Tips for outreach with App Inventor
- Manage expectations - tell the participants that they won't be able to build any app that they want in just a few hours, but that they will be able to build an app. They won't be building Angry Birds.
- Show the students how what they are doing is connected to jobs using http://www.dotdiva.org and especially http://www.dotdiva.org/profiles/macherie.html
- For younger students or short workshops have them start with the starter projects (zipped source) which have the user interface completed at http://ice-web.cc.gatech.edu/dl/?q=node/641 or download the zipped source for projects from the free online book at http://www.appinventor.org/. One of the problems with App Inventor is that the names of the components are used in the blocks editor and so the names need to be consistent.
- Be sure to always leave time for the participants to create or modify an app, rather than just follow a project. Also leave time to allow the students to show what they have created.
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