App Inventor 2 Tutorial App

[Matt Mead]

Have there been any decent tutorial apps that you could hand a student and they could learn app inventor 2 from the sources and information provided through the app?  Very interested in doing this as a project.  

[Scott Ferguson]

If you want to expand on|update|modify my interactive blocks learning tool, you are welcome to it.

It is out of date but worked well when the original App Inventor 2 beta was released.

It teaches how the language blocks work by letting the user enter real data examples.

I had intended to create a similar one for Components but gave up due to the complexity involved.

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sf

[Brucellosis]

Thanks Scott, will take a look!  How about we integrate as many tools as we can into this app.  Like a one place go all to organize App Inventor 2 for users: Beginning to advanced tutorial.  I'm looking at building an interface that utilizes all App Inventor 2 has to offer.  I believe all the knowledge and tools you guys have is AWESOME, I'm not trying to fix anything, just put it all together so people can learn from one source in an existing app.

[Scott Ferguson]

Hi Brucellosis-

Thanks for helping answer other users' questions in the forum.

We can use all the help we can get.

While the language blocks app could be updated to include new features and streamlined (it has quite a few screens and some duplication), it might be best to divide-and-conquer different topics into different modes of teaching.

I currently employ a personal MITAI forum where I provide some basic descriptions and aia projects which other users can modify for their own purposes.

Some of these also have links to YouTube video walkthroughs and a written transcript.

Those videos are in a playlist containing about 50 videos.

I would love for you to add to that list if you are interested in doing so, or you could start your own channel.

You could also do as I have done and create your own Google group to feature your apps/educational tools, support your users, etc.

You and users can attach files to threads as is done here, and it is free. 

There is an eager audience of MITAI users on Facebook that visit my projects page there.

Taifun has his own App Inventor web site which contains much useful tutorials and tips.

appinventor.org has an online tutorial book and other resources.

Of course, the MIT staff have created tutorials which are recommended for new users as well.

Perhaps a series of apps could be produced which works in a similar fashion to the language blocks app for each category of components as I think one app would be too large a project to cover all components.

Contact me at scottfr...@gmail.com for further discussion, if you wish.

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sf

[Brucellosis]

I'm new to this, but if I see something I think I can answer I'm glad to pipe in, plus I learn from teaching.

I'll be honest, I think I'm shooting for something like you say, not one tutorial, but different app tutorials as my knowledge grows.  I'm targeting the beginner right now and utilizing all the information that's out there.  Plus, I'm a beginner! 

I really think staying within the group is important initially because of all the great information and utilities already in here, and I want to utilize all everyone has to offer.  All the stuff you guys have done for instruction is awesome, there are some awesome tutorials out there, I think the power of the tutorial will be from using these already existing utilities.

I'm currently working on ascetics, and am working on keeping the apps size to a very minimum, using YouTube and browsers instead of embedding the files in the app.  It would be nice to have all included, but that just does not seem viable with all the awesome info out there.

 

I'd love to collaborate,and will drop you an email.  Thanks for the positive feedback!  

My end goal is to produce an open source tutorial engine which anyone can download via the gallery and plug and play their own tutorials in, as well as produce some very nice tutorials for Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced App Inventor 2 creators from existing information, something quality that a teacher can say download this app and a student is born..

[Scott Ferguson]

Sounds great --

I am looking forward to seeing what you come up with :-)

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sf

[Brucellosis]

What I'd like to see is teachers who would be willing to utilize these apps on their approval and written contract for liability purpose.  It's all about reaching these students.  With a great utility for teachers to use, this would be very advantageous to the teachers as well.  They would know the material from the app.  Plus it might be nice to have one for the teachers to teach from.  Say a detailed lesson system.  Both apps interact.  Even include tests that upload grades direct to the teachers app and such.