Create your own app LAB

Diana Knodel is the founder of App Camps, a non-profit organisation that aims to bring coding and digital skills to the classroom. Teachers across the world use App Camps’ teaching content and thousands of young people have participated in its courses on app development, HTML and CSS.

At OEB 2016, Knodel will run a Tech Lab on coding skills and app-creation that will introduce you to the basics of app development helping to engage and motivate your students. From designing to programming and testing, you will learn the basic principles to create an app LAB for Android devices, and discover practical resources which can be used to offer coding workshops.

Meanwhile, we caught up with Knodel to find out more about her plans to teach coding to the world!

Why is it so important for students to learn how to create apps?

As technology changes the way our world operates, code and data will have more influence on us. Therefore, it is important to have a basic understanding of coding. Creating apps is a great way to motivate students to code!

What would you say to a teacher who’s terrified of rudimentary JavaScript?

I would say, “relax…there are great resources out there to teach this to yourself and your students.”

What are some stereotypes about coders that deserve to die?

Coding is only for nerds, coding isn’t creative, that you’re born a coder and either you have this superpower, or not — as if there’s no chance you can learn it.

Where do you see mobile learning in five years — do you think it will be as big of a deal as it is today or do you see it becoming eclipsed by another technology?

Mobile learning will still play an important role — hopefully also in schools. As of today, there is plenty of room for improvement when it comes to mobile learning in schools. But there will also be new technologies available, maybe some of which we are not aware of today. Things are developing so quickly in the tech sector.

How do you motivate students to become tech-savvy, not tech-dependent?

We want students to understand technology and how things work. Instead of teaching students how to use products, we teach them how to build and create own products.

When do you think robots will take over the world?

Well, I don’t think they will take over the world, but robots will definitely take over many jobs. Not only in the low qualified sector but also in the sectors where you need a lot of expertise. Therefore, it is even more important to teach students how to code, because it is a skill that is and will be needed in almost any discipline in the future.

iPhone or Android?

iPhone smartphone, Android tablet.

Favorite app?

Slack.