Last App Club meeting for the term

Today, we had our last App Club meeting for the term. Some of the students now have exams to prepare for and I have reports to write. I have scheduled 8 meetings for the following term. So, here is what we did today:
  1. Peach Pellen, Corona celebrity and owner of Techority.com, appeared via Skype. She told the girls about the early frustrations they could expect and told them it would be worth it in the long run. She encouraged them to have Apps on the App Store by the time they finish school. Should they stick with it, she added, they'd be able to charge a good hourly rate to companies who needed Apps built for them.
  2. I explained the solution to the problem we had been working on progressively in the last three sessions. I should post a video of the final product as soon as I get a chance. I had to clarify the difference between "defining" a function and "calling" it. I need to stay disciplined about using a minimalist set of technical vocab while the students learn at their own pace.
  3. We managed to build and send the App to one student's Android phone. For some reason, another's wouldn't receive the App and iOS licenses are yet to arrive. Apple is yet to call the school's Business Manager to confirm I am authorised to buy on the school's behalf.
It was a shame that a few girls were missing today: Some had netball training and others were at hockey. I would have loved them to hear Peach's presentation. She said very few words but she was inspiring.

I know that a few of the girls will be dropping the activity in Term Three. One year 10 told me she needed to work on Tuesday evenings while others will have satisfied their curiosity and realised there's some hard work involved. I just hope that most will stick with this. 

I plan to do some serious learning over the holidays and to upgrade the Corona Simulators on the lab computers. Wish me luck next term.

Comments

Peach Pellen said…
It was most enjoyable :)

I do hope some of them stick with it; Corona has made things much easier and it gives them a shot at a nice, ongoing income - something I'd have loved when still in school ;)

Best of luck to all of them and good on you for arranging what I'm sure will continue to be a very rewarding program for all involved.

Peach :)
6:16 pm
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