Google have partnered MIT to build App Inventor’s new home which would be a newbie Android-programming-kit-for-non-programmers. Yesterday when these two made an announcement that they are creating a MIT Center which would be dedicated for Mobile Learning. This center would be “actively engaged in studying and extending” App Inventor under the guidance of Media Lab of the known MIT. App Inventor was recently announced as of having a few hiccups, but Google had assured that there would be a revival for the app maker.
MIT computer science and engineering professor, Hal Abelson blogged that this new MIT Center has its funding in part by the University Relations program of Mountain View. Abelson is one who had was responsible for the creation of App Inventor when he was working at Google on sabbatical. App Inventor project was unveiled almost a year back by Google and Abelson. It was then said that they were trying to let everyone turn an app developer for Android. The offering from this system was of visual building blocks which could have been modeled together resulting in an application. The best point her for a developer was that there was no need for them to work with codes for developing an application.
Google had briefed the web world with a video of this project and it was even profiled by The New York Times, after which it was being said that it had the potential to shake the programming world. Later on however it was noted that App Inventor was a basic builder which could be used for creating some really simple applications and nothing more was to it. Scratch which was more like an inspiration was more or less similar only to the App Inventor.
Google has once again placed its emphasis on education and technology as this new partnership would result in a long standing relationship having its basis on the said topics. Media Labs in MIT would be a house for those who wish to investigate the mobile landscape as it would help the development of growth along with learning “anywhere, anytime, with anyone.” This App Inventor would finally have a very important role to play to enrich research agenda which would be accompanied with the increase in the number of opportunities. These opportunities would be influential for the educational community.
Talking about the new center, Abelson said that it is the best example for the effective collaboration of academia and industry. It would bring in changes which would be technology-enabled. As Abelson noted, he assured that they would look forward to see what next improvement they can bring in. Other than Hal Abelson, there were two more important professors running the program. They were Mitchel Resnick (media arts and sciences) and Eric Klopfer (science education).
Joichi Ito, the newly appointed director of Media Lab said that creativity has been the crux for Media Lab and they do not focus on just the development of the upcoming technologies, but to get them to the different parts of the world which has a positive impact on the lives of the people. He concluded saying that they are still working with their traditional views to empower people so that they can learn, invent and create with the help of the mobile devices.