Created SU App Challenge website using the Twitter Bootstrap framework. Demo it online at http://appchallenge.syr.edu/.

 

During the first month of the practicum, I assisted Keisuke in troubleshooting technical programming assignments with students who were learning the Ruby on Rails framework. I found this initial phase of the practicum to be an interactive experience. As this was also my first exposure to Ruby, I found myself learning its syntax and methods alongside the students as we solved problems together. Observing Keisuke’s patient teaching style changed my outlook on how technical material, particularly programming languages, can be effectively taught to students. When I was taught how to program in Java as an undergraduate, I completed weekly coding assignments from scratch that did not integrate concepts learned from past deliverables. Instead, Keisuke layered learning modules on top of previous lessons so that students could add and iterate onto the current project while reinforcing past learning objectives.

 

A major component of the course required students to implement an original social web system to be showcased at the Syracuse University App Challenge, a venue where student teams compete with their social/mobile applications for prizes based on the uniqueness, integrity, presentation, and impact of their applications. Most of my attention for the second month of the practicum focused on the promotion of this contest. In addition to creating a website via Twitter Bootstrap (http://appchallenge.syr.edu) for the App Challenge, I promoted the contest by delivering presentations to various tech-focused classrooms to recruit quality students and spoke with reporters of The Daily Orange newspaper (SU App Challenge offers $1,000 grand prize; SU app challenge to announce winners Thursday) to spread the word across the greater campus community.

 

Students were also encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities where they can learn new skills or gain hands-on experience with the relevant materials. A handful of students and I attended Hack Upstate, a weekend hackathon where developers, innovators and designers unite and facilitate collaboration among the greater Upstate New York entrepreneurial community. This opportunity gave my students the time and resources to ideate novel applications. My favorite part of Hack Upstate was seeing my students pitch their ideas to a panel of entrepreneurs as this allowed them to practice articulating the importance of their application for the actual App Challenge later on in the semester. Meanwhile, students continued to innovate on their ideas during the weekly lab sessions, and I was able to provide constant feedback on what they can do to improve their designs for their final project.

 

In the last month of my teaching practicum, I organized the logistics of the actual App Challenge by conducting interviews with team participants, organizing participant data, and setting up furniture and posters within the space on the actual day of the event. Seeing the final demos of what my students produced since the start of the IST 488/688 course impressed me. Many of the applications displayed at the App Challenge solved real world problems like transportation, meeting attendance, and personal fitness. I am very thankful for the faculty and professionals that Keisuke connected me with throughout the planning and execution of this entire event. Overall, this teaching practicum shed valuable insight into the dynamics of teaching technical material at both the graduate and advanced undergraduate level to help guide and inform my future teaching experiences.

Photo: Discussing the history of the SU App Challenge with Nick Belkin, Distinguished Professor of the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University and Elizabeth Liddy, Dean of the Information School at Syracuse University.