Course Requirements
EDUC 439/639: iPad App Design & Development
Recognizing that students come to this course with a broad range of technical abilities and experience, assessment in this course uses a growth model that is project based. Throughout the course you communicate with your instructor about your goals, the progress you are making, and the help you need as you work on your project.
In the sidebar is a list of the specific assignments and how much they count toward your grade in the course. You can think of these assignments as consisting of three major parts, each of which counts for a third of your grade. The design and implementation of an iPad project will constitute one-third of the final grade; online class participation will count another third; and your blogs will constitute the final third. All students must make effective use of the course discussion forum to communicate with your fellow classmates and your professor. Students will keep track of their projects by logging their progress in blogs that the instructor will visit periodically to review and comment.
Assignment #1: Goal Statement
Your first assignment is to state the reasons why you enrolled in this course and what you hope to accomplish by taking it. If you have only a general idea of why you chose to enroll in this course, go ahead and describe your goals in general terms. If you have more specific goals in mind, please enumerate them. I will use this information to help advise you and guide you through the appropriate course materials.
Assignment #2: E-mail Registration
In response to the e-mail registration assignment in your online course environment, you tell your course instructor what is your e-mail address. Yes, there is an e-mail address on file for you here at the University of Delaware, but just in case I need to contact you about something related to this course, I want to make sure I have a good working e-mail address. Being able to reach you when I need to is so important that I am giving you 5 points for telling me: What is your e-mail address?
Assignment #3: Discussion Forum
Every student in this class is required to participate actively in the course discussion forum. To enter the discussion forum, log on to the course and choose the Discussions option. One of the first messages you write in the forum should inform your fellow classmates about the nature of the project you are hoping to create. The forum is an excellent place to network with your fellow students and form teams in which you can work together to create your projects.
Assignment #4: Coolest Code Wiki
This course has a wiki called Coolest Code. In this wiki, we want you to write a paragraph or two in which you share with your fellow classmates the coolest sample code you discovered while taking this course. In your part of the wiki, tell us the name and Web address of your code sample, and describe the reasons why you think this code is cool. In addition to creating your own entry, the wiki also enables you to modify or add to submissions made by your classmates. If you have more information about a submission from one of your classmates, for example, you can select the option to edit the page and add your own thoughts. Through this process of having every member of this course contributing to the wiki, we develop a shared knowledge base of sample code useful to us all.
Assignment #5: Checkpoint #1
This is your first checkpoint for submitting project logs to be reviewed by your instructor. In your log, please write about the contributions you made so far toward accomplishing your project's goals. You may also write about problems your project encountered and tell how you plan to solve them. The deadline for submitting this log is flexible, but in general, you should try to submit it about one third of the way through the course.
Assignment #6: Checkpoint #2
This is your second checkpoint for submitting project logs to be reviewed by your instructor. In your log, write about the contributions you made toward accomplishing your project's goals, and describe any problems your project encountered and tell how you plan to solve them. The deadline for submitting this log is flexible, but in general, you should try to submit it about two thirds of the way through the course.
Assignment #7: Checkpoint #3
This is your third and final checkpoint for submitting project logs to be reviewed by your instructor. In your log, write about the contributions you made toward accomplishing your project's goals, and describe any problems your project encountered and tell how you plan to solve them. The deadline for submitting this log is flexible, but in general, you should try to submit it during the final third of the course.
Assignment #8: iPad Project
During the last week of class, you will present your iPad project for the dual purpose of sharing it with your classmates and presenting it for Dr. Hofstetter to review and grade. These projects typically take one of the following three forms. First, you can design and develop an app and present a running version of the app if you or one of your team members possesses the coding skills needed to do so. Second, you can design an app and submit a mockup simulating how the app will work after it is coded. You can create these mockups with any presentation software, such as Keynote or PowerPoint. Third, you can submit a curriculum project in which you review the apps available in your content area, align them with applicable standards, and create a conspectus outlining the curriculum plan.
Assignment #9: Course Evaluation
Your final assignment in this course is to evaluate it. Toward the end of the course, you will receive an email from the School of Education sent to your udel.edu email address. This email tells you when the course evaluation window is open. You must log on to the course evaluation system within this window of time. The Web address of the course evaluation system is www.udel.edu/course-evals. After you complete the course evaluation, your instructor will give you credit for completing it. The responses you give are completely anonymous. While your instructor will be able to see the ratings and comments, it is impossible for your instructor to identify the person who gave a certain rating or made a given comment. Once you complete the evaluation, your grade on this assignment will be an automatic A.
