ACRL TechConnect Jim Hahn, Jennifer Bylsma, and Elizabeth Sullivan Teaching mobile Web development An iPhone application design workshop at the University of Illinois Undergraduate Library

he digital era, a time of massive un- (and make relevant) their digital environ- Tmediated access to information, has ments, the staff of the University of Illinois brought with it profound changes in the at Urbana-Champaign Undergraduate Library ways we work and live. With these changes, planned for a mobile app workshop that instructional offerings of libraries must shift would be responsive to all skill levels. if they are to remain a relevant and neces- Librarians and two interns from the sary component Undergraduate of information Library designed centers. A moti- and implemented vating factor for two rounds of lab- implementing an based workshops iPhone app de- for mobile appli- sign workshop cations running stems from ob- on Apple’s iOS servations of the software. Project highly popular planning included information envi- a workshop for stu- ronments of the dents and an ad- 21st-century stu- ditional workshop dent. The mobile for staff. The first landscape of in- round occurred in formation access the summer semes- Image 1. Dashcode Templates for Mobile Apps (Image is inclusive of a ter of 2011. The is from Dashcode, a Web-based software developer number of mo- second round of environment from Apple.) View this article online for bile-networked detailed images. workshops were devices—one of held in December the most popular platforms is the iOS envi- 2011 and were re-worked for basic and ronment from Apple. advanced levels, incorporating additional While not every student has an iPhone, templates in the iOS developer environment iPad, or iPod touch, an important feature of (see image 1). the digital landscape is the manner in which students create and share with digital tools. Jim Hahn is orientation services and environments Research in digital media among youth of- librarian, e-mail: [email protected], Jennifer Bylsma fers compelling evidence that undergraduate is graduate assistant, e-mail: [email protected], Elizabeth Sullivan is graduate assistant, e-mail: easulli2@ students value editing, creating, and sharing illinois.edu, at the University of Illinois at Urbana- across many platforms.1 In an effort to sup- Champaign port the desire among students to customize © 2012 Jim Hahn, Jennifer Bylsma, and Elizabeth Sullivan

C&RL News July/August 2012 394 The workshops were capped at 40 partici- enabled. This posed a limitation in that we pants. A pre-workshop survey showed that could not make use of the full iOS simulator, among attendees of the staff session, many but rather simulated app performance to a were Web developers from departments on Safari Web browser. After negotiating with campus. The survey data also showed that our lab partners for the needed software, there were a number of students participat- we were able to move forward with the ing from the Graduate School of Library and pilot workshop. Information Science (GSLIS). The purpose of this article is to provide Web-based design approach an overview and strategies for implementing The Dashcode Developer environment is an iPhone app development workshop in geared toward Web-based mobile appli- an academic library setting. cation development. This We also enumerate chal- Web-based approach allows lenges that needed to be students with Web authoring overcome in order to create proficiency to style HTML the iOS workshop. The sum- pages with library data sourc- mer workshops were scoped es to create library applica- towards beginners in mobile tions.2 application design and do not assume previous background Workshop staff experience in software de- Workshop staff included stu- sign or programming with dents from GSLIS who were compiled languages. The able to contribute to the second round offered an instructional design of the additional app design work- workshop. Graduate student shop for advanced design instructors were enrolled as that would give students the interns or practicum students ability to upload apps to the over the summer months, and app store and incorporate also went through hands-on additional dynamic data from training by library staff that data sources across the Web. has experience with Web- based mobile application Planning Image 2. Prototype of the RSS app, design. The resource material Space and software first level view. (Image is from the guiding application design is Initial planning involved iPhone simulator, a product of a recent book-length work identifying computing re- Apple, Inc.) on designing iOS apps with sources that any participant Web skills.3 could use. The workshop necessitated an Apple developer environment and so the Teaching the summer workshop workshop was in need of an iMac lab. In ad- The library’s main objective for the summer dition to making use of Apple computers, the workshop was for all participants to have lab needed the iPhone Software Developer designed a functional prototype of an RSS app Kit (SDK) installed on all lab stations. This (see images 2 and 3). The app incorporates proved to be an obstacle since parts of the RSS information into mobile presentation on Apple license agreement cannot be guaran- the mobile Safari browser. The framework for teed in an open lab environment. We were this app is a template from Dashcode; stu- able to work around this limitation by not dents provided a feed and also modified the installing the full SDK, but rather used the look and feel of the app from the Dashcode Dashcode environment without the full SDK editor (see image 4).

July/August 2012 395 C&RL News The staff section had a valuable to them and that full lab of 40 attendees on the workshop stimulated the day of the event. Nearly their interest. However, the 20 people registered for the answers to the questions student section; however, about other things that the only ten attended. The format attendees would have liked used for both sessions of the to learn, improvements for workshop was to follow a future workshops, and com- short lecture familiarizing ments revealed that there attendees with the layout were several topics the at- of the Dashcode developer tendees would have liked to environment and basic work- see covered in more depth. flow steps used to create an Several attendees were RSS feed app. unhappy with the narrow The second portion of focus on the RSS feed func- the workshop was devoted tionality of Dashcode, as they to hands-on design of apps. had expected to receive a Three library staff were avail- more global view of Dash- able for troubleshooting and code’s functionality and get answering questions during some exposure to develop- the hands-on portion of the ing other kinds of apps. workshop. Image 4 shows Image 3. Prototype of the RSS app, Other attendees referred to second level view. (Image is from the developer environment technical problems soaking the iPhone simulator, a Product of where each participant could up workshop time, both in Apple, Inc.) customize an RSS feed for terms of getting logged into mobile app presentation. Images 3 and 4 the computers and in terms of finding ap- show finished product of student’s hands- on propriate RSS feeds and getting them to load work, a functioning prototype of an RSS app. properly. One person wanted more specific The example RSS app developed in the workshop is powered by the University of Illinois New Titles feed (www.library.illinois.edu /newtitles/), which is a tool that creates a desired RSS feed of recently cataloged items in the library collec- tion.

Exit survey responses from summer workshop The exit survey for the event revealed one major theme: attendees left both satisfied and hungry for more knowl- edge. All 13 respondents to the exit survey either agreed Image 4. The basic development environment that was used in all or strongly agreed that the workshops. (Image is from Dashcode, a Web-based software devel- resources given would be oper environment from Apple, Inc.)

C&RL News July/August 2012 396 details about how to acquire Dashcode. The to deliver foundational content in the Xcode overwhelming theme was that the workshop module. The final portions of the Xcode was too short. One attendee even thought the workshop covered the process for upload- workshop could run double the length (two ing Dashcode-developed applications to the hours) next time. iTunes app store. The format of short lecture followed by hands-on practice time received mixed re- Other planned delivery modes views. One person commented that they liked An online version of the workshop has also the format and transition among instructors. been proposed. The online version would Giving the attendees a great deal of individual have several key differences, one being work time did allow the presenters to diag- that users logging in remotely are not all nose the individual problems with each of the going to have Mac computers as supplied apps effectively, and also gave the presenters in the computer lab at the library. Even if time to address some more personalized and all the participants had a Mac computer, re- advanced questions, such as providing more quiring that the entire iOS SDK be installed detail on how to actually host apps. onto their system in preparation for the workshop does not encourage those who Second iteration of the workshop are simply curious about app development Two workshops were designed for December to attend the workshop. that incorporated the exit survey responses The platform that we plan to use for the from the summer—the biggest change was online offering is Elluminate Live! Our deci- to design an advanced-level workshop, in sion to use this particular platform resides addition to covering more material in the in the fact that GSLIS uses the Elluminate beginner’s workshop. Live! tool to coordinate simultaneous ses- In the December iteration of the work- sions with people logged in remotely from shop, the material was expanded to cover across the country. Also since the request for additional templates from the developer an online workshop came from an affiliate environment. Sensing also that the staff and of GSLIS, it seemed pertinent to design an student divisions were unnecessary, the online version in cohesion with the system library instead developed workshops that already in place with that program. would respond to skill level regardless of Using this system we plan on run- university affiliation. The beginner workshop ning this workshop live with active LEEP now includes coverage of two templates: the participants (students who attend GSLIS RSS template as well as the Browser template. remotely). Since a hands-on portion of the The library also designed an advanced workshop would not be an option in an workshop. The turnout of more experienced online environment, most of the instruction participants influenced our ideas for the ad- would be in the form of application share, vanced workshop. This workshop is more where the instructor takes the participants content heavy with less hands-on time, since on a virtual tour of the Dashcode platform. we had possibly given too much time to the During this live demonstration, the instruc- exploring portion in the initial workshop. tor can answer questions in real time as he In the advanced workshop participants or she walks through the various elements learned to edit data sources of the Browser of the program. We would use an edited template and were introduced to the iPhone’s version of the recording of this workshop native developer environment, the Xcode to craft a video file that we could post in module of the iOS. The library does not our corresponding Lib Guide4 for those currently have the full SDK loaded on the unable to make the on campus workshop Macs in the lab but was able to make use or the online version but would still like of screenshots as well as online screencasts to go over the material.

July/August 2012 397 C&RL News Lessons learned work, a desired outcome of any library work- There are a variety of user types and motiva- shop. tions for attending iPhone workshops. One of the biggest challenges in creating and de- Conclusion livering a technology workshop such as this Technology workshops in general and mobile is the need to respond to individual’s levels computing training in particular will form a of technology competence and familiarity. vital component of the instructional portfolio In order to alleviate these challenges, there of academic libraries as more students look to should be adequate trained staff to respond the library for technology training and experi- to questions during hands-on portions. A new mentation. Libraries are forging new ways in feature for future lab-based learning will be which to be vital to student needs by deliver- to create open lab time where students and ing tailored instruction in mobile application staff could ask questions of staff based on the development. While it is often stated that with apps they need to create; having such open mobile tools, “there is an app for that,” perhaps lab time to supplement instructional delivery libraries can show their cutting- edge instruc- will help to meet learner’s individualized paces tional value in this new arena by bringing to for learning and mobile application design. campus a “workshop for that.” The library is planning to further support student design teams, and these workshops Notes have given the Undergraduate Library a start- 1. M. Ito, et al., Hanging Out, Messing ing point in recruiting student design teams Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and that will help to codesign mobile apps for Learning with New Media (Cambridge, MA: library services. From these workshops im- MIT Press, 2009). portant student contacts are formed, and the 2. As an example of library iPhone ap- library is recruiting design teams that are not plication developed using this method, see solely from computer science departments, but the University of Illinois experimental apps that are from student organizations not typi- page at www.library.illinois.edu/ugl/about cally associated with application development. /Experimental_iPhone_Apps/iPhone_apps. It is this population that may yield great html (accessed June 7, 2012). results for mobile tools that offer the broad- 3. J. Hahn, iPhone Application Develop- est relevance to students’ everyday informa- ment: Strategies for Efficient Mobile Design and tion needs, and may help further to connect Delivery (Oxford: Chandos, 2011). library resources into the students’ academic 4. http://uiuc.libguides.com/iphone.

(“Learning to . . .”, cont. from page 393) Case Study,” The Journal of Academic Librari- Notes anship 32, no. 1 (2006): 97–99. 1. Jack London, “Getting into Print,” The 6. Martha C. Petrone and Leslie Ortquist- Editor, March 1903, 57. Ahrens, “Facilitating Faculty Learning Com- 2. Milton D. Cox, “Introduction to Faculty munities: A Compact Guide to Creating Learning Communities,” New Directions for Change and Inspiring Community,” New Teaching and Learning 97 (2004): 8–9, 18. Directions for Teaching and Learning 97 3. See Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, (2004): 67. They Say/I Say, 2006. 7. Donald E. Hall, The Academic Com- 4. Allyson Washburn, “Writing Circle munity: A Manual for Change (Columbus: Feedback: Creating a Vibrant Community of Ohio UP, 2007), 140. Scholars,” Journal of Faculty Development 22, 8. Martha C. Petrone and Leslie Ortquist- no. 1 (2008): 33–35. Ahrens, “Facilitating Faculty Learning Com- 5. Cynthia Tysick and Nancy Babb, “Writ- munities,” in Building Faculty Learning ing Support for Junior Faculty Librarians: A Communities (Jossey-Bass, e-book), 64-66.

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