A homework project for a professional development course has turned into a collaborative learning experience - and even a bona fide iPad application - for a Port Moody father and son duo.
Dave Zille is a BCIT instructor who teaches project management for the web and, on the side, he runs a small web development company while his four-year-old son, Jonah, is busy attending daycare and playing hockey with his friends.
Because his business requires him to occasionally hire application developers, Zille decided he should learn more about the process himself and signed up for a BCIT class. When it came time to tackle the term project Zille knew he wanted to involve Jonah in some way.
"I thought about doing a learning or math game, but I didn't want to necessarily have his attention focused on playing a game, even if it was a learning game," Zille said. "So I figured, why not make it something physical?"
Jonah can often be found playing hockey, basketball or soccer down in the basement, leading Zille to suggest developing a scoreboard app that his son and his friends could use to keep track of their scores.
Zille figured Jonah would get a kick out of the idea, and working with his dad, but what he didn't expect was just how involved the little guy would get.
"It turned into a real collaborative experience," Zille recalled, noting Jonah diligently tested about a dozen other scoreboard apps to find the best features from one. Once their own version was in the testing phase, "He would find bugs in the application and report it back to me," Zille said.
But Jonah didn't stop there. The app was constantly on the boy's mind and he was never short for ideas on how to improve the app - like a shot clock for basketball, and specific penalty times for hockey and the unique timing system for soccer (where the clock counts up, not down).
Zille said his young son's feedback has proved invaluable, not least because of his age.
"Because Jonah is younger he'll do what comes naturally, versus reading the instructions, so it's a really good way to get feedback," he said. "We knew people could use it easily and seamlessly because of his help."
Zille decided to pursue the possibility of having the app - called JD Sports Scoreboard - added to the iPad store so the two would be able to look back on the bonding experience. What he didn't know, however, was how difficult the road to app success would be.
"It's not a simple process," he said. "We probably spent 50% of our time on building the app and the other 50% on the logistics of getting it into the store."
There were a lot of hoops to jump through but when the app was accepted, Zille's instructor invited him and Jonah to share their experiences with the app development class.
"Talk about sending Jonah down his father's footsteps," Zille laughed. "But it was a good experience for both of us."
The JD Sport Scoreboard app costs 99 cents to download, but Zille said the project isn't intended to be a revenue generator - they're donating any profits to BC Children's Hospital - though they may pursue future business opportunities like selling the technology to schools as an inexpensive alternative to pricey, large-scale scoreboards.
In the end though, Zille emphasizes the project is all about learning and bonding with his little boy.
"Even though he's young and doesn't understand it from a business perspective, maybe something in his mind will continue to take an interest in it, and maybe we'll collaborate together on different apps," Zille said. "I look back on it and it was a really good way for us to do some mutual learning."
