App Building 101: From Taking Baby Steps to Graduating Primary School...

So it's been a crazy couple of weeks, with VCE units wrapping up & starting back up again, exams, working on reports and a hospital visit to top it off. Apologies in not getting a post out sooner...but we move on. Hopefully someone will still be reading this blog...

As I've mentioned earlier, ICTEV2012 was a watershed moment. I'd been looking at creating an app for a few of my classes, and when selecting the possible workshops that I would visit, @mrrobbo's (thanks once again!) stood out as it sounded like it would provide me a way of doing this. What can I say, the medium was provided! No coding is required either which is awesome if you want to create iOS apps and don't have a Mac.

This post is going to be talking about the process involved in creating my first (web) app via iBuildApp. There are a number of other app builders out there but for the moment we'll focus on this one.

My first Web App was the 8 Maroon App. When I showed the students what it could do, they were genuinely excited that they were going to be able to access College event dates, important subject dates, as well as contact myself and another of their teachers, @_tarrynkennedy directly from the App.

I've since decided to buy myself an Apple Developers Licence so that I can build Native Apps...and rebuilt the Web App as a Native App...it will hopefully go live after the holidays and I'll let you all know when it's in the App Store.

For those who have been scared to make the leap to using Apps, my recommendation would definitely be to go with Web Apps first, and if you then need the additional functionality, and want to spend $99/year then head over to the Apple website and join the Developers program. Find the app below in the iPhone simulator.



Using iBuildApp to build a Web App felt like I was taking baby steps into the App Development world. I was able to create a working app within about a half hour! Buying the Apple Developers Licence to start building Native Apps felt like graduating primary school. I do plan on learning to write Xcode and Objective C to write my own iDevice apps (once I get a Mac), but for the time being, iBuildApp will do...hopefully I won't take 6 years to graduate to writing my own Native Apps.

May the Tech Be With You

Jimmy V

How to build your first app in an hour (or less)

Before you start, you'll obviously need an idea for an app. Whether it be as content delivery alternative, an organisational app or a way for your students to email photos of their work to you, you need the idea first.

1. Go to the iBuildApp website, and sign up. Doesn't seem that hard yet...right?
2. When you click Create App, you're given three options:
   
   • Native Apps (iPhone/Android)
   • Create apps that can be downloaded from the Apple & Android App Stores for iPod/iPhone and Android phones. These apps do not require an data connection to run BUT do require an Apple Developer Licence (iPod/iPhone) or being registered with the Android Maps API (Android phones only). Note that Android tablets aren't supported at this stage.
   • Native iPad
   • Create apps for the iPad that can be downloaded from the Apple App Store. These require an Apple Developer Licence.
   • Web Apps
   • Create apps that can be viewed on any mobile device, irrespective of platform. You can release your apps for free without the need to sign up to any Developer Program.
3. Select 'Web Apps' and click 'Continue'.
   
   Don't make the mistake (like I did) of developing a Native App when I intended on making a Web App, so make sure you select the correct option!
4. Select the TEMPLATE of your choice, and click 'Use It'. You can create your own templates or use one of the custom templates available in the Template Marketplace.
5. Give your App a name & click 'Create'
6. Then follow the prompts to fill your App with content.
• Edit Background: Choose the background image for your App (you can use your own one)
• Edit Logo Image: Choose the logo image for your App (you need to have your own logo...otherwise you're stuck with the default one from the template)
• Edit Text: Choose the text that will appear at the top of your App
• Manage Navigation: Choose the buttons & menu tabs from the template that will be used. You can edit the text descriptions, as well as the button images.
• Manage Content: This is where you place all the content in your App. It's all pretty self-explanatory and allows you a massive range of options. Note that some functions aren't available to Web Apps, such as taking photos or videos, adding events to the calendar and local notifications.
7. Once you've populated your App, click 'Complete'. A warning may come up stating that you haven't got enough content in there, but if you've populated it to your hearts content, click 'Continue As Is'.
8. It's up to you whether you use 24hr time format...
9. Fill out the details and get yourself a logo (it's pretty easy to find a Creative Commons logo on Google Images...)
10. You'll then be given the opportunity to distribute your App. Not only are you given the URL, but you're also given a QR code, the HTML code to embed the App into your existing website,as well as  the option to share via Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Google+, etc, etc...

Congratulations you've just completed building your first Web App. I might write a post later in the future about Native Apps...

#ICTEV12 (Extended Version) Pt III

Before I start Pt III, I'd like to thank all of the presenters & peers (not just the ones mentioned) from #ICTEV12 for the inspiration and re-invigoration that you brought to not only myself but everyone present last Saturday. My head has been buzzing like a bee hive ever since; thoughts have swirled around & collided in a way that might resemble a collision on a NASCAR track - one of those really awesome ones where one car starts a concertina of collisions that are really cool to look at.

Anyways, sorry for the delay in getting this 3rd (and final) post about #ICTEV12. Been a really hectic week at school since the Conference...I'm sure I'm not the only person in this boat.

So tonight I'm going to be exploring the concepts, ideas and tech looked at in @MarkOMeara, @MarkPleasance & @mrrobbo's presentations.

• @MarkOMeara's "Present to Connect"  can be seen after the jump (http://po.st/ipMdXf)
• Pretext: I heavily use PPT's and Prezi's (predominantly the earlier) to deliver theory to my VCE IT students. Over the past 2 years, I have found that after a while my students have gotten bored with these.
• Ok, so you've now seen the videos...Design, Construct, Deliver. Three things that need to be done well to connect with our students.
• So I went into Mark's session thinking "I'm hoping this guy can give me some tips on improving my presentations". Within a few minutes, I had already pinpointed some areas that I fail to focus on with regards to my presentations.
• While I might Design & Construct my presentations, and spend a few hours (at times) doing this, I rarely spend enough time thinking about the Delivery. Not to mention the over-Construction of my  presenations. Time to reduce the amount of text, and include high quality images in my presentations.
• I think with the amount of text I place in my presentations, I've used it as a safety barrier in my classes as a means for content delivery. In the next few months (once things quieten down), I'm going to work on transforming all of my existing presentations to appeal and better engage my students. I'll keep you all updated...
• @MarkPleasance's "Who is the Expert?"
• Mark went through his school's MacBook Expert Program, which promotes student involvement in troubleshooting basic ICT issues in the classroom.
• The MBE model that Mark presented covered recruitment, training & the students' role within Sacred Heart, in regards to ICT. I'd love to think that at some point in the next couple of years, (prior to moving to 1:1) we could begin to model our own program similar to Mark's at MacKillop.
• @mrrobbo's "I'm just a Teacher & I've made an App" 
• You can see Jarrod's presentation after the jump...http://youtu.be/dz_qsYgzG4U
• Jarrod's a PE teacher in Boort, VIC and has used a range of online App Builders, such as iBuildApp, BuzzTouch among others, to create apps for his students and peers. He demonstrated how easy it was to create these apps with no programming knowledge required!
• Only the week previous, @_TarrynKennedy and myself were talking about creating apps for our mutual classes. Since Jarrod's presentation, we've started thinking about all sorts of apps for a number of different purposes at MacK.
• We'll keep you updated with some of the apps that we come up with in the next few weeks/months and I'll present a few of these app builder tools in their own little snapshot posts over the next few weeks as well.

Keep inspiring, stay sane & enjoy yourselves...May The Tech Be With You

Jimmy V

#ICTEV12 (Extended Version) Part II

Ok so admittedly, having never been to the ICTEV Conference and not knowing what to expect, as well as being a little run down, I wasn't looking forward to going. Waking up early (on a weekend no less) & driving into Melbourne Grammar on a wet and rainy Melbourne morning...it certainly wasn't helping.

Got there, registered my attendance & mingled with old & current collegues, as well as some new friends. Got my seat next to @_tarrynkennedy in the Assembly Hall, and was waiting for the keynote speaker, Alan November (@globalearner). Not being familiar with any of Alan's work, nor having had time during the week to read up on any of his work, I had no idea what to expect. Within two to three minutes, I think I could have listened to him all day.

As he was speaking, I tweeted my thoughts and some quotes from his keynote:

• "We need to get rid of the word 'technology' because 'technology' isn't the end game. Information & communication is"
• "Children see technology through a different perspective than we do"
• These quotes begged to ask myself the question, "Why do I ask students to put their devices away?"
• "Everything in Alan November's life seems to be an accident..." - @jimmygunner
• Alan told a number of "accidental" stories that influenced his view of education and this led into a discussion about the need to shift control in the classroom.
• "We need to break the boundaries of space, time, information & relationships to break the current idea of schooling" - 
• Alan's ideas of shifting control from the teacher to the students in the sense that "children need to help other children in the classroom" was a breath of fresh air.
• I've always liked the idea of this but never been brave enough to do it....listening to the great man speak has given me the inspiration to allow this shift in pedagogy.
• "Most people do not publish student work for the world to see"
• "The boundary of the calendar is that at the start of every year we start over...Why?"
• "Students need to take responsibility for the quality of their work"
• I think that if more students did this, we'd have better outcomes for a number of our students.
• The question now lies..."How do we make them take more responsibility for their work?"
• Interestingly enough, a colleague of mine @digital_lingua has been drumming his ideas for self-evaluation of student work to improve quality of their work all year...maybe he and @globalearner have been in kahootz for a while...or maybe its just a coincidence...
• "Continue to grade the regurgitation. If its creative, dont grade" - @_tarrynkennedy

EDUCATIONAL TOOL (via @globalearner):

MathTrain.TV - Alan demonstrated a way of helping shift control from the teacher to the students. MathTrain is a website that has had a number of basic maths tutorials created BY students FOR students on a number of different maths topics. It was created by a teacher in the US to enable his students to help each other when they have difficulty with maths problems at home. I'm planning on introducing this site to my students this week so I'll keep you updated with feedback from the kids.

It was a great address that I feel was well received. Comments about @globallearner's talk welcome below...

So onto @MarkPleasance's "Who is the Expert?" session & @MarkOMeara's Present to Connect...but that's in the next post...

Until next time...May the Tech Be With You

Jimmy V

#ICTEV2012 @MelbourneGrammar Pt I

So yesterday I went to Melbourne Grammar (first time, and impressed) for the 2012 ICTEV Conference (also a first for me, & quite impressed.

Some of the tips & tools will get posts later on, after I've looked at them in closer detail but thanks to all presenters at #ICTEV12 for the inspiration, excitement and insight that they gave to all of us on the day.

Highlights for the day (in no particular order):

• Alan November's keynote to start the day about accidental happenings in education that influenced him as an educator, and breaking some of the conventional boundaries that we currently have in education
• I think everyone would agree that they could have heard him talk all day
• Jarrod Robinson's (@mrrobbo) session on building your own apps for your classroom
• Mark O'Meara's (@markomeara) session on how to build presentations that engage our students, not bore them to death
• Mark Pleasance's (@MarkPleasance) session on making students the tech experts (MacBook Experts) in his school

Unsurprisingly, met up with old & current colleagues, as well as new friends, of whom we shared our opinions on a number of ICT topics, and good discussion was had. The buzz around the place was truly inspirational!

True Story
Over the past few weeks, @_TarrynKennedy & myself have been talking about making an app to create our own iPod/iPhone/iPad apps to help manage our mutual class, 8 Maroon.

Thanks to @mrrobbo's session yesterday, this morning, I woke up and decided to create an app for myself and @_tarrynkennedy's classes where we could set homework tasks that could be accessed by students. Within a half hour, and after some very quick troubleshooting from @mrrobbo, myself and @_TarrynKennedy had a functional test app.

The ideas since have kept flowing this arvo and it'g going to be an exciting next few months for the both of us in regards to App Development

If you want to check out the app, feel free to do so at http://ibuildapp.com/web-MacK8M_Test_App. It's not much but it's a start :)

Feel free to add your views of #ICTEV12 below

May the Tech Be With You

Jimmy V