I thought I would drop an update here on my Intro to Swift class at the University of Texas at Austin - this is the fifth time that I’ve taught the class (two years in Objective-C, this will be the third year with Swift). This year has been a lot smoother than previous years because I’m using Apple’s App Development with Swift e-book as a learning resource for the class.

Note - I didn’t really like the confusingly titled “Intro to App Development with Swift” book because it focused too much on strange Xcode playground exercises, and didn’t really get into mobile app development as quickly as I liked.

This year, I’m also focusing on more group exercises in class. Last year, the FDA issued a call for a design for an opoid overdose prevention app that we used as the basis for a design exercise in class - it was extremely topical. I’d like to find something similar for class as well.

Another big change for this semester is that class is now one 3 hour class per week, rather than two one and a half hour classes per week. I’ve found that there is a lot more time to focus on class with this longer format, plus I can split up classes more effectively if we can do review plus learning in the first half, and then exercises, labs, or reinforcement in the second half.

As always, this class is changing - it’s an introduction to programming class for students who aren’t programmers, so I really enjoy teaching it. The challenge is trying to figure out how to make these concepts approachable and to really teach the “How” behind iOS development, not just the “Follow this tutorial”.