School of Technology Professor presented project by Apple Developer Academy students
School of Technology professor Dr Afonso Sales represented PUCRS at the Worldwide ADE Institute 2018, from Jul 16 – 19, in Austin, Texas (USA). Sales was the only higher education scholar among the 11 Brazilian educators who took part in the program sponsored by Apple. The 10 others are Elementary, Middle and High School teachers from São Paulo, Brasília and Maranhão. Overall, the event brought together 371 educators from 38 countries.
The event discussed and promoted Everyone Can Create, a program to be released by the end of the year in Brazil, to encourage teachers and students to use iPads in their classrooms, as an attempt to empower them in the process of teaching and learning. “Apple has designed free apps to encourage students’ creativity for the development and promotion of ideas through photography, videos, music and drawing”, says Sales.
Every two years, Apple presents its educational products and fosters moments of collaboration between participants. The idea is to begin a project to disseminate the group’s work all over the planet. The program featured lectures, technical workshops and a showcase, as the teachers had the chance to share the things that they had done using Apple technologies in up to three minutes on the main stage. Sales was one of the 40 presenters and discussed an action developed by six students of the Apple Developer Academy at PUCRS, two of them being students of the University: Alana Weidmann (Advertising , from the School of Communications, Art and Design – Famecos), and Fabrício Cordella (Computer Engineering, from the School of Technology).
Alana Weidmann, participant of Apple Developer Academy at PUCRS
The group had designed an app that interacts with a rapid prototyping board (known as Arduino) and encourages the cultivation of plants and vegetables at home. For three weeks, students built an artifact to control the amount and intensity of light and schedule the provision of water to a vase filled with seeds, via app. “This was so successful that they are trying to make it available in the market”, commends Sales.
PUCRS also made its presence felt in the 2016 edition of the program, in Berlin (Germany).
Apple Distinguished Educator
Apple is strongly committed to the use of its technologies in educational settings and, therefore, grants teachers and educational managers the title of Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) for those who employ such technologies in innovative educational projects. Every two years, Apple promotes a worldwide event to bring together these educators so that they can share their projects to their peers, and encourage the exchange of experiences and collaborative work. Today, more than 2,000 educators hold the aforementioned title. Only 400 educators, however, made it to the event.
Apple Developer Academy
Apple Developer Academy provides training for the development of apps for its devices. The program is at no charge and open for students in any academic programs. It consists of a total weekly workload of 20 hours for two years.
The program brings forth a number of challenges related to real world issues in order to encourage creativity, technical expertise and specific problem-solving skills. It includes courses on software development, design, user experience and entrepreneurship. All of that is made by highly qualified experts in the recent trends of the growing market of apps.
