1.4. App Inventor Setup

In Unit 1 Lesson 1.4: App Inventor Set Up, students will login to App Inventor for the first time and test an app with their mobile devices or emulator.


Professional Development

The Student Lesson: Complete the activities for Unit 1 Lesson 1.3: Google Account and Portfolio Set Up and for Unit 1 Lesson 1.4: App Inventor Set Up.

Materials

  • Access to computer, laptop, or Chromebook (install the Companion app on Chromebooks)
  • Access to mobile devices with the Companion app installed or access to the emulator installed on the computer or laptop. (suggested list of mobile devices)
  • Teachers should verify ahead of time that there are no significant barriers to connecting your mobile devices and App Inventor at your school. There may be firewall issues, so please test ahead of time! (See the IT Checklist and Troubleshooting Connection Problems).

1.4.1. Learning Activities

Estimated Length: 25-45 minutes

  1. Video (5 mins): Show the intro to App Inventor video from MIT in class. When this video was made, CS was not usually taught in high school! But luckily, things have changed.
  2. Activity (15-30 minutes): Following the directions in Unit 1 Lesson 1.4: App Inventor Set Up, students should click on the App Inventor template, login to App Inventor with their Gmail accounts and then run the test app on a mobile device or emulator. They can follow the embedded tutorial to the left of the App Inventor screens. This lesson may last longer if there are connection issues at your school. Follow the troubleshooting links above. If you have students whose first language is not English, you may want to have them pull down the language menu where it says English at the top right of App Inventor to switch to their own language.
  3. Reflection (5 mins): Ask students what they liked about App Inventor so far.

Google Accounts

Your school email may already be based on Gmail accounts. It may work with all the Google products used during the course, but it may not as well. For example, you may be able to access Google Sites, but not App Inventor. Test it out during the summer to determine which route is best for your school. You may need to have each student create a brand new Gmail just for this course.

Student Data Privacy

  • Mobile CSP's privacy and terms of use. Schools requiring individual contracts/addendums may contact us at info@mobile-csp.org.
  • MIT App Inventor's privacy policy and terms of use
  • MIT also offers a version of App Inventor that does not require logging in. This version is available at http://code.appinventor.mit.edu/ (Note: If using this site, students will not be able to use the App Inventor template linked throughout the course. Teachers will need to instead download the templates as aia files and make them available for students to download and then upload into App Inventor.)
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