service learning meets mobile computing
Computer Science educators are often frustrated in their attempts to demonstrate the power and relevance of their discipline in a classroom setting. Increasingly, educators are turning to carefully designed service learning projects to provide that experience. This paper describes a year-long service learning project in which we developed a working prototype of a mobile, location-aware tour for the Bonsai Exhibition Garden of the North Carolina Arboretum. The tour is a web-based, customizable, multimedia presentation on handheld Personal Digital Assistants. Students developed the complete tour, including all presentation materials and system installation, at the University of North Carolina at Asheville in a series of three computer science courses. The project abounded with both the benefits and pitfalls that come from combining service learning with cutting edge technology.
service learning mobile computing guided tour location-aware computing project-based coursework