(Presentation done at the mEducation Alliance event on October 16, 2013)
The mission of the Mobile Innovation Network is to empower young people worldwide to create personally meaningful and socially-relevant mobile applications. The MIN will be an association of Mobile Innovation Clubs, groups formed by youth members and facilitators from community organizations and supported by like-minded technical learning centers.
To learn more about the Network, please check: http://explore.appinventor.mit.edu/MIN_one-pager_14oct13.pdf
1. +
The Mobile
Innovation Network
building local capacity for youth workforce
development, entrepreneurship and
citizenship in the mobile world
a project of the Center for Mobile Learning
at the MIT Media Lab
2. + Background
As portable devices become more ubiquitous, youth must have
opportunities to create, not just consume mobile apps.
There are efforts, but in limited context or duration and often in
isolation.
3. +
The Mobile Innovation Network
Our mission is to empower young people worldwide to create
personally meaningful and socially-relevant mobile applications.
4. +
What does a Mobile Innovation Club do?
Develop culture of young people learning, working and
tinkering with mobile apps;
Inspire youth created mobile solutions to locally meaningful
challenges;
Provide a meaningful context for youth skill acquisition;
Raise awareness of relevant career opportunities;
Foster connections with inspiring individuals and
representatives from local companies and organizations.
7. +
Science Apps in the Field
http://notes.hfoss.org/index.php/TreeCalc:Main_Page
8. +
Apps for healthy lifestyles and fun
https://sites.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/bunnybolt/home
9. +
Apps for humanitarian and social good
With support from external agents, Haiti relief workers developed an app
to facilitate monitor food and water distribution.
How can we help others build apps
to improve the quality of life in their
own communities?
11. +
Why a Mobile Innovation Network?
Facilitate curriculum development;
Organize events to foster interactions among clubs;
Establish a mutually-supportive community, including a virtual
network;
Lead and support evaluation;
Provide feedback and make App Inventor and other software
tools more relevant to and appropriate for youth projects.
12. +
Who are current MIN members?
MIT Center for Mobile Learning: technical expertise,
partnerships
MIT Global Startup Lab: mobile technology development and
entrepreneurship in Africa and Southeast Asia
CSEV Foundation: online community and mobile entrepreneurial
ecosystem for Latin America
Global Minimum: innovation camps in Sierra Leone and Kenya
Humanitarian FOSS: student mentorship, technical know-how
Intel Computer Clubhouse Network: teens, media infrastructure
in 20 countries
Iridescent: science and technology with girls worldwide
13. +
How to make the MIN real?
Phase I
Phase II
Develop modular guide activities
Create online hub
Start clubs
Evaluation plan & implementation
Refine & expand activity set
Improve App Inventor components
Develop sustainability plan
Implement evaluation findings
Phase III
Expand network
Implement sustainability plan
14. +
What does the MIN need?
Funding
Additional Partnerships with Local
Organizations/Companies Who Can Provide:
Space
Mentors
Internships
Equipment – phones and/or tablets with data plans
Volunteers
17. +
We should provide local entrepreneurs and grassroots nonprofits with tools – and where appropriate and requested,
expertise – for them to create their own projects that make a
difference...
[...] we shouldn’t develop solutions to problems we don’t
understand, we shouldn’t take ownership of a problem that
isn’t ours and we certainly shouldn’t build things thousands of
miles away and then jump on a plane in search of a home for
them.
- Ken Banks, from
http://www.kiwanja.net/blog/2012/12/an-inconvenient-truth/
18. +
Research questions
What are the key technical, educational and infrastructural
elements of successful Mobile Innovation Clubs?
In what ways can App Inventor and the other technologies used
be improved to better support young people in the
implementation of their projects?
How to foster scalability and guarantee the sustainability of the
Mobile Innovation Network over time?
19. +
Curriculum goals
Technical skills (which will change over time)
Longer-lasting skills
Computational thinking
So-called 21st Century Skills:
Flexibility and ability to adapt to new technologies and situations
Self-esteem
Self-initiative
Collaboration
Presentation skills
Ability and willingness to learning from mistakes
Curriculum writing
College application, etc.
Business plan writing
20. +
Monitoring and evaluation
One of the expected outcomes of the Mobile Innovation Network is to define a set
of indicators and assessment instruments to guide the evolution of the project at
the individual, club and network levels.
At the individual level
Acquisition of basic skills, concepts and attitudes (for the mobile world;
Common challenges inherent to the participation in the initiative.
At the Club level
Challenges inherent to the implementation and sustainability of the MIN projects;
Best practices;
Suggestions to improve App Inventor;
How to recruit, support and keep mentors engaged?
At the Network level
Total number of clubs, participants and projects;
Level of participation and lessons learned regarding inter-club initiatives such as design
competitions, webinars, etc.;
Overall impact in the community.
TheMIN will be an association of Mobile Innovation Clubs, groups formed by facilitators and youth members from community organizations and supported by like-minded technical learning centers.
Commodity price tracker app inventor app being piloted at a market in rural Haiti as an example of potential app inventor apps in the field
The Center for Mobile Learning invents and studies new mobile technologies to promote learning anywhere, anytime, and for anyone. By being able to take the technology with them, students can learn in their own way and in their own time. As a result, the student’s learning environment becomes personal.
Part of the indicators above (number of participants, etc.) will be automatically collected via the MIN portal. Other indicators will be collected via a combination of methods including individual surveys, focus groups, direct observations, and interviews.
Iridiscent:* runs the Technovation Challenge, an entrepreneurship program that uses App Inventor to engage girls from over 19 countries in the creation of apps to solve problems in their local community* Largest girls in technology program in the world
CSEV Foundation’s unX initiative
partners with universities in emerging regions and organizes advanced mobile and Internet technology courses taught by MIT student instructors.Focus on Mobile Technology, Entrepreneurship and Networking (VC contacts) Since 2000, AITI has sent nearly 120 MIT instructors to teach over 1500 students in five countries, resulting in the creation of businesses and the addition of course offerings at partner universitiesBasic stats• Since 2000, 43 programs • 10 developing world countries • Over 1600 participants • 130 MIT instructors and mentors • 76% of participants continue with their startup after course
finalists from our Innovate Salone 2013 competition