm.org/
Questions ?
• Lspivey@edisonohio.edu
• (937) 778-7934