Title: Instructions for the Teacher
Course: Informàtica 4t ESO v2 ang > Section: Topic 16. App Design

Teacher

Please consider:

Regarding the Activities:

The interface (screens, order, etc.) of the App will have been designed using Balsamiq. The students must retrieve this design to transfer it to App Inventor with any suitable changes made.

The prototype must be transferred to a mobile device to see the end result and functionality. Although a computer emulator can be used, it is much more motivating to see what the partially developed App will look like on the end device. That’s why the use of smartphones at school is planned, in case you need to get around internal regulations on phone use.

Having a questions forum for the topic means the different groups can pool their concerns regarding the development of their App. Many of the designed functionalities may be common and the problems one group has may have already been solved by another group. It is important to promote the forum and assess the contributions as part of the grade for this topic.

Regarding the Timing:

Although 9 hours are scheduled to design the App, you may decide against doing all the sessions in a row. They can be broken up with other topics from the term as the prior content and corresponding activities needed for their development will have already been addressed and carried out in previous terms. Distributing the 9 hours into three non-consecutive weeks, for example, may give you more time to reflect, reconsider or consult while the App is being programmed.

It is not expected for the whole of the App to be finished when this topic ends, but rather to have a partial prototype. The work pace of each group may differ in line with group dynamics and skillsets. However, it is important to determine the minimum requirements for each group and to explain them (home screen and one sub-screen, home screen and one specific App sub-screen, etc.).