Blog
Learning Without Frontiers 2012
Posted by admin on January 27th, 2012
Apps for Good were invited to present a keynote talk at last years LWF Conference. At the same time we scooped 2 awards in the LWF Awards for Innovation.
In the 12 months since we experienced rapid growth as schools throughout the UK came forward to participate in the programme.
This year, Debbie Forster presented a summary update at the LWF Conferene and explained why our programme is a new indicator for learning in the future.
Apps for Good also took part in workshops at the Nominet Trust Dome, as part of the Free Festival. During the workshop visitors found out more about the Apps for Good mobile course, where young people create apps to change their world. Teachers from two schools also showcased their schools work and talk about their learning experiences.
Work Experience at CDI Europe
Posted by admin on December 8th, 2011
Over the last two weeks Amarah from the Buzzer Buddiez app team came into the CDI Europe office for some work experience. Here is a round up of her two weeks through photographs and videos.
Last week Amarah took part in the UKTI European Press tour here is her interview:
Amarah had a message for the team about her work experience:
Well done Amarah, you did very well at the CDI Europe office and you can pop back any time!
5 Top Tips on coaching students
Posted by admin on December 7th, 2011
Richard Smartt Education Manager at CDI Europe, tells us more about the Education teams work this Autumn.
The Education team have been travelling up and down the nation, meeting students and talking through their ideas with them. We are so pleased that even in the face of technical challenges, students remain enthused with the energy and vibrancy that have come to characterize not only the idea generating processes at the heart of Apps for Good, but also the hard work of our educators across the Apps for Good network.
Along our travels we’ve heard dozens of pitches in the making, so in this post I thought it might be useful to cover my top 5 tips on coaching students from general, sometimes hazy ideals to specific solutions.
Many teams have gone through Problem Definition (Step 1) already, but I hope this post is useful in helping our educators coach the many teams who will either need to do further iterations of Step 1, or who want/need to ‘reboot’ the journey from problem through to solution, especially in cases where earlier attempts proved infeasible or teams have split up, etc.
The top 5 tips
1. Specific problems lead to specific solutions. Remember it’s difficult to create a compelling solution (within the scope of the course) without having a specific problem in view. It’s OK for the problem to change along the way, but first it needs to be clear. See my earlier post on this subject.
2. Make sure students have a mental model for how apps work. This is especially true where students don’t have their own mobile phones. It is well worth taking the time to let them see what the full breadth of functionality is, but also torule out any unrealistic behaviours or usage models
3. Reduce ambiguity at the problem stage, but delay, for as long as possible, “written-in-stone” solutions during Solution Design. Students typically want to get straight out of the blocks on the the ‘b’ of the bang and create solutions, but this can hold things back if it leads to either not defining the problem clearly, or rushing down the straightest line between apparent problem and quick fix. If the solution doesn’t change at least once during step 3 then you know something’s up!
4. Have fun! Outlaw the pursuit of ideas that don’t genuinely interest students. I am rarely persuaded by students who tell me that, above all else,they want to solve the problem of ‘forgetting things’. I’m not saying that this is not a viable space (though it is extremely competitive), only that it often comes from a place of ‘what problem should I solve?’, rather than ‘which problem do I care most about–which problem am I most interested in solving’. This is the key to success and worth remembering.
5. Remember, problems can be cornered. Whilst they can’t always be solved, problems can be buffeted into one of 3 corners. Your questions can usually force even the most awkward problem to be defined until it moves in one of three directions.
A. Problem is intractable: Issue is infeasible for computational/technical reasons OR involves large and dramatic behavioural change on the part of the user to get them to even use the app
B. Problem is trivial: An issue easily remedied by a very small amount of self-discipline and personal attention, or a problem for which designing an app is akin to using a sledgehammer to kill an ant. Problems likely to continue with or without an app as an intervention should also move in this direction
C. Problem is clear, specific and compelling: a problem description that gets straight to the heart of the matter in no uncertain terms with appropriate scope to be solved by an app.
Apps for Good students on Blue Peter
Posted by Adizah Tejani on September 27th, 2011
Over the summer Apps for Good students from Central Foundation Girls’ School had the chance to film with BBC’s children’s TV programme Blue Peter. Yesterday afternoon Apps for Good students were hooked to their TVs watching BuzzerBuddies and 2-the-Res-Q compete to have their app developed. You can watch episode on BBC iPlayer (HD) or below on YouTube.
The winning app CyberMentors by the 2-the-Res-Q team, is now live on the Android Market and can be do downloaded for free here . You can read more about how the app was brought to life this summer in a previous blog post.
Annika Small, Director of the Nominet Trust appeared as a judge on the show, she said: “It’s exciting to see young people creating apps that address specific needs in their lives and communities. Nominet Trust is supporting an online platform that will soon make Apps for Good accessible to all. Imagine the creativity of young people across the UK and beyond unleashed in improving the world they live in.”
Well done to BuzzerBuddies, 2-the-Res-Q and all the students from the Apps for Good course at Central Foundation Girls’ School.