Posted by Tom Krengel
on 09/16/09
Mobile applications are triggering a fundamental shift in the way people experience computing and use mobile phones. Ten years ago, people "went to the computer" to perform tasks and access the Internet, and they used a cell phone only to make calls. Today, smartphones let us carry computing with us, have become central to servicing our communication and information needs, and have made the web part of all that we do. Ten years ago, people's use of computing was largely dissociated from real life. With the ubiquity of social networking, online and offline life are becoming fused.
Google has recently announce App Inventor for Android, which "lets people assemble Android applications by arranging 'components' using a graphical drag-and-drop-interface", and which will be trialled with students in a group of around a dozen universities (all in the US bar the University of Queensland) in Autumn 2009. The rationale for the development of App Inventor for Android is that the architectural shift needs to be matched by a shift in the computer science curriculum "to make it more about people and their interactions with others and with the world around them", so that people "can engage the world of mobile services and applications as creators, not just consumers".
The goal is to do the following:
- make mobile application development accessible to anyone;
- enhance introductory learning experiences in computing through the vehicle of Android’s open platform;
- encourage a community of faculty and students to share material and ideas for teaching and exploring."
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