AppShed

If you’ve got an Arduino and you’re wanting to experiment with IoT then you will be looking for options to get your Arduino “online”. You might have thought it would be easy and cheap in this day and age. It is easy, but I was surprised at how costly it can be.

You can get an Arduino clone for about $4. We like these ones from ICStation.

Now for the Wifi...

The standard WiFi shield (CC3000) will set you back a minimum of $40 (and many eBay sellers have it for >$100!)

But a search for “Arduino WiFi Shield” returns hundreds of cheap alternatives (around $9). But they use the ESP8266 Wifi chip. Very tempting. “Surely they will be compatible,” we thought. Ha! Famous last words.

It took my team quite a while to get it working, but we’ve done it. We will soon be posting a Guide on how to set up your Arduino + ESP8266 WiFi Shield. 

You can then control the Arduino from your AppShed apps using simple JavaScript calls, eg: 

           setPin(10,ON)

If you want to control a device on the other side of the world, you simply need to provide a unique identifier:

          setPin(10,ON,[unique_id])

This will automatically route through a cloud service over WiFi. All the complexities are taken care of for you.

(Contact us on Twitter @AppShed if you want to find out more).

The other challenge we had was to create an extremely simple way for users (in our context that’s kids mostly) to control these boards from their apps. Using AppShed IoT “Actions” they need to be able to turn things on and off, or trigger Events when a threshold is reached.

We love the “aREST” library created by Marco Schwartz. It provides very simple control of many important devices (Raspberry Pi, Arduino, ESP8266, NodeMCU). There is even a Cloud service which allows you to control your devices remotely. This is one of the best “device agnostic” API’s we’ve come across. (http://arest.io/)

We are busy adding support for aREST into AppShed. This will provide simple Actions to control the Arduino, Raspberry Pi and ESP8266/NodeMCU. We hope to extend this to the BBC micro:bit too! 

Check out the book “Discover the aREST Framework” by Marco Schwartz for a great introduction to this very powerful IoT tool: http://arest.io/discover/

Keep creating!

We’ve been doing a lot of work on the app.js JavaScript library. You can do so much with app.js, including:

Games

Interactive screen items

Connecting to other devices (Arduino, Raspberry Pi etc)

Here’s a really simple example... a loop that changes the background colour of the screen:

We regularly release updates to app.js which include new features. You can always get the latest version on GitHub:

github.com/AppShed/app.js

The easiest way to learn how to use app.js is to download the QuickStart guide (it’s an AppShed app, of course!):

http://apps.appshed.com/demo_app_js

Our aim when creating courses in AppShed Academy is to align these as closely as possible with teaching objectives. We want to provide resources that assist teachers in fulfilling their curriculum requirements.

Some of our courses are specifically matched to certain course modules (e.g. the Chessington app course maps to Cambridge Nationals R005). Other courses can provide support to certain requirements in the UK Computing, K-12 and other school curricula.  

The GPS course provides learners with an exciting and unusual challenge - to build their own mini-GPS app. Using the compass and location sensors found on most modern smartphones, learners build a walking guide to navigate between two locations in a major city. They will become acquainted with advanced functionality available in the AppShed software platform, plan a solution to a challenging new task, and solve the problem by implementing logical and creative skills.

The GPS course provides support for the following requirements of the UK Computing curriculum:

Primary (KS 1&2):

*  Use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs *  Use software to create a program that accomplishes a given goal

Secondary (KS 3&4):  

*  Evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems *  Develop their capability, creativity and knowledge in computer science, digital media etc.

Please Note:

The GPS course has been created with the underlying aim of supporting the Computing curriculum. We have not (as yet) mapped it to specific outcomes, but we have provided pointers to the sections in the curriculum that we believe it supports. It rests with individual teachers to determine which outcomes their students have achieved by completing this course.

There is an additional course called "Device Events". This provides some basic instruction on how to use the AppShed software to utilise "events" on a mobile device. This course should be seen as a pre-requisite for the GPS course.

Try out the GPS app...

              On a phone                                        On PC

We have some great news for the AppShed community!

New courses in AppShed Academy…available for you to enhance your students’ learning experience.

Curriculum Guide

The following courses have been designed to support

the requirements of the UK Computing Curriculum.

Primary (KS 1&2):

*  Use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs *  Use software to create a program that accomplishes a given goal

Secondary (KS 3&4):  

*  Evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems *  Develop their capability, creativity and knowledge in computer science, digital media etc. 

1. GPS course

Now you can build your own GPS app in AppShed!

With this app you will be able to navigate your way from Trafalgar Square to Odeon Leicester Square in London.

This course will show you how to build the entire app from start to finish. You will also be shown how to use the Compass and Location events to help with the navigation process. This GPS app allows you to see the context in which the events can be used.

You can find this course in AppShed Academy>All Categories>Mapping> GPS course.

2. Device Events

This course gives a detailed explanation on how to use our three events. You will be shown step by step how to create three different apps each of them using the following:

Shake

Compass

Location

Moreover, you will also be given an explanation on how those events can be used and tested.

The three apps you will build are designed for you to see the functionality of the device events.

You can find the course in the AppShed Academy> Learn AppShed Category>Device Events.

Start Now

These courses are all freely available within AppShed Academy to all users.

                                            Login: appshed.com

Have fun

AppShed Support Team

Try the GPS app now:

One of the things we did this year for #HourOfCode was.... you guessed it: an App Competition!

In AppShed World there’s nothing terribly dramatic about an App Building Competition. Many are happening every single week. But I wanted to tell you about this one because it highlights some of the things I love about AppShed and why we do what we do.

10 young adults in Elsies River, Cape Town, signed up for an App Building Course at the I-CAN Centre (g-citi.org/). Basic computer literacy was the only requirement. Well, that and a can-do-attitude. 

I loved watching them become independent innovators.

Within the first few lessons they had taken ownership of their own learning. In the beginning we gave them very clear step-by-step instructions; we wanted to make sure they had a solid grasp of the basics. But soon they were working independently, they were setting the direction of the learning, they were teaching students that joined the course late. 

We ended off last Thursday with Presentations for a panel of judges, following the format I've used many times before: "tech-startups” pitching to “entrepreneurs/investors”. 

Emotions ran high as the winners were announced, especially as the latecomers (a girl team) pipped the boys at the post - yeah! 

"Thank you for your contribution to bringing change and opportunity into the lives of these young people and helping them to see their potential.”

Rene Cross, Broadband Programme Office

One last highlight for me was seeing one of our interns, Marius Waries, develop his skill and confidence as an app trainer. Marius was integral to the success of this course, mentoring the teams and helping them grow into aspiring app-entrepreneurs. Well done Marius!

Marius is well on his way to becoming an independent trainer.

Ok, It's #GeekFriday, so you gotta do something proper geeky today. 

Last Friday (which also happened to be #GeekFriday, since every Friday is #GeekFriday) Eddy (aka Geek2) and I (aka über-geek) built an interactive whiteboard using the following ingredients:

Geek t-shirt

projector

Wii remote (Wiimote)

soldering iron

2 resistors

1.5V battery

sacrificial pen

infra-red LED

Smoothboard software (awesome!)

Here's how we made it....

1) Put on Geek t-shirt.

2) assemble everything neatly on the desk. it's the last time your desk will be neat.

3) Get two geeks.

4) Geek with t-shirt tells other geek to start working. Faster!

5) Geek2 electrocutes himself on 1.5V (complains he can't work under pressure). Somebody help this guy.

6) After two attempts with different resistors we get the IR LED connected to a push-button switch and battery.

7) Apart from the ugly hand, this is my favourite geek-pic: you cannot see infra-red light with the naked eye, but Geek2 told me to look through my phone camera, and then I could see it. He's actually quite clever that guy.

8) Geek2 thinks the job is over because the Wiimote can detect his IR LED in front of the screen. Somebody help this guy.

9) Ah, that's better. über-geek #TorstenStauch models "Light Pen V1". What a proud father. Note the sacrificial pen is used in this step.

10) Now to the software - Download Smoothboard Air. You then need to sync the Wiimotes. Not that easy, be patient. Fortunately Geek2 seems to have nothing better to do than try-and-try-again. Eventually they connect.

11) If you're trying this at home, be patient, try all sorts of varieties of connecting, Click "Stop Learning", untick stuff, tick stuff, repeat. Most importantly hold down Button 2 on the Wiimote while the software searches for it - this keeps the Bluetooth activated.

12) Place the Wiimote in an optimal position so that it can "see" the board while not being obstructed by Geek2 (who keeps moving around). Somebody help this guy. 

13) Messy desk. You were warned.

14) It does actually work! You press the button on the light-pen to activate. After many attempts to calibrate properly, we got it spot on accurate.

15) Big shout out to Smoothboard Air - well done guys, awesome software!

16) This is super cool: you can scan the QR code (or type in local IP address) using the browser on any tablet. Here I'm using my amazing £28 7" Android Ubi Slate. A tablet for £28, come on!

17) Any device can be linked up, and can annotate and add stuff to the screen. This is amazing for class collaboration. Completely device agnostic, and massive opportunities for interactive education.

If you want the honest truth: Geek2 pretty much did everything. Thanks Eddy!

I've ordered some professional IR pens, as this seems to be the biggest weakness of our current set-up.

Next step: Road test this with real children. Argh! I just know they're gonna break it. Kids. Should be fun though.

Remember it's #GeekFriday - Go Create!

We often hear that about computing teachers considering AppShed for more advanced computer science and coding work. Sometimes they ask us if AppShed can support coding. Well, uh, YEAH!

I thought it worth mentioning the progressive approach to coding that we have built into AppShed:

0.1) Visual content builder, no coding, but creates structure and “data objects” quickly. Use Form items to create “variables” which can bed used later in Blockly or JavaScript.

0.2) Students can click on the “Source” option in the context menu to see the generated code (HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP), providing visibility to syntax without having to write it (yet).

Students can add their own HTML or CSS (for HTML use Formatted Text items and go to HTML view. For CSS go to Settings->Advanced->Custom CSS). We encourage them to see what the generated code looks like, then to add their own modifications.

Students can start “coding” with Blockly, a nice visual editor similar to Scratch and MIT App Inventor. The generated JavaScript code is always visible beneath as they add visual blocks. Make use of app variables (form items) and all AppShed Actions - we’re trying to make coding fun and have a purpose.

Students can convert their Blockly code to textual JavaScript (simply change the action from Blockly to JavaScript, and the code is retained). This is a nice easy step into syntax editing.

Students can write their own custom JavaScript functions at the item level or the app level. App-level code (go to Settings -> Advanced) is useful for creating mini “libraries” or functions that can be referenced at the item level. The “Shooting Cowboys” project inserts a “game engine” at the app level, and then JavaScript added to individual items references this.

The open-source SDK takes it to another level, enabling server-side code to be integrated into the app. The server code outputs JSON (using the SDK) that is consumed by the app and generates screens. Very useful for database or API integration (we have done a pilot at A-level creating school planner apps connected to MySQL). We don’t have tutorials for this yet, but would be keen to work with teachers to develop these. Currently the SDK is for PHP only, but Python is being worked on.

Hopefully you can see that we are trying hard to build progression into AppShed. I don’t think many students are able to dive straight into syntax, but we want to get as many of them there as possible. And this is what we are trying to achieve with AppShed.

Just a reminder: all of these features are freely available using Starter Accounts. Apps are open-source and the source code can be downloaded (Dev Tools->Export).

A few photos of disruptive app creation I enjoyed this week...

1 - Thanks to @ms_katemargaret (with help from @SAPBayArea and @NFTEBayArea) students in the San Francisco Bay Area are hacking with AppShed - awesome!

2 - Thanks to @GlennTheStein #AppShedAmbassador (based @BBAppsLabSA @BandwidthBarn in Cape Town) for pulling off a HUGE feat... For those of you that don't read Afrikaans, basically he rocked the house in Manenberg, a seriously rough part of Cape Town, and got a bunch of young people massively fired up about creating apps and careers in tech) (Reported in @Die_Burger)

3) This just made me laugh because it's so sport on. Thanks to @Pam_Macmillan for the original tweet.

It's great to see that Amazon now provides app developers the option to submit web-apps to their app store. This means that web developers (with skills in HTML, CSS and JavaScript) can create apps that will be available in their app store. And with their new API's you can add features such as in-app purchases.

Why is this a good move?

For developers, it means you don't have to learn a new programming language to get your apps in the store. Up to now a developer would have to learn a different language for each store (Objective C for iOS, Java for Android etc). There are many developers with web skills that haven't been able to compete in the app marketplace.

For the consumer it's a good move because more developers creating apps means a greater variety of apps, and more competition drives down the price of paid apps. On the down side it will probably result in more "junk apps", but the app stores are getting better at helping users find good quality apps.

  Will web-apps become the new app standard?

Other mobile platforms will be going the same way. Mozilla OS is a new open source mobile operating system that supports web-apps (in fact there will be no alternative to web-apps on this OS).

All the major mobile platforms have great support for web-apps, but you can't submit a web-app to any of the other major app stores. We also want to see more "native handles" - ways that our web-apps can access special features on devices such as contacts, accelerometer etc. Even this Amazon web store seems to have very limited access to device features.

  What does this mean for AppShed?

At the moment it's still quite difficult to upload your AppShed app to one of the app stores. We've made it as easy as possible, but you need to package your app inside PhoneGap, and then "build" the app for each platform (or use PhoneGap Build service to do this for you).

Now you will now be able to upload your AppShed apps directly to the Amazon Web Store Store with no extra work. We will continue enhancing AppShed to allow you to make use of the new features of these app stores.

We think this is a great move, and we hope the other app stores take this as a kick in the pants to hurry up and do the same thing!

Viktor Yevpak (Head of Technology) gives a great summary of AppShed and web-app development in this video: https://vimeo.com/62029300.

This video was produced as part of a competition between app development companies to build the best app in one day. Viktor (also MD of eKreative - ekreative.com) chose to use AppShed to build their "entry" for the competition.

AppShed allowed the team to very quickly build the front-end user interface and app structure, so that they had much more time to focus on the "business logic" and server side coding.

The team used AppShed's "Remote screen" to connect to online databases and web services. More information on Remote screens can be found at appshed.net 

The app they built was the "Zoo App". This app provides visitors with all the information they could want when visiting the zoo. Download the app from iTunes or Google Play.

This is what mobile learning looks like - creative, spontaneous, engaging and collaborative. @StuartSwann and the The Lyceum School - what a great example you have demonstrated here.

Stuart Swann is an AppShed Ambassador working with The Lyceum and many other schools to bring creative technologies into the classroom. Here he takes a class to Scotland and the kids created an app to document their journey.

What I love about this video is that you can just see learning going on all the time, but it seems so effortless. It seems like the kids are having a great time, while still being focused and engaged in their work. 

I'm delighted to see examples like this which demonstrate the great benefits that mobile learning bring to education: creativity, spontaneity, engagement and collaboration.

Jeff @TeacherCast sits down with @TorstenStauch from @AppShed to discuss how schools can create amazing apps for their communities.

TeacherCast is a collection of educational resources under the guidance of Jeff Bradbury. As an orchestra director and teacher of North Brunswick, Jeff created TeacherCast.net to help the educators of his school district navigate the sea of technology.  Jeff facilitates a variety of discussions among educators, administrators, and assorted guests to formulate a path for education in the 21st century.

Running your first AppShed class...

A set of video tutorials to help you prepare and run your first AppShed class/training session.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCmmG36dqDF3Ki6rTiQR8Jhls1X_eOoHp

We help you concentrate on achievable and important outcomes for your first session. It should only take one introductory session to get your students familiarised with the basics of app building using AppShed. 

Once students grasp the basics you will be able to move on to more important lessons such as building apps for  projects, research, events; anything they can imagine is now possible. 

Mark Martin (@urban_teacher) is an AppShed Ambassador and has been building apps with his students since 2012. In these videos Mark shares many practical suggestions to help anyone unsure about whether they can pull off app building in their class.

Don't hesitate getting your class building apps. As Mark says, "Just go for it, and have fun!"

Parrot unveils 3 connected solutions for cars based on its ASTEROID platform and running on Android Operating System. This is definitely a company to watch. They create wonderfully high quality products. 

Official Website: http://www.parrot.com/asteroid

Our other favourite Parrot product is of course the A.R. Drone. We've got one in the office but keep crashing it!