CIS*4030 Description

Calendar Description: This course introduces students to mobile computing and mobile application development. It examines mobile technology, application development, user interaction, data storage, and software tools.

Course Prerequisites: CIS*2030, CIS*2750, CIS*3110

PLEASE NOTE: I am still in the process of finalizing CIS*4030 for W22, so the details provided below are provisional at this time. I don't envision massive changes, but I must reserve the right to make adjustments as need arises. Some of the undecided bits have been highlighted below.

General Format of Course: The purpose of this course is to help you become familiar with the technical skills and experience necessary to be competitive for an entry-level Mobile Developer job. To gain this expertise, this course will have you create an app that is suitable for release on mobile app stores.

The W22 offering of CIS*4030 will help you build your expertise in Mobile Computing via lectures, labs, and a group project. Lectures will cover general mobile computing topics at a high level. Labs will have you implement detailed elements of mobile applications using the cross-platform toolkit Flutter. The Group Project will have you design and implement a mobile application of your choosing, also using Flutter.

I am currently exploring potential textbooks for this course, so there will likely be weekly readings as well.

Assuming a Tu/Th schedule, Tuesday lectures will comprise a guided discussion of that week's topic. Tuesday lectures will be in-person/hybrid, meaning you can choose to attend in-person or remotely (via Zoom). I have not taught a hybrid course previously, so expect some bumps in this road. I will use Zoom's recording feature to capture Tuesday lectures and host them on CourseLink. I still need to determine how to handle remote questions (on-projector chat window?) and how to capture in-person questions (omni-directional microphone?).

Thursday lectures will actually be labs in which you will gain deeper developmental experience using the cross-platform Flutter toolkit. These are still being designed, but will be 100% remote. As there are likely to be student questions, I am not sure if they will be recorded and available on CourseLink. I am also unsure of which remote platform we will use (e.g., Zoom, Discord). I foresee these being synchronous, so make sure you can attend the lectures.

The group project (likely in groups of 4-5) will comprise a series of milestones throughout the semester (e.g., idea + initial design, mid-semester progress, final demonstration). Projects will be built using Flutter.

I am still unsure of this, but I am also considering weekly or biweekly online surveys to give you a clear and regular feedback channel so I can maintain a good sense of how the course is going. This worked somewhat well in W21 but was also quite time consuming to process.

Methods of Evaluation: You will receive feedback on your lab submissions and your group project submissions. Your aggregate grades on these two components will be used to determine your final grade.