Yapp your own Class App

     I was listening the Wall Street Journal report on the radio yesterday, and there was a discussion about a free mobile app builder designed around events. It's called Yapp, and I figured it could work as well in the classroom community. I love technology, and I can create apps for Android phones easily enough, but the iPhone users in my class (about 50%) were left out of all the fun. (In case you didn't know, iPhone app making is expensive, and cumbersome, which is why I don't do it.)
     Yapp offers a nice work around the Apple fee, and time consuming app approval process, so you are ready to go instantly. In about 20 min, and with no experience in coding, you can have a class app worth bragging about. The set-up is amazingly easy, as long as you have a Facebook account. There used to be an account creation tool on Yapp, but it may be gone. Feel free to look around though.

Once your in, this is what you see, minus the apps that I already made. You click to create a new Yapp, and you're on your way. The first thing is to pick your template

There are a fair amount of templates, and I expect that more will come online as the app receives feedback. I picked Corporate, then simply filled in the blanks

These are the basic tabs for your app. You can add more, or subtract a few. You can also change the name by double clicking the tab. When you click on a tab, you will have options to fill in. I also added a new tab and named it VOTE!

     The news feed is a great option, and you can choose to link it up to your Twitter feed, or your hashtag. Your community can also post messages through their smartphones, or tablets. I find that some students avoid posting science related tweets to their profile out of fear of looking "too nerdy". So this is great for them
     The best thing about the feed, is that you can broadcast a message and it goes out to your community as a notification. It actually pops up on their screen like a text message. They will need to opt in to receive  notifications though, so be sure they do that. No more collecting cellphone #s!

You can also add images to a gallery

I also added Voter cards (Gallery of images). They are a great way to engage students in a lecture

If you don't know how they work, watch the following video

Once you create the app, the students will need to download the free companion app YappBox (that's how you get around the Apple fee) The students will be prompted to do so when that get your new class app.

Enjoy!