Teaching Mobile Computing: Practices and Pitfalls
Abstract: The Apple iPhone and iPod touch have become an integral part of innovative learning experience at Abilene Christian University (ACU), with all in-coming freshmen being provided one of these mobile devices. Despite pervasive use of these devices on campus, no formal coursework instruction on mobile computing had been integrated at the institution prior to the compilation of this paper. This paper shares experiences of the authors from teaching a lab-intensive undergraduate introductory course on mobile computing at ACU. It was designed for computer science and information technology students who started to develop applications for the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad on the very first day of class. The paper concludes with a direction for future courses in mobile computing at ACU.