New IT course inspired by iPhone

To sample the innovative teaching practices at The University of Queensland, look no further than your iPhone.

Offered for the first time in March, COMP 3000 (Designing Mobile Applications) will challenge students to create programs for mobile devices such as phones, organisers and PDAs, and is believed to be the first university course of its type in the country.

Teaching Coordinator Aaron Tan from the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE) and Centre for Educational Innovation and Technology (CEIT) said the subject tapped into the enormous demand for mobile applications and linked with new products about to hit the market.

“Courses like this have been very popular in the US, so I think that there is interest on campus, students just haven’t been given an outlet to express it,” Mr Tan said.

“I’m hoping that this course is a starting point, and will lead to discussion groups or just ad hoc activity.”

He said COMP 3000 students would create applications on the iPhone and Android operating systems, and required a working knowledge of programming to successfully complete the course. Interested students from fields other than IT and engineering were also encouraged to apply.

The teaching team will include Mr Tan, Dr Mark Schulz and teaching guru and head of CEIT Professor Phil Long. Guest speakers from the IT and mobile industries will also take part.

Mr Tan said while many mobile applications are free, others come at a cost per download, with sizeable income generated by particularly popular programs.

COMP 3000 culminates in a group project where students have to produce and present a new application for assessment. The team members with the best pitch will each receive a $200 prize.

Mr Tan said the most popular applications (known as “apps”) were games, but there were also many practical options including everything from mobile yoga trainers to weather forecasters and tools to help people quit smoking.

“I want to get them excited about what they could do, because there’s definitely endless possibilities here,” he said.

“It’s not just for course credit, there’s definitely commercial and open source applications and we want to bring in (UQ technology transfer company) UniQuest and (copyright advisor group) Creative Commons to let them know what opportunities exist outside the University.”

COMP 3000 is offered as an elective in Semester 1, 2009, and is open to the first 20 students to enrol. Further information is available at http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~comp3000/

Media: Mr Tan (aaron@itee.uq.edu.au) or Cameron Pegg at UQ Communications (07 3365 2049, c.pegg@uq.edu.au)