| Abstrakt: |
This paper presents the cross-platform mobile app development process of a newly developed app for an Engineering Economics course. The new mobile app was designed based on the formative assessment of our apps that were developed and used in classroom settings for the past two years. The newly designed app is named, 'Engineering Economics Career,' simulates the growth of an engineering economist in a virtual company. The app integrates various components including e-book, calculator, reference tables, conceptual questions and practical problems. The E-book is a summary of the key concepts of Engineering Economics. The calculator provides functions to solve basic engineering economics problems with formulas. The tables allow the users to compute discrete compound interest factors. The main interface is a Career game. Through this game, a user will encounter challenges with conceptual problems and also calculation problems in order to make a few financial decisions. As users successfully go through challenges, they will progress through five stages: Intern, Engineer, Senior Engineer, Head of Engineering and Chief Operation Officer. Each stage will have a selected number of conceptual and calculation problems. While a user can accept all stages, one must finish all problems in each stage in order to be promoted to the next stage by earning some points. A user can work on a problem repeatedly in order to gain more points, which will indicate how much effort a user spends in each stage for their learning. Sets of problems range from simple questions on time values of money to more complex concepts, such as Sensitivity Analysis, Monte Carlo Simulation, and Supply Demand Equilibrium. From the problem interface, users may access topics of their interest in the E-book and use the calculator and interest tables to help themselves. This app has been developed for both Apple iOS and Google Android platforms, and they have been released in the Google Play and Apple App Store. The cross-platform app development allows easy deployment to multiple mobile platforms. This app is intended to give students more opportunity to learn and practice concepts of Engineering Economics whenever and where they want using their mobile devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
