Sherwood Christian Academy students learning how to create web apps
Sherwood Christian Academy instructor Vicki Davis teaching skills to serve children in the tech world
File Photo: Terry Lewis
By Terry Lewis
ALBANY — Vicki Davis was the technology director for Westwood Schools in Camilla for 16 years.
Davis said she was called last year to handle Sherwood Christian Academy’s new information technology programs that were just beginning to focus on internet apps, alternate and augmented reality. With her current ninth-grade class having a year under their belts in computer programming, her class is now focused on building an internet app for the school.
“We actually have two stages of their app,” Davis said. “They have already completed the augmented programming stage in a tool called ‘MetaVerse’, think ‘Pokeman Go’ where it puts objects on top of the real world. They can run basic programming in the app.
“Now we are entering the phase where they are making apps themselves and we will culminate with a ‘Shark Tank’ experience in the end.”
For the uninitiated, according to techtarget.com, an app is an abbreviated form of the word “application.” An application is a software program that is designed to perform a specific function directly for the user or, in some cases, for another application program.
“We’re doing this with our seventh, eighth and ninth-graders — they are all building apps,” Davis said.
The school is working with a firm called MAD-learn, which according to its website offers “relevant and engaging mobile app development program allow(ing) every K-12 student to create an app from beginning to end by empowering 21st century technology literacy.”
“Using the design thinking process, MAD-learn prepares today’s students for tomorrow’s careers by exposing them to all aspects of product development: ideation, planning, design, creation, testing, and launch,” the website said. “These vital and transferable skills are critical to today’s global technological economy.”
Needless to say, Davis is a big proponent of app technology.
“These kids will design, or experience all the things that businesses do when they create an app,” she said. “This is their crash course. I like to bring people who are in the business like MAD-learn’s Kimberley Bynoe.
“The real world is that apps are on the increase even more than web sites because people want to interact with an app, so understanding app design is a really important part of what we are doing.”
Related Articles
Dougherty Schools prepare for bell-to-bell student cell phone ban
As Georgia prepares to expand its statewide ban on personal electronic devices in public schools, Dougherty County School System leaders say they are working to balance compliance with the new law while giving individual schools flexibility in how they implement the policy.
Georgia’s school funding formula still ignores poverty; educators say students pay the price
During a report to the board on the outcomes of this year’s legislative session, Dyer discussed the district’s efforts to persuade lawmakers to add an “opportunity weight” to Georgia’s Quality Basic Education (QBE) funding formula — a change supporters say would provide additional state funding for students living in poverty.
Albany teen, 16, makes bodybuilding debut at Atlanta OCB Pro/Am
Crockett, an Albany resident and student at Albany Technical College Academy, placed second in the teen bikini division this weekend at the OCB Immortal Muscle Pro/Am Bodybuilding Competition in Atlanta, becoming the youngest competitor across all categories at the event.
