A New Age of Creation

Over the Summer, I had the pleasure of going to the MIT App Inventor Summit. This was an eye opening event, in that it brought some of the best minds in computer science and their work in bringing hyper accessible programs that allow for the democratization of digital learning. Right now I am working with teachers at Marshall Math and Science to incorporate the software into their curriculum. This represents a way for the students to, if only for a little bit, become creators of computer programs instead of just consumers.

MIT App Inventor is the representation of a value that many at MIT and others in the tech field hold in that these emergent technologies are best in the young. It allows kids to learn the basic mechanisms of programming through the placement of "blocks". This deceptively powerful language has a library that bridges the gap between common language and the intimidating computer language that we all see when open the terminal. All sorts of connections are possible, even controlling Arduino based projects.

This free program is just one of a million big ideas now turned real products that are changing education and can have a huge impact on the world.