MIT App Inventor 2, is an outstanding tool for teaching and practising. It abstracts away most of the difficulties usually associated with mobile development, and simplifies development intentionally, and visually, into the basic building blocks of computer science.
App Inventor 2 was initially used as a training platform for the students of "Master in Innovation in Technology & Entrepreneurship " of the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology for the past two years (2014-2016) as part of their course entitled "Web Applications Design and Mobile Communications" .
More than 40 students in the past two years tested their skills on Mobile application development having minimum or even none prior programming expertise.
The main objective was the development of professional skills in emerging technologies such as the mobile apps.
Students worked in groups or as individuals after a number of F2F classes in order to develop their final projects.
A number of virtual/blended sessions have been organized between the students' groups and the Instructor, either for mentoring or guidance purposes.
Final projects such as the "Tack my Child " app, the "Course evaluator" or the "Tutor evaluation" have been successfully developed by the students.
The effectiveness of App Inventor 2 as platform for Android application development in a Blended environment have been proved, indicating also the block based programming as an appropriate Instructive approach for audience with no prior programming experience.
It is a strong belief that App Inventor 2 can be successfully used in a Highschool
Labs motivating students to gain programming skills in a Blended Learning environment.
Session Notes
