FAU Program Helps to Design Mobile Apps
Students from Four Disciplines Team Up to Create Apps with Various Services
Florida Atlantic University’s engineering and computer science, business, graphic design and anthropology students recently teamed up to develop mobile applications during a groundbreaking interdisciplinary course titled “Android App Design and Project Management.” The experiential learning course was designed to expose students to the entire product and business development life cycle for a mobile application.
The outcome of this non-traditional course was seven new and marketable applications, including:
- Quick Key Campus – an emergency call application intended for students in an emergency situation. The application has a special code for setting off an emergency alert on the phone to notify university authorities and emergency support personnel.
- Croyza – an application that tracks symptoms for patients so they can give doctors a complete journal of all their aches and pains as they happen throughout the day.
- DocQuest – an application that allows people to find doctors, see reviews and make appointments.
- ePrescription – a prescription tracking application which sets a schedule and notifies the user that it’s time to take their medications.
- eScriptPlus – an application that allows doctors to electronically write prescriptions, send them to the pharmacy for fulfillment and keeps a record for each patient. This procedure will be needed to comply with new government regulation that all prescriptions have to be electronic with at least 40 percent of all Medicare being automated by 2013.
- EvaculateNow! – an application specifically geared to support organizations that help elderly and handicapped patients during a time of crisis like during a hurricane or tornado. This too lets these organizations comply with government regulations.
- Uninsured Solutions – is an insurance tracking application for the uninsured in the area who need to find support, especially emergency support without insurance.
“From taking this class, I realized a true passion I have for utilizing the talents and opinions of other individuals in different disciplines and ensuring we have the best final product possible,” said Matthew Hudson, a Quick Key Campus team member and international business major. “I have started a business with a couple of members of the team and hope to bring this piece of technology to every campus nationwide, starting first with Florida Atlantic University.”
Many of the other teams will continue to work on their projects after the completion of the course.
“Students are securing invaluable real-world experience in working with other team members, across ‘cultures’ in a microcosm of the real-world and its challenges,” said Ravi Behara, Ph.D., associate professor in the department of information technology and operations management within FAU’s College of Business. “We have been working across disciplines in developing mobile applications in different courses since Fall 2009 and have created a total of twenty-six applications and worked with teams of 350 students at all levels from high school to graduate level in developing such applications.”
The course was co-offered by FAU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, College of Business, electronic graphic design program and the department of anthropology. Under the tutelage of four instructors — Ravi Shankar, Ph.D., professor in the department of computer and electrical engineering and computer science; Fran McAfee, associate professor in the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies within the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters; Michael Harris, Ph.D., chair of department of anthropology; and Jeanne McConnell, instructor in the College of Business — students were given practical experience where cross discipline teams were able to create viable products using Android software.
Although each of the professors lectured separately and had their own course requirements, all students had a large portion of the grade dependent on their team’s outcome.
Shankar and McAfee are currently teaching an additional eLearning interdisciplinary course this summer with thirty engineering and arts students. For more information on FAU students’ android developments, visit android.fau.edu or contact Ravi Shankar at shankar@fau.edu.
July 23, 2012