The fall semester has turned out to be much busier than I anticipated, but I wanted to take a moment to write about the Android course that I'm teaching this semester. Although I've joint-taught an Android course before, I revamped the course to have more group work and focus more on software engineering principles by following the direction of David Janzen's Android course at Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo.
Seventeen upper level CS students are teaming up with 12 upper level Graphic Design majors to work on eight Android applications with the intention of releasing a working beta on the Android Market in December. The projects range from kid apps to useful utilities and everything in between. I'll share more details about the projects in a blog post later this semester.
This is the first time I've been able to coordinate a joint project with our graphic design students. Not only will the joint venture lead to better looking apps, but I believe my students will benefit greatly from having to interact with non-CS majors who use a different vocabulary and see software differently. I'm thankful to Stacy Schoen, a colleague of mine in the Dept of Art and Design, who is helping me in this experiment.
this is an great idea. Looking forward to the outcome. best of luck!
ReplyDeleteFrank, this is awesome. This is exactly the kind of stuff that CS (and Design) students should be doing. Not only are you simulating real world working conditions, but you are creating tangible products that can actually be consumed, possibly even making money. MITRE (my company) is always looking for bright CS graduates and Android experience is definitely a sought after skill. Feel free to refer any freshly graduated students my way.
ReplyDeleteI'll certainly tell my students about MITRE. Thanks!
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