Developing mobile apps with MIT App Inventor in a world of phone bans

About this event

Education Program Manager David Petty hosts a workshop at the 2026 CSTA New England Regional Conference .

When teaching MIT App Inventor, what about classrooms where mobile devices are unavailable — either students cannot access them, or network infrastructure does not support them, or they are outright banned? MIT App Inventor is releasing a Web Emulator so that mobile apps can be developed and tested entirely in a browser. Students can engage in computational action — project-based learning to solve problems that make a difference — developing apps in a browser, then deploy them 'in real life' on mobile devices if appropriate. Attend this presentation if you are a middle-school or high-school educator interested in a block-based, full-featured programming system that gives access to all the components of a modern mobile device — or if you are already using MIT App Inventor.