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Learning programming fundamentals is considered as one of the most challenging and complex learning activities. Some authors have proposed visual programming language (VPL) approaches to address part of the inherent complexity [1]. A visual programming language lets users develop programs by combining program elements, like loops graphically rather than by specifying them textually. Visual expressions, spatial arrangements of text and graphic symbols are used either as syntax elements or secondary notation. VPLs are normally used for educational multimedia, video games, system development, and data warehousing/business analytics purposes. For example, Scratch, a platform of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is designed for kids and after school programs.
Design of mobile software applications is considered as one of the most challenging application domains due to the build in sensors as part of a mobile device, like GPS, camera or Near Field Communication (NFC). Sensors enable creation of context-aware mobile applications in which applications can discover and take advantage of contextual information, such as user location, nearby people and objects, and the current user activity. As a consequence, context-aware mobile applications can sense clues about the situational environment making mobile devices more intelligent, adaptive, and personalized. Such context aware mobile applications seem to be motivating and attractive case studies, especially for programming beginners (“my own first app”).
In this work, we introduce a use-case centered approach as well as clear separation of user interface design and sensor-based program development. We provide an in-depth discussion of a new VPL based teaching method, a step by step development process to enable programming beginners the creation of context aware mobile applications. Finally, we argue that addressing challenges for programming beginners by our teaching approach could make programming teaching more motivating, with an additional impact on the final software quality and scalability.
The key contributions of our study are the following:
- An overview of existing attempts to use VPL approaches for mobile applications
- A use case centered teaching approach based on a clear separation of user interface design and sensor-based program development
- A teaching case study enabling beginners a step by step creation of context-aware mobile applications based on the MIT App Inventor (a platform of Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
- Open research challenges and perspectives for further development of our teaching approach
References:
[1] Idrees, M., Aslam, F. (2022). A Comprehensive Survey and Analysis of Diverse Visual Programming Languages, VFAST Transactions on Software Engineering, 2022, Volume 10, Number 2, pp 47-60.
Die Vermittlung von Handlungs-und Prozesswissen in der industriellen Produktion erfordert neue Ansätze, insbesondere eine Flexibilisierung und Integration von Lernprozessen in reale Arbeitssituationen. Der vorliegende Beitrag beschreibt das Zwischenergebnis eines größeren Forschungsvorhabens im Bereich Mobile Learning mit kontextbezogenen mobilen Diensten im betrieblichen Umfeld. Er stellt Anforderungen, Lösungsansätze und einen Prototypen zur Realisie-rung von kontextbezogenen mobilen Diensten im Bereichder Unfallverhütung und Sicherheits-einweisungen in Fertigungsprozessen vor. Die zu unterstützenden kontextbezogenen Prozesse eines Industriepartners werden analysiert und unter Verwendung eines Domänenmodells, generi-scher Prozessmodelle und kontextbezogenen mobilen Anwendungen realisiert. Im Beitrag werden außerdem Lösungsansätze für plattformunabhängige mobile Applikationen, sowie die Integration von Persistenzmechanismen und Gerätefunktionen mittels hybrider Ansätze vorgestellt. Ergebnis der Arbeit ist ein erster Prototyp einer hybriden mobilen Applikation der im realen Betrieb syste-matisch getestet und weiterentwickelt wird.