Programming Contest Registration Opens Monday March 24th at 9:15am.

Registration will open Monday, March 24th at 9:15am for our April 26th Programming Contest.

We are planning for 50 teams this Spring, so only the first 50 registered teams will be guaranteed attendance, we will do our best to allow additional teams attend: any thereafter will be notified and placed on a wait list in case the first teams have not paid by Tuesday, April 8th - after that wait list teams will be invited accordingly.  

Mark your calendar and prepare your students for registration, which now asks for T-Shirt size this year.  There will also be a required CSTA permission slip this year for all students with emergency contact information.  Cost is still $30 per team, and a number of need-based scholarships are available.  We are excited to have the contest hosted at the Living Computer Museum this Spring.  The latest details and the registration link will appear on our Programming Contest tab .

Last Saturday's Meeting Notes:

For those who attended or are interested in notes from last Saturday's App Inventor presentation, I have updated a few of the samples and resources, but the links remain the same:

- App Inventor 2.0 Tutorials & Resources

- The Youth Apps Challenge and here's my webpage of details.

- House Apps Challenge (see your local representative's website for your specific details) 

Thanks to all who attended, good questions and discussions, next time I will schedule 6 hours to present more.

Next PSCSTA Meeting Sat, 3/15: App Inventor

• Topic: App Inventor hosted by Earl Bergquist
• Date: Saturday, March 15, 2014, 10 am - 12 noon followed by socializing and networking 12 − 1 pm (final details on our Spring Programming Contest will be discussed)
• Place: UW, Paul Allen Center for CSE, room 006 - downstairs labs where we previously did Scratch lab (Directions & Parking)

Everyone is building Apps, and they really appeals to our students.  MIT's App Inventor is a visual programming language for developing applications for devices that run the Android operating system.  In this workshop, Earl will lead us through several hands-on activities that show the power of App Inventor, provide us with ideas on how to incorporate App building into our courses, and present the local App Contest opportunities for our students.  Karen Manual from the Technology Alliance will be present to reveal the latest on their Student App Challenge.

Bring your laptop if you like or use the UW computers - App Inventor runs in the Browser, so there is no software to install; you only need a Google account.  There will be Android Tablets available to test your project or if you have an Android device of your own, simply install the "MIT AI2 Companion" from the Google Play Store ( complete instructions ).  

If you want a preview, here's Earl's App Inventor Pages:
- App Inventor 2.0 Tutorials & Resources
- Garfield HS's Summer Apps Class pages (trial of Apps for Good)
- App Inventor 1 Instructions (now outdated, but project ideas are good)