What You Need to Build an App with your Class

You may have seen me going on about my new book teaching children how to code their own iPhone app... No? Check my tweets :)

But of course, my book isn't all you'll need if you're going to teach Y5 - Y8 children to code their own app. Don't get me wrong - it will help! There's no other book like it that explains the process for teachers in order that they can then teach their children without much technical know-how...

However, there is one key piece of equipment required - an Apple computer.

Why? Well, it goes back to how Apple have always worked as a company. They make things to work together. Your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV - they all go together like ramalama... (you get the idea!)



When Apple first made it possible for regular people to create apps for their precious iPhone, they only wanted apps made in certain ways. It gave them more control over the App Store - which is undoubtedly a contributing factor in the success of the store.

But it did lead to one downside... You NEED an Apple Mac to do it. Now, that's not strictly true. It is possible to build apps for iPhones using Windows software but not in the way Apple intended and certainly not in the way highlighted in my book - From Classroom to App Store.

For some people, the fact you need an Apple Mac may be a dealbreaker - they're really expensive - right? Wrong!

When I first started making apps, I had a Mac Mini - a small Apple computer that plugs into your existing monitor and connects to your existing mouse and keyboard. And you can pick new ones up for as little as £450 on eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/mac-mini).

Now, I'm not going to pretend that I use one. I don't. I have a couple of powerful MacBook Pros but I'm doing more memory intensive stuff and I need a more powerful processor and more RAM.

But to build the apps in the book, you don't. 

The book has been written to allow you to teach your class to code their own app with just one Apple computer. A lot of what the children do in the process - such as planning their app and making the artwork - can be done on Windows-based computers or even on Android tablets or iPads.

But you will need one app to collate the code, compile (run) the app and submit it to the App Store.

So whilst the book is a mere £23.99, to build the app, you will need some small investment at school to ensure you have access to at least one Apple Mac.

But teaching your children to code an iPhone app... surely that's priceless...

From Classroom to App Store is available now from Creative Educational Press Ltd priced £23,99 at http://www.thecepress.com/product/from-classroom-to-app-store/ 

From Classroom to App Store - Teaching your kids to code their own app for school

Ever since I began building apps for education in 2010, I have been inundated by teachers asking me how to do it. Not because they want to make their fortune with the next Angry Bird, but because they want to teach the children in their classes how to do it.

I first introduced coding iPhone apps in a club I ran for Year 6 children about four years ago. They loved it but as my commitments at school grew, I no longer had the time to continue with the club. And no other teachers knew how to do it themselves, let alone teach it.

I always meant to write a guide for teachers but it was one of those things I just never got round to. Until now.

'From Classroom to App Store' is my first book and it's out in September. We've deliberately delayed its release until after Apple release iOS 10 so the book will be the most up-to-date guide to coding an iOS app on the market and the only one aimed at educators with NO prior technical knowledge.

You see, I remember teaching myself to code. It was really hard. There's an awful lot of jargon out there and very active (and judgemental) professional developers who have a tendency to look down at Newbies like myself. What I wish existed back then was a book that explained everything as though I'd never really used anything more than Microsoft Word.

And that's what my book does. I've written it so you can easily follow the steps and explain them confidently to your children. Wherever there is something technical, I explain it so my own daughter (just finished Year 6) would understand... 

The book will take you on a journey from writing your very first app, to planning an app for your school, to building the artwork, to thinking about user experience to the App Store.

And that fundamentally is what I'm hoping to achieve. I want schools to be able to code their own app using code written by the children. 

Whilst the new(ish) curriculum places greater emphasis on coding than ever before, most of the coding going on in schools (at least in primary schools), involves moving a cat up and down and creating a maze game. 

Very few schools really delve into actual coding using an IDE (it's in the book!) and even fewer schools code for a real-life purpose.

I'm hoping that this book will change everything. 

Any school in the country could use this book, follow all the steps and submit their own app to the Apple Store.

That's no small claim. And I've put my email address and contact details in the book so I'm available if anyone gets stuck! 

So what do you need? I've been asked this a few times on Twitter. So let me clear it up now so you don't buy a book you can't use.

To complete the exercises in the book and build a genuine, native iPhone app, you will need:

• One Apple Mac computer - any kind will do as long as it can run the most recent version of Mac OS (I started on Mac Mini);
• PC or iPads to produce the artwork required - you can do this on the Mac too but if your school only has one Apple, the children can complete most of the exercises on a PC and then send their code to the one Mac to go into the app;
• One iPhone to test the app on - but you don't have to! It's just good practice!

If you actually want to submit your app to the App Store, you'll need an Apple Developer account which is currently £79 per year.

Oh yes, and you'll need a copy of "From Classroom to App Store" by Doug Stitcher! 

Pre-order your copy now and save £4 from http://www.thecepress.com/product/from-classroom-to-app-store/ 

I don't know who's looking forward to seeing your school app in the App Store most... you or me!