For the average college student, a smart phone is much more than just a way to speak to friends. Mobile devices contain a variety of features to find the nearest retail outlet, order pizza, or play multimedia games.
Under the direction of computer science professor Paul Gestwicki, students spent an entire semester developing several dozens applications for Google Android shortly after the new smart phone operating system was launched in 2009. When they were done that fall, 18 students with no computer programming experience had created a bird-watching program, several games, an English-to-Spanish tutoring system, math flashcards, and a Dungeons and Dragons character generator with Web-based database storage capability.
"This was an incredible experience because it opened new doors and new ways of thinking for all of us," says Travis Cawthorn, ’12, of Frankton, Indiana, majoring in accounting. "I created a game that should be fun to play with for hours. Let's be honest; many students my age use smart phones for entertainment."
The class was part of an experimental partnership between Google and several technology-centered universities including Ball State, Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Colorado, and University of Michigan.
Google provided the class with 20 G1 developer phones loaded with the Android operating system and gave them access to the new App Inventor for Android, which makes it possible for users with no programming experience to create mobile applications.
"Motivating students and allowing them to push the envelope is one of the keys to being successful in computer science education," Gestwicki says. "In this case, we asked students with no programming experience to think about what they would like to have on their cell phones and then go create it. This is an entrepreneurial approach to learning that is highly successful at universities teaching technology."
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