Teaching with app inventor for android (abstract only)

App Inventor for Android is a visual blocks language for building mobile apps. Like Scratch, the language's drag-and-drop blocks interface significantly lowers the barrier to entry. Beginners can immediately build apps that interface with mobile technology (e.g., GPS, Text-to-speech, SMS Texting) and build apps that have a real-world impact. App Inventor has great potential for increasing interest in programming and attracting women and other underrepresented groups to computer science. Students learn by tinkering with their most beloved devices, phones and tablets, and even novices can create apps in an exciting and intuitive environment. App Inventor is relevant to teachers from middle school through the university level who are interested in a highly motivating method of teaching programming. In this BoF, we will discuss the language, its future in K-12 and university education, and its new home at the MIT Center for Mobile Learning.