Abre, a Cincinnati-born education management platform provider, has finished another round of its App-a-thon program — with plans to host another on Feb. 9.
“Abre is built on the fundamental premise that when technology meets education some great things can happen,” said Zach Vander Veen, co-founder and vice president of instruction at Abre. “And, when students who see things that technology can address in their own education experiences come together in a creative environment to use technology to solve challenges, even greater things can happen.”
The App-a-thon program does this by inviting students to first "define problems" at their schools and then work together to build an Abre app to solve them. The event is for students at all coding levels, using techniques like "wireframing" and programs like GitHub to develop and build the students' creations. Upon completion of the apps, participants pitch their work to event sponsors, representatives from Abre and other team members.
So far, the company has hosted five events (including its Jan. 18 program) and is looking to fill 2019 with more in cities outside Cincinnati — such as Atlanta and Cleveland.
“We were all blown away by the quality of the students and the ideas they generated in our first several App-a-thons,” said Damon Ragusa, co-founder and CEO of Abre. “One of our missions is to give back to the teachers and students and not just profit from an industry that supports them. For that reason we are planning additional App-a-thons and encouraging other organizations to host them. Our goal is to export the framework from App-a-thons throughout the country and to develop more formal curriculum to continuously deliver a quality project-based learning opportunity for students.”
In addition to planning more App-a-thons, Ragusa added that Abre will develop a marketplace where students can share their apps for use at other schools.
"We love the idea that students can get excited about coding and contribute apps that schools can use," he said. "As an open source platform we will share the fruits of this labor with everyone in learning community.”
