Before You Share Your App

You built an app. Before you share it, give it one last look.

On Teacher Hive, the first time you click Add App, a short slideshow walks you through 8 big ideas worth checking. It takes about a minute.

You're about to publish an app!

When you publish on Teacher Hive, your app goes live at a real URL. You decide who to share it with, whether that's students, colleagues, parents, or just yourself. A few simple rules help keep every app on Teacher Hive in good shape.

Step 1 of 8

Publishing doesn't mean your app is suddenly available to everyone. You get a real URL you can paste into Google Classroom, include in a sub plan, or send to the teacher down the hall. The Public Listing switch stays off until you decide to turn it on.

Use what's yours to use

Make sure the images, sounds, fonts, and text in your app are your own creations, properly licensed, or in the public domain. Avoid brand names, logos, characters, and song lyrics. When in doubt, swap it out.

Step 2 of 8

You might be tempted to grab a picture from a search results page and use it in your app. Or you might want to ask AI to build a game around a cartoon character your students love.

Ask AI to create something original for you instead. In my experience, students are just as happy with a character you invented, and sometimes they like it better because they've never seen it anywhere else.

Keep it classroom-friendly

Apps on Teacher Hive should be appropriate for a school setting, no matter who you're sharing with. Keep it free of profanity, scary content, or anything that doesn't belong in a school.

Step 3 of 8

AI doesn't know your students, and it will build exactly what you ask for.

And sometimes what we ask for comes out of habit. For example, we might ask AI to make a Hangman game without thinking much about the imagery that comes with it.

It helps to look at your finished app the way a parent or an administrator would see it for the first time, without you there to explain it. A monster theme you thought was fun might be genuinely scary to a second grader. A word list AI generated might include something you would never say out loud in class.

Keep students anonymous

Never ask students for personal information that leaves their device. Names, emails, photos, and student IDs should never be collected and sent somewhere else.

Step 4 of 8

There's a real difference between an app that uses a student's name and an app that collects it.

Asking a student to type their name so the app can say "Nice work, Maya!" is fine. That name never leaves their device. It becomes a problem when the information gets sent somewhere else:

• A form that emails you the results
• A leaderboard that saves student names
• A photo or file upload
• A sign-in screen of any kind

If you do need student work back, consider having them turn in a screenshot or paste their results into your learning management system. You don't have to build the collection part into the app.

Play it safe with code

Keep your code clean. Don't include trackers, ads, or scripts that send data to outside services. If you're not sure what your code does, don't publish it.

Step 5 of 8

You don't need to understand every line of your app, but it helps to know what's in there.

AI sometimes adds things you never asked for. Before you publish, try giving your app builder this prompt:

Explain what this app does in plain language. List every external service it connects to and anything it stores or sends somewhere. Tell me if any of it is unnecessary.

If the answer includes something you can't explain to a colleague, ask AI to take it out.

Make it work for everyone

Students have a range of needs, and not all of them will use your app the way you do. Ask your AI chatbot to run an accessibility check on your app and fix what it finds. It's a quick way to make sure every student can use it.

Step 6 of 8

Some students navigate with a keyboard instead of a mouse. Some use a screen reader. Some can't tell the difference between the two colors you picked for right and wrong.

Make sure your app can be used by everyone. Try giving your app builder this prompt:

Review this entire app for accessibility using WCAG as your guide, and fix what you find. Tell me what you changed and anything I should decide myself.

Test before you publish

Open your app, click around, try to break it. Make sure it works the way you expect on the devices your audience will use, especially if that audience is students. A quick test now saves a headache later.

Step 7 of 8

Students are the best testers you'll ever have. They tap things twice, type their full name into a box meant for a nickname, and find the one button you forgot to finish.

Your app works beautifully on your laptop. Your students might be on a cart of Chromebooks with smaller screens, older browsers, and a login that times out.

Open your app on the device they'll actually use and try it with the sound off. Click the buttons in the wrong order, because a fourth grader definitely will.

You're the publisher

Teacher Hive hosts your app, but you're the one putting it out into the world. By publishing, you're saying it's yours, it's appropriate, and it's ready. Thanks for being part of the community!

Step 8 of 8

If your app is just for you, a lot of this matters less. Build whatever you want and have fun with it.

But once it goes in front of your students, or you're kind enough to offer it to other teachers and their classes, these things are worth doing.

Thank you for taking the time to make your app good, and for sharing it with the rest of us.