What I plan to have app user do with app:
Learners will download the app into an android phone allocated to each group by their teachers. They will be brief on instructions on safety and movement around as a group and how they can contact any teacher if they encountered challenging situations in the outdoor settings. They will complete 1 question before they can move on to the next question. Each question contain a street view of the location they are supposed to visit. There are altogether 5 locations. When they complete all questions, they will report to the teacher at the meeting point allocated by the teacher.
Each group will answer the questions by keying in the answers. The app will check for wrong or correct answers and give feedback accordingly.
Challenges in Development
It was quite a challenge to figure out how to work with activating different screens within the app. I wanted a first screen to introduce the name of the App, followed by a second screen to display the instructions and the final screen to reveal the questions. I tried to google around any tips on the internet and spent almost 2 hours to analyze the different approaches. Finally, I decided to work on using the component visibility element within the App Inventor.
It was challenging to work in the design interface. While I have drawn up the plan last week, I really had to draw the graphics from scratch this week. Some elements (such as clipart of Singapore flag, taxi and 2 persons) are found from creative commons sites, I still had to layout them in an attractive manner for the learners. I can imagine learners being put-off by a boring introduction screen.
Finally, the introduction screen is up
Next, I had to work on the instructions screen.
The next challenge is to layout the question screen so that the question background text/image, google map street view and question answer box can be laid out within 1 screen without being too cluttered.
Overall, I had fun with the development.
You can try out the app below
Faith Foo: EDTECH Learning Log 