THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

Master of Science in Information Technology in Education (MSc[ITE])

Assignment Cover Sheet

Student Name: Ma Yutian Student No: 3035322146

Intake: 2016-2017 Students email: yutian95@hku.hk

Mobile and Ubiquitous Technology
Course Code: MITE6333A Course Title: in Education

Term: September Term Course Teacher: Dr. Felix Siu

Due Date: 17th December 2016

Assignment Topic
Developing an Educational Mobile App with AppFurnace
Name of App:
D-Classical Music Journey
 Mobile App Design Plan
Introduction:

The name of the App that I developed is Classical Music Journey which helps
children to get to know the famous composers in the history of classical music as well
as enjoy some great pieces of classical music. This app integrates videos, pictures, text,
music and games to ensure children achieve the learning objectives. The various types
of learning materials and user interactions are able to attract children and raise their
interest in classical music.
This app contains four parts. The first part is Introduction which introduce the classical
music briefly. The second part is Composers, the most important and interesting part
of the app, which introduce eight famous composers in the history of classical music.
The third part is Game Time which includes two kinds of games to test the childrens
learning outcomes. The last part is Contact where users can find ways to contact me.

Target Learners: Children aged 6-12

Aims:
This app aims to provide children with very basic common sense about classical music,
great composers of classical music and their famous pieces of music as well as increase
childrens interest in classical music.

Learning Outcomes:
After learning through this app, learners are able to:
1. identify the differences between classical music and pop music.
2. list 8 famous composers and identify them based on their pictures.
3. demonstrate the characteristics and the work of each composer.
4. enjoy listening to classical music.

Interface/Visual/Presentation Design
This app is designed for smartphones (both IOS and Android) and the screen
orientation is landscape. The characteristics of the interface design:
- light color to create a relaxing and pleasing environment for user when they
enjoy their classical journey.
- clear navigation to each page.
- plentiful types of learning activities and interactions such as watching video,
reading text, viewing pictures, listening to music, games.
 Architectural Design

Interface Design and Guide for the App

Welcome Page: The background image of the welcome page is a classical piano which
align with the theme of this app. At the same time, the background sound will be
triggered which plays a famous and beautiful piano music. The background music can
be paused through the mute button at the left bottom of the page. The rocket button
in the middle of the page can be clicked and navigate to the Menu Page.

Rocket
Button

Mute Button
 Menu Page: The inspiration of menu pages design comes from the white and black
keyboards of the piano. The buttons in this page can navigate to the four parts of this
app: introduction, composers, game time and contact.

IntroductionThis part include two sessionswarm up and history of classical music.

The home button at the left bottom of this page navigate to Menu Page. At the right of
the screen, a gif picture that shows a musician plays a piano is put there which can attract
childrens attention.

Home Button

Introduction-History of Classical Music: This page contains a youtube video and brief
text to introduce the history of classical music. At the right bottom of this page, there is
a button that can navigate to the introduction page.

Navigate to its
parent page
Introduction-warm up: Warm up contains two learning activities to help children
identify the differences between classical music and pop music. The first activity is to
watch an instructional video which compares popular and classical music. The Ready
Go button can navigate to the second activity- answering questions.

Warm Up Question: The questions will be showed in the yellow box one by one after
users tap the next button at the right of the screen. The feedback will be showed at the
bottom of the yellow box after users tap the answer.

Composers: This part introduces eight famous composers and their music. This page
introduces composers briefly and users can press the gif button to listen to a piece of
sound and have a better understanding of composers. The Find Composers button can
navigate to Composers Menu page.

Press this button to

listen a piece of sound
Composers Menu: The Composers Menu is divided into two pages. Each pages contains
four famous composers. All these composers are gif buttons which makes this app more
interesting.

Go to
next part
of menu

Go to parent
page

Go to
next part
of menu

Eight Composers: Each composer takes two pages to introduce. The first page
introduces the composers characteristics. The second page introduces the music the
composer composed.
Take one composer for example:
The first page: The image at the right of the screen can be pressed to enlarge this picture
of the composer.

Go to
composer
menu

Go to
next page

The second page: At the right of the screen, there is a slide show contains several images
related to the music of this composer. The note button and play button can be tapped to
play the music. Also after the music is triggered, the pause button will be showed.

Go to
previous
page
Game TimeThis part contains two games: Little quiz and matching game.

Little quizThis activity aims at evaluating childrens learning outcomes about the basic
knowledge. This activity is made up by several multiple choices. Feedback will be given
after each question. The score will change according to the amount of the right answers.
Matching GameThis activity is designed to match the composers with the right
pictures. Feedback will be given and the score will also be recorded.
ContactThis page contains four buttons which can link to send me email or to my
social media website directly.

QRCode of the mobile app: D-Classical Music Journey

Reflection:

The idea that I would like to design a app about classical music came to me because I
am very interested in listening music and have a passion for enjoying classical music.
I also registered a course called introduction to classical music on Cousera, the famous
MOOCs platform. In addition, I have searched for apps about classical music in App
Store. Most of the apps are just the album of famous classical music without
introduction about it which will not attract much people because classical music is a
little bit hard for people to enjoy. However, some researches have been conducted to
prove the benefits of listen to classical music, such as, reliving stress level, enhance
mental alertness and memory (Lesnar, 2014). Thus, it is very necessary to advocate
people to enjoy classical music. I would like to design an interesting app that can open
the doors to classical music for children as well as provide basic knowledge about
classical music.

At first, I was going to introduce the history of classical music. However, this topic is
very big and contains a lot of information which is a little bit hard for me to design an
interesting and effective learning mobile app that contains so much information. Then
I tried to cut the content and made it more specific. At I chose to introduce eight famous
composers along the history of classical music as the major part of my app.

In order to make this app more interesting and attractive, I spent some time to figure
out how to add more interactions in the learning process. First, I tried to apply various
types of learning materials, such as video, picture, text, music. Second, I add some
functions such as enlarging pictures, slide show to make the learning process more
interactive.

In the design process, I have problems in modifying others codes to suit my app. It is a
pity that I didnt have a strong background of programming so that I have to cut some
functions of my app. Also, I spent a lot of time on thinking about the user interface of
this app and ignored the design of learning activities a little bit which are actually the
core parts of a learning mobile app. I will pay much more attention on the design of
leaning activities under the guidance of some learning theories next time.

This course is the most interesting one I have taken in this term since it is kind of like
learning by doing pattern which enables me to see the real learning outcomes. Thanks
to the professor as well as this course.
Reference:
Lesnar, S. (2014, 10). Studies Reveal Some Interesting Benefits For Classical Music
Lovers. Retrieved from nextshark: http://nextshark.com/studies-reveal-some-
interesting-benefits-for-classical-music-lovers/