The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of many around the globe. At MIT App Inventor, we are looking to see your creativity in these challenging times. Following on the success of our 2020-2022 Appathons, we are hosting another MIT App Inventor Summer Appathon for 2023, a marathon-like event to build apps. Create and submit an App Inventor app that will help someone in need or make a difference in your community. Read on for registration details, deadlines, judging criteria, our organization committee, and more.

Registration and Team Formation

Registration for the 2023 Appathon has closed and the team creation and modification period has ended.

Timeline

Item Date
Registration Opens June 1
Registration Deadline* June 21 at 23:59 AOE (UTC-12)
Appathon Kickoff and Theme Announcement July 16 at 00:00 AOE (UTC-12)
Submissions Due July 30 at 23:59 AOE (UTC-12)
People’s Choice Closes Aug 7 23:59 AOE (UTC-12)
Teacher Excellence Submission Closes Aug 7 23:59 AOE (UTC-12)
Finalists Announced Aug 11
Winners Announced Aug 18

Tracks

As in previous years, we will be offering 5 tracks for participants:

  • Individual youth - Individuals under the age of 18 working alone on a project.
  • Team youth - Teams of individuals under the age of 18 working on a project.
  • Mixed team - Teams of individuals of all ages, but at least one under 18 and one over 18, working on a project.
  • Individual adult - Individuals 18 and older working alone on a project.
  • Team adult - Teams of individuals 18 and older working on a project.

Submission Requirements

All apps must be submitted via the Appathon server. Teams must submit an AIA project export of their App Inventor app, a short presentation about the app (using this template), which will be publicly shared for winners, and a video of no more than 2 minutes explaining how the app works. These materials will be shared publicly for winners. Judges will test all apps using the code.appinventor.mit.edu server, but participants can use any of the MIT run App Inventor services to develop their apps.

List of MIT services:

Video Information

Create a 2-minute video that contains the following:

  • Description of the problem you chose to address
  • How your app addresses the problem
  • Demonstration of your app’s features
  • English subtitles or closed captions
  • Optional: Demonstration of someone from the target audience interacting with the app or giving feedback

The video can be in any language, as long as it contains English subtitles. Videos may be in languages other than English, but we kindly ask that if you choose to record your video in another language that you provide English subtitles for the judges. Videos may be hosted on a third party service (e.g., YouTube) that judges may be reviewing many submissions, use the video as an opportunity to highlight the main goals and features of your app.

Presentation Information

Create a copy of this presentation template using the platform of your choice:

Edit the presentation and enter information where it prompts you to. Once you are ready to submit, download your presentation as a PDF and upload it to the submission portal.

App Information

Apps should be submitted as exported projects, and should be the original works of the team members. Apps submitted as APKs will be rejected without review. The projects should not have previously been submitted for any other app competition, including App of the Month, App of the Season, or the Congressional App Challenge. Apps should have been made during the period of July 16-30 based on the theme(s) to be announced on July 16. Judges will import your projects into App Inventor to evaluate and test them. If we need a login to use your app, please use the corresponding fields in the final submission form to provide login details for the judges.

Please do not use any copyrighted material in your submissions unless you can also provide written documentation to indicate you have permission to use those materials. Materials licensed under permissive licenses such as Creative Commons are okay, but please indicate the source of the material in your app.

If your app works with external hardware, please describe in your final submission the hardware required and how the app interacts with it. If possible, we will try to acquire hardware for testing, but your description of how the app interfaces with the hardware may be used for judging if the corresponding materials cannot be acquired.

Judging

Below is a sample of the judging criteria.

  • Creativity - How novel is the app idea? Does the app make use of a unique mix of technologies?
  • Design - How does the user interaction with the app flow? Does the app’s aesthetics make it approachable?
  • Potential Usefulness - What is the potential impact of the app? Does the app have the potential to effectively help its target audience?
  • Technical Skill - Does the app make use of well designed data structures? Is the code well organized and commented? Were any advanced features, such as the “any component” blocks used?
  • Presentation (video and supporting materials) - How do the app creators present their work? Will viewers get a sense of the importance/effectiveness of the app?

There will be two rounds of judging. In the first round, all of the submitted apps will be reviewed by at least two judges. From the initial round, the apps will be narrowed down to the top 5 in each team category. From those 5 apps, the first, second, third, and honorable mentions will be decided.

Note: In previous competition years, we have allowed interesting apps with bugs to still place. This year, apps exhibiting significant bugs will only be eligible to receive an honorable mention.

People’s Choice Award

We will publish a website with the app submissions where people can vote on a “People’s Choice” winner. If you would prefer your app to not be included for consideration, please note this in the final app submission form.

For voters, please go to https://appserver.appathon.mit.edu/vote/. You can vote for as many apps as you like, but not more than once per app.

App Inventor Foundation Teacher Excellence Awards

In conjunction with the 2023 Global App Inventor Appathon for Good, the App Inventor Foundation is hosting the second Teacher Excellence Awards to recognize outstanding teachers who have promoted creativity, technological empowerment, and computational action through App Inventor. Participants who join the Appathon will be able to nominate a teacher with a supporting story (minimum 100 words) and optional videos or photos. Nominations will open after the Appathon registration deadline and will close on August 7. Honorees will be announced at the end of August. Click here to see last year’s winners.

Honorees will be selected by the App Inventor Foundation, a nonprofit established by the creators of App Inventor to support the expansion of the App Inventor project as it grows beyond MIT.

Organizing Committee

Ben Stumpf (Concord Academy, USA)

For the past 20 years Ben has taught Computer Science and creative technology courses (filmmaking, graphic and web design, postproduction, and digital music) at Concord Academy, in addition to coaching soccer and running their Model UN program. Prior to teaching he worked for Apple Computer, helped with statewide tech planning for the MA Dept of Education, and co-founded a nonprofit to teach high school students technology skills in service to their communities. He has a Masters in Documentary Film from Goddard College, and spends much of his free time trying to stop the climate crisis.

Beryl Hoffman (Elms College, MA, USA)

Dr. Beryl Hoffman is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Elms College in Western Massachusetts. Her research interests are in computer science education and broadening participation in computer science for female and minority students. In her NSF and Google research grants, she develops curriculum and trains teachers for AP high school and college courses involving mobile apps and Java. Her NSF grant “Girls Immersed in Robotics Learning Simulations (GIRLS)” is a joint venture with UMass Amherst and Holyoke Codes to interest girls in robotics.

Cindy Rosenthal (MIT, USA)

Cindy has been the administrative assistant for the App Inventor Group for a little over a year. Prior to joining the group, she supported the Collections Directorate of the MIT Libraries. She has also worked in the tax practice of a tax and audit firm and in a small architectural office.

Daniel Lai (Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, Hong Kong)

Daniel is the Program Director of Coolthink@JC - a Computational Thinking and Coding Education Program for primary school students in Hong Kong. The program is being funded by Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust (“JCCT”), and co-created by JCCT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Education University of Hong Kong, and City University of Hong Kong. The aim of the program is to inspire digital creativity of students in this digital age. Since its launch in 2016, Coolthink@JC has trained 400 teachers and is being run in classes in 78 schools for 35,000 students. Daniel was Vice-President (Administration) and Professor of Practice (Computing) of Hong Kong Polytechnic University from 2015-2017, Government Chief Information Officer of Hong Kong SAR Government from January 2012 to January 2015; Head of Information Technology of MTR Corporation Ltd. from 1999 to 2011, and held senior IT managerial positions at The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) in Hong Kong and Australia between 1978 and 1999.
Daniel is a seasoned information technology professional with 50 years’ experience. He is a graduate of Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Griffith University, with a Master in Technology Management. He is a Distinguished Fellow and Past President of Hong Kong Computer Society, Founding Chairman of CIO Board, and a Fellow of Hong Kong Institute of Engineers.
Daniel contributed significantly in promoting the development and application of IT in Hong Kong and the region. In recognition of his contribution to the development and promotion of IT, he was awarded Bronze Bauhinia Star (BBS) by the Hong Kong Government in 2004. Daniel has received many CIO Awards including Computerworld Laureate, Top China CIO Award, ZDNet CIO of the Year, and IDC Asia CIO of the Year etc.

Daniel Paz de Araújo (Ativ.ai - São Paulo, Brazil)

Master Trainer in Educational Mobile Computing. Software project manager with over 10 years of experience in software development leadership, using hybrid models of traditional management (PMI / PMBOK) and agile (Lean / Scrum / Kanban). Tech lead in planning, design, modeling, development, integration, testing, and delivery of systems for the banking, defense, commerce, education, and entertainment sectors. He is a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science; an MBA in IT Management; a Master of Science in Intelligence Technologies and Digital Design; a Ph.D. in Visual Arts and Technology. Certified Scrum Master Agile and Scrum Product Owner. Agilist certified Team Kanban Practitioner, Scrum Master, Scrum Product Owner. Currently working as Scrum Master at BairesDev.com and Professor/Coordinator at Inteli.edu.br.

David Kim (MIT, USA)

David is a software developer at MIT App Inventor. He is interested in the question “What do we need to create so that kids can learn technology with ease?”. David is working on the topic of Conversational AI and building no-code platforms. Other than developing, David enjoys interacting and guiding students to fulfill their goal at App Inventor.

Evan Patton (MIT, USA)

Evan is the Lead Developer on the App Inventor project. His aim is to help App Inventor users realize the full potential of their app ideas through the development of new components and features to aid in collaboration, rich data collection and visualization, and efficiency. During his time as a graduate student, Evan consulted on the PUNYA project to expand App Inventor capabilities for humanitarian causes, and he has consulted for a number of companies deploying Android and iOS applications. Evan completed his Ph.D. on optimizing reasoning software power consumption on smartphones at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in June 2016 prior to joining the App Inventor team. He also holds a M.S. in Cognitive Science and B.S. in Computer Science & Psychology from RPI.

Fujio Yamamoto (Kanagawa Institute of Technology, Japan)

Fujio was a professor of computer science at Kanagawa Institute of Technology in Japan for many years after conducting research and development on parallel processing of numerical calculations at the Central Research Laboratory of Hitachi, Ltd. He is now retired and is an emeritus professor. He loves Java and Python for general programming and App Inventor for mobile application development. At the App Inventor Summit 2014 held at MIT, he gave a talk on acquiring vertical positional information in a building using the barometer and accelerometer built into the smartphone. He has also been awarded the MIT App Inventor of the Month five times so far. His current research interests include reinforcement learning, natural language processing, and quantum computing.

Hal Abelson (MIT, USA)

Professor Abelson is well known for his work in undergraduate computing education and is a co-author of the classic text Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (MIT Press, 1985, 1996). He is a leader in the global movement for Open Educational Resources and a founding board member of the Free Software Foundation and Creative Commons.

Jeff Freilich (MIT, USA)

Jeff trained as a mechanical engineer and has worked in the high-tech industry for over 25 years in roles ranging from R&D and engineering product management to partnerships and business development. He’s been at MIT for over ten years managing portfolios of corporate relationships at MIT, but now focuses primarily on developing educational technology for the workforce, especially through online courses. He loves jazz, dogs, New England style India pale ales, though not necessarily in that order.

Jeff Schiller (MIT, USA)

Jeff is a Software Developer, Security Architect and Network Manager. He has spent more than 40 years building systems that have to work 24/7 with minimal human intervention. As Area Director for Security with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), he spent 9 years shepherding the development of critical Internet security technology including IP layer encryption, E-mail encryption and Transport Layer Security (https). His recent work involves providing development and operations for MIT App Inventor.

Karen Lang (Technovation, USA)

Karen spent several years as a software engineer and then decided education was her true calling. She spent most of her career teaching Computer Science, in several international schools and around New England, also serving as a CSTA board member for 5 years. Karen led the Education team at MIT App Inventor for 5 years. She currently develops curriculum for Technovation, a global tech education nonprofit that empowers girls to become leaders, creators, and problem solvers.

Marisol Diaz (MIT, USA)

Marisol Diaz has been the Project Manager for MIT App Inventor since 2013 and has been at MIT for over 20 years. Marisol has a background in management, sales, communications, customer service, event planning and marketing. She worked for the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for her first 10 years at MIT.

Mark Friedman (App Inventor Foundation, USA)

Mark Friedman is an Officer of the App Inventor Foundation. He is a co-founder of the App Inventor project and led its development while at Google. He continues to be dedicated to its ongoing mission of empowering passive consumers of technology to become active creators. Mark has been a technology leader at companies large (e.g., Google, Microsoft, Oracle) and small (e.g., Thunkable, Piper). He has long-standing interests in making programming easier, in the democratization of technology and in the uses of technology in education.

Natalie Lao (App Inventor Foundation, USA)

Natalie Lao is the Executive Director of the App Inventor Foundation (appinventorfoundation.org), where she leads educational initiatives to support teachers and students who use App Inventor. Her goal is to empower anyone to be able to create apps that improve their lives and uplift their communities. Natalie was a student of the MIT App Inventor Lab through her Bachelors, Masters, and Ph.D. at MIT, where she created CloudDB, Personal Image Classifier (PIC), and Personal Audio Classifier (PAC). She has also worked as a Product Manager at Google, worked as an Engineer Program Manager at Apple, developed and taught the 6.S198: Deep Learning Practicum course at MIT, and co-founded a database startup.

Peter Mathijssen (MIT App Inventor Power User, The Netherlands)

Peter is an App Inventor user since the classic version and an App Inventor Power User. Besides playing with App Inventor and moderating the community, he works on tutorials and promotional materials. Peter is one of the team members representing App Inventor at FOSDEM in Belgium. Peter has a personal website where he offers tutorials, materials, tips & tricks related to App Inventor. The website is in Dutch and can be found at https://petermathijssen.nl.

Robert Parks (MIT, USA)

Robert is a curriculum developer, writer, and designer for the App Inventor team. His 2005 publication, Makers, was the first book about the maker movement. He has served as an editor at Wired magazine, as a contributing writer for Wired, Popular Science, and Make magazines, and has designed STEM resources for middle and high school students at the WGBH Educational Foundation. A maker himself, Robert is currently building a tennis-ball launcher from old treadmill parts.

Selim Tezel (MIT, USA)

Selim joined the App Inventor team in 2018 as a curriculum developer. He is a former K-12 mathematics teacher who has taught overseas and in the US for 22 years, exploring intersections of technology and playful constructionist pedagogies in the classroom. Recently he worked on the Beauty and Joy of Computing project as a curriculum designer at EDC (Education Development Center) which in collaboration with UC Berkeley and NYC Public Schools aims to make computer science accessible and enjoyable for a diverse population of students. When not working Selim enjoys playwriting and creating visual arts.

Zareen Choudhury (App Inventor Foundation, USA)

Zareen Choudhury is the Communications Manager at the App Inventor Foundation. Zareen’s interests lie at the intersection of education technology, social good, and storytelling. She received a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, after which she worked as a software engineer at Samsara. She then went on to teach computer science at Inspirit AI, serve as Managing Editor of Children of 1971, and complete a nonprofit fellowship through YCore. Her role as Communications Manager at the App Inventor Foundation taps into her varied interests and experiences.

Sponsorship

If you or your organization is interested in sponsoring the MIT App Inventor appathon, please send an email to appathon@appinventor.mit.edu to make arrangements.

Previous Appathons

If you’re looking for previous Appathons, please see the following links:

Disclaimer

The MIT App Inventor Appathon is open to anyone in the world, with the exception of United States embargoed countries (Iran, Cuba, Syria, North Korea, or Russia), regardless of age, nationality, gender identity, cultural identity, or political viewpoint. US law prevents MIT App Inventor from providing services to persons ordinarily resident in Iran, Cuba, Syria, North Korea, or Russia and to parties blocked by the US Treasury Department.

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