Mobile application development classes for the mobile era

Abstract

There are many flavors of upper division elective classes that cover subjects related to mobile technologies and application development. However, there is a general lack of publications discussing the philosophy, implementation, and results from these classes. When researching for a new upper division mobile application development elective class, based on our students' needs and state of the mobile technologies, we consulted the extensive online information, and drafted guidelines and desired learning outcomes. In the subsequent years, we implemented two versions of mobile application development classes based on the guidelines and learning outcomes. The first, focused on the development of practical mobile applications while the second studied design issues surrounding modern mobile applications and their development. Both classes are project based where students build mobile applications to demonstrate their understanding, and both classes were well received. This paper describes our efforts and the classes, summarizes the results from the classes, and discusses the merits of implementation vs. design based mobile application development classes.