AC 2012-3701: LESSONS LEARNED FROM MOBILE COMPUTING AP- PLICATION DEVELOPMENT WITH ANDROID Dr. Se Jun Song, Texas A&M University, College Station c American Society for Engineering Education, 2012
Lessons Learned from Mobile Computing Application Development with Android Abstract Our undergraduate program has been offering a Mobile Computing Application Development with Android course from 2009 to prepare our students to lead the new mobile era. The course has been successful by offering ample opportunities to sharpen the students mobile application development skills. In past course offerings, it has been demonstrated that students are able to learn the programming technologies very quickly, are able to build various innovative mobile applications, and are able to deliver their applications in the Google s Android application market. In this paper, we present the current course in the aspect of the curriculum and project development. According to the lessons learned from the previous courses, we also propose both a new course curriculum and a novel multidisciplinary entrepreneurship program where students can be taught how to develop a widely successful mobile application instead of just a mediocre non-profitable toy application. Introduction The recent exponential growth of smart mobile devices such as Apple s iphone/ipad, Google s Andriod phones, and tablets has moved the traditional Web based Internet access eco-system rapidly into a new paradigm called Mobile Application. It has opened up new opportunities and yet has posed challenges for application developers. Technology can be deployed almost instantly to anyone, anytime, and anywhere with mobile access and can broadly and greatly impact our daily life. However, in addition to the mobility constraints, mobile application development differs from conventional desktop applications due to the constraints of the mobile devices with smaller screens, slower network connections, as well as limited memory and processing power. Texas A&M University s Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering Technology (EET/TET) undergraduate programs have been offering a Mobile Computing Application Development with Android (ENTC 489) course from 2009. For the nature of the open program environment, Google s Android becomes major development platform along with Apple s iphone Operating Systems (ios). The course has provided various opportunities to harness the students mobile application development skills for their research and development projects. The course curriculum is designed to learn the Google s Android application development environment by examining various hands-on software technologies. Then students (working in teams) identify application ideas for delivering their final project. The course also covers the usability issues of mobile devices. The detailed course curriculum is presented in the next section. Taking a short semester course, students were able to catch up the technology very quickly to build various creative mobile applications, and were able to upload their applications in the Google s Android application market.
Despite the technical success of the course, we have clearly learned that the chances of developing a widely successful mobile application are becoming even worse due to the dramatic growth of the mobile application market. In the current technology-oriented course curriculum, we cannot foster a couple of major ingredients for success including market-oriented idea and focused marketing [4][5][6]. To better develop entrepreneurial capabilities of undergraduate students, in this paper, we are proposing a novel multidisciplinary entrepreneurship environment (both a new course curriculum and a supporting team program) where students can be taught how to develop a successful application instead of just a mediocre non-profitable toy application. Current Course Curriculum Our Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering Technology (EET/TET) Programs have been developing Mobile Computing Application Development with Android course from 2009 based upon up-to-date technologies [1]. The current course does allow teams of engineering technology students to learn how to develop mobile applications in Google s Android environments. As illustrated in Figure 1, the course curriculum is designed to learn the Google s Android application development environment by examining lots of hands-on software technologies. Then students (working in teams) identify application ideas for delivering their final project. As presented in Figure 2, students learn from basic Figure 2 (a) to advanced Figure 2 (b) Android technologies such as Android SDK and IDE, Android programming details (UIs, data storage, graphics, alarms, services, notifications, threads, networking, web, and multimedia), Google maps, Location-based services (LBS), and other advanced topics (security, augmented reality, etc.). Learn Mobile Application Development Technologies Shape Project Ideas Develop Final Projects Figure 1. An Overview of Current Course Curriculum Basic Topics Introduction to Android IDE and hello world Layout & Activity Preference and Service Menu and Thread (message) Thread (progress, post, broadcast, & Intent filter) Notification Dynamic layouts, TTS, and clocks SQLlite Program Tasks Flashlight App Alarm & Clock To-Do List (a) Android Basic Topics
Advanced Topics Google maps Positioning Systems for Location based service (LBS) Notepad example (Listview, SQL, dialog box, etc.) Final project examples, Webkit, telephony, and SMS receiver Special Topics (iphone App Development) Special Topics (iphone Application Development Environment) Special Topics (Dalvik Virtual Machine) Special Topics (NDK Development) Special Topics (Android Inside) Real Application Code Review (Security) Real Application Code Review (Twitter App) Real Application Code Review (graphics) Real Application Code Review (augmented reality application) Program Tasks Calculator Multi-Thread Map Tracking Game Program Examples of student made applications include: (b) Android Advanced Topics Figure 2. A Current Course Schedule Emergency Agent App People may not be able to rapidly respond to an emergency situation such as car accident, kidnapping, or health problem. Pressing one button automatically initiates the pre-programmed procedure that includes texting of location information to appropriate individuals; Exercise Tracking App Using Google maps and a location manager, the app tracks and analyzes a runner s speed during their regular exercise routine; Inventory App Using a bar code scanner, the app can maintain an inventory of food products in a pantry and can automatically create shopping lists and warning for expiration dates. Remote Robot Control App Using an accelerometer sensor, the app can control a robot car s movement. Most of students taking the course are greatly excited about the mobile application success stories. In theory, any individual developer can quickly develop and post an application on the market and may achieve an instant success with millions of downloads. However, the reality is that although there have been many class projects with innovative ideas and solid application quality, the history of the course shows that it is currently rare for our students to be widely successful in the Application Market. In addition, the chances of developing a widely successful app are getting even worse due to the dramatic growth of the mobile application eco-system. For example, Google s Android currently has 600,000 applications and 1,000 new applications are added each day (Nov. 2011) [2]. Apple s iphone has 425,000 applications in the App Store and 500 new applications are added each day (July 2011) [3]. As the market swells with millions of
applications, it is becoming extremely difficult for individual developer's applications not to be lost in the mobile application avalanche. A successful application always consists of a market (idea), a solid application (technology and design), and targeted marketing. However, the current course curriculum focuses mainly on the technology missing a couple of major elements (market and focused marketing) [4][5][6]. Proposed New Course and Program Description While the current course does offer teams of engineering technology students to learn how to develop mobile applications, assessment has shown that it does not prepare students to understand the business and marketing aspects of entrepreneurship. Thus, student developed mobile applications in the Android application market are not followed up or tracked after the end of the course. Also, student teams interested in continued development of their application or the creation of a business around their application are not being adequately prepared. For this reason, we propose to change the current course curriculum to a new environment that consists of a new course curriculum and a supporting team program. 1) Proposed New Android Course Curriculum Learn & Build Project Ideas Develop Final Projects Acquire Goal-Oriented Development Technologies Deliver Applications to Market Practice Initial Marketing 2) Proposed New Supporting Team Program Business & Marketing via Seminars & Mentoring New Ideas / Upgrades follow up the Apps support focused marketing cultivate marketing methods for Mobile Apps Start-up Ventures Figure 3. A New Course Curriculum and a Supporting Team Program As presented in Figure 3, unlike the current course that starts with technology lectures, the new course forms preliminary project teams with experienced mentors from day one. While these nascent project teams are working together to brainstorm and evaluate innovative software and technology ideas, students can learn how to cultivate project ideas that customers need, want, and enjoy. Then the project teams start developing their final project in parallel with acquiring target-focused development technologies. Upon completion of the mobile application development, the project teams release their application in the Android application market. The course does not stop here. Students will further practice how to create a solid marketing message and deliver the message to the right audience and will build an upgrade application to retain
existing customers. At the end of the course, some project teams will be invited to become supporting team program members according to their project performance. The new supporting team program is a multidisciplinary entrepreneurship group that consists of the selected engineering technology students, the business school students, faculty advisors, and regional entrepreneur groups. The program can 1) relay the existing market (ideas) to the student developers; 2) provide early coaching by engaging EET/TET students with the business school and their entrepreneurship program; 3) support follow-ups via focused marketing; 4) cultivate appropriate marketing methods. One of the major objectives of the new supporting team program is to further provide formalized training in creating and running a start-up venture. The proposed course curriculum and supporting team program are strongly tied together as a synergistic entrepreneurship environment for mobile application development. The vision of the new environment is to make a place: 1) where project teams can cultivate market-oriented ideas by working together with multidisciplinary mentors; 2) where project teams can exercise and learn the characteristics of entrepreneurship; 3) where project teams can continue to work on their project and to get a formalized training in creating and running new businesses. Android Course Project Team Project Team Project Team Project Team Invited Advisors Supporting Team Program Spin-off Supporting Team Mentors Start up Ventures Figure 4. Project Team and Supporting Team Program As shown in Figure 4, the preliminary project team consists of two or three EET/TET undergraduate students and one program mentor. The mentor is a supporting team program member student from either Business School students or previous EET/TET project team members. The EET/TET undergraduate students will have primary responsibility for the application software design. The mentor student will be tasked to coach marketing strategies and business plan development for project teams. Faculty advisors from each college will mentor the project team. They will provide technical guidance and development expertise to the team via lectures and seminars. At the end of the semester, some of project teams will be invited to become the supporting team program members according to project performance. The supporting team program members continue to work on their project to spin-off a start-up venture and serve as a mentor by evaluating and selecting new ideas with the future project team students. The program members will also create technical proposals for new mobile application design and development by performing marketing assessments.
Work plan and objectives The EET/TET programs have started the process of building a multidisciplinary entrepreneurship environment to address the recognized areas for improvement contained in this paper. We have been preparing a new course curriculum that provides team building, technical assessment, market assessment, and focused marketing opportunities for students. We will offer a new Android course curriculum in spring 2012. A detailed work plan is presented in Figure 5. Tasks A multidisciplinary mentoring team building An Entrepreneurship for Mobile Applications workshop A new Android course curriculum design Seminar series of marketing and entrepreneurship A pilot Android course offering A new supporting team program A revised Android course offering Project team in competition An enhanced supporting team program Explanation Building methodologies to link EET/TET students to business school students for building project teams. Preparing a one day workshop for marketing and entrepreneurship for mobile applications. Offering the workshop to research the up-to-date topics in this aspect and to form supporting groups. Preparing a new Android course syllabus that provides team building, technical assessment, market assessment, and focused marketing opportunities for students. Creating a marketing and entrepreneurship seminar series. Identifying and inviting experts to discuss their marketing and entrepreneurship experience. Students can identify marketable applications ideas. Funding is requested for minimum expenses for guests. Creating project teams at the early stage of the class by linking mentoring team students. Building a new supporting team program that consists of the invited project team students, the business school students, faculty advisors, and regional entrepreneur groups. Creating and running at least one pilot start up venture. Offering a revised Android course with the supporting team program s feedback. Motivating and supporting project teams to compete in national competitions. Targets include Google s Android Developer Challenge [7] Enhancing the supporting team program to be self sustainable. Creating and running several start-up ventures. New and old members are to support follow-ups via focused marketing and to cultivate appropriate marketing methods. Figure 5. Work Plan The new course curriculum has the following educational objectives: 1. Students will be able to evaluate project ideas for technical feasibility (Technology Assessment). 2. Students will be able to cultivate project ideas that customers will need, want, and enjoy. (Market Assessment). 3. Students will be able to work in multidisciplinary teams and coordinate the technical and business aspects of an entrepreneurial endeavor (Team Building). 4. Students will be able to create a solid marketing message and deliver the message to the right audience (Focused Marketing).
The supporting team program s near-term outcomes include 1) the establishment of successful startup ventures; 2) accruing intellectual property and technology transfer counts. The supporting team program will also gain an increased social awareness and appreciation by focusing on developing applications for the first responder community including law enforcement, fire fighters, and EMS personnel as well as healthcare-related projects. Conclusion In this paper, we presented a Mobile Computing Application Development with Android course in the aspect of the curriculum and project development. The course has been successful by offering ample opportunities to sharpen the students mobile application development skills. According to the lessons learned from the past course offerings, we proposed both a new course curriculum and a novel multidisciplinary entrepreneurship program where students can be taught how to develop a widely successful mobile application instead of just a mediocre non-profitable toy application. Bibliography 1. James Steele and Nelson To, The Android Developer's Cookbook: Building Applications with the Android SDK (Developer's Library), 2010 2. http://www.appbrain.com/stats/ 3. http://www.iphonehacks.com/2011/07/app-store-with-more-than-425000-apps-15-billion-downloads-turns- 3.html 4. Eddie Kim, The Best Book On Marketing Your Android App (Sales, Marketing, & Code Secrets For Google Android Developers), 2011 5. Jeffrey Hughes, Android Apps Marketing: Secrets to Selling Your Android App, 2010 6. Jeffrey Hughes, iphone and ipad Apps Marketing: Secrets to Selling Your iphone and ipad Apps, 2010 7. http://code.google.com/android/adc/