Students create apps
The vocabulary app created during this module and the student information app created in the 101 module demonstrate how educators can use Power Apps to streamline their daily tasks, saving time and building efficiencies into their school day. Educators can also create apps for student use to support learning.
Why app creation for students?
Another powerful application of Power Apps in education is teaching students to create their own apps. With the low-code approach to app creation provided through Power Apps, students can create apps to support their learning, building student agency. Apps can be created collaboratively and shared with fellow students Student data is securely stored within the Microsoft environment.
Additionally, students can create apps to solve problems they see or experience in their everyday lives. It can be an app that tracks food requirements, monitors energy consumption, or helps solve other problems observed either at school or at home. The app builds student agency, and it engages and motivates students. It's also a great introduction to computer science.
Creativity, communication, computational thinking, critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving are developed when creating in Power Apps. Students evaluate problems, ideate potential solutions, and plan for the development of an app that could solve a problem. Once the app is created, students can test it and reiterate, if necessary. These steps are all basic components of the design thinking process that will be useful in future endeavors.
Curricular connections
Power Apps creation can be integrated into almost any curricular area and in most grade levels. It can also be implemented as part of a scaled approach to learning coding, programming, and more advanced app creation. Young students may begin coding with block-based coding activities. Minecraft also provides a wide range of curricular options for coding, even with young students.
As students get older and their coding and programming skills increase through experience, they can progress to more complex programming and coding skills. Power Apps provides an ideal platform for developing those skills in creative and open-ended ways. It's an optimal segue to the development of complicated programming skills that may be introduced in the future.