FOR19 Green Digitalization and App Development

• Topics

  Green Economy and Digitalization are in the core of the Sustainable Development Goals, and could help to accomplish the Paris Agreement to mitigate climate change. Moreover, Green Economy and Digitalization constitute the 50% of the EU Next Generation recovery funds, and will be two of the main economic vectors in the next decade. The purpose of this course is to combine Green Economy and Digitalization by choosing a relevant topic in Green Economy, build an economic model to study that topic, and develop an app based on that model.

  The course is organized in two different modules that complement each other. In both modules, the students will work in random groups of 6-7 students. In the first module, the students will build a economic model to work out transport carbon emissions. The students will read academic papers and official documents to work out the carbon emissions for different means of conveyance. The students will write a 7-8 pages paper (no more) in which they motivate the paper and explain the methodology used to work out transport carbon emissions. The students will use that methodology to develop an algorithm to work the transport carbon emissions when they develop their app in the second module of the course.

   

  In the second module, the students will develop an app to work out the transport carbon emissions. This module consists in three different blocks. In the first block, the students will design the layout of the app by using HTML, CSS, Flask, and JavaScript. In the second block, by using the economic model developed in the first module, the students develop an algorithm in Python to program that model. In the second block, the students will connect the carbon emissions to a database, and they will disclose some useful tables and graphs about those carbon emissions by using Chart.js and Flask-MySQL. In the second block, by using application programming interface (API), the students also will learn to connect their apps with different web pages to have access to real data on air pollution. Finally, in the third block, the students will learn to deploy their app in the server by using GitHub, Heroku and Amazon Web Service. Moreover, the students will develop some basic scripts in PostgreSQL to extract valuable information from their databases.

  By the end of the course each group and each single student will have its own web page running on the server (Heroku and Amazon Web Service), and that web page will be linked to its own repository in GitHub. The objective of this course is to help the students not to find a job, but to create their own jobs. If the students have a good idea, I would like to help them to develop that idea and to create their own companies/cooperatives/NGOs. The students' web pages will help to achieve that objective by promoting their work and by sharing their projects with potential employers.

  The webpage of the course is in this link (https://forwardedu.org/green_digitalization_course), user (bjork@demo.com), password (ciao). The apps developed by the students the last year are in this link (https://forwardedu.org/green_digitalization_course/gd_students_apps), user (bjork@demo.com), password (ciao).

• Learning outcome

  Knowledge

  The student has broad knowledge on:

  • Economic models to study transport carbon emissions.    
  • Different programming languages (HTML, CSS, Flask, JavaScript, Python, Chart.js and Flask-MySQ) that complement each other to develop a complete app.  
  • Different app deploy methods (GitHub, Heroku and Amazon Web Services).    
  • PostgreSQL to extract valuable information from the database used in their app.  
  • The procedures followed at the Chamber of Commerce and the Startup Lab in Bergen to create their own companies/cooperatives/NGOs and attract funds to develop their own projects. 

  Skills

  The student can:

  • Identify key factors that determine transport carbon emissions.    
  • Work in group developing complex economic problems.    
  • Work in a team to develop an app.    
  • Present their work in front of an audience.

  General Competence

  The student can:

  • Develop a model to work out transport carbon emissions.  
  • Program and deploy a complete app.

• Teaching

  In the first module of the course, the students learn to find information in academic and official documents to develop an economic model to work out transport carbon emissions, and  learn to write an academic paper with that model.

  In the second module of the course, the students learn to develop an app. In particular, they design the layout, they program the heavy lifting of the app, and they  learn to deploy that app in the server. By doing this entire process, the students learn to develop a complex app by using different programming languages and they learn how those languages complement each other. The main objective of this module is to help the students to think outside the Python, the R, the Stata, the Matlab or whatever other "box," and to help them to connect different programming languages to learn how those programming languages complement each other generating positive synergies.

  In the final exam and during the "weekly challenge", the students will learn to present and defend their work in public, since during the final exam and the "weekly breakfast", the students present their app in front of their colleagues. Moreover, at the end of the course, we present our apps at the Chamber of Commerce and at the Startup Lab in Bergen. By doing that, the students  learn how to present their ideas to a broader audience. The objective of that presentation is to help the students to know the channels to obtain funds and create a company/cooperative/NGO in case that they want to develop their own projects when they finish their studies.

• Recommended prerequisites

  Despite that the app development process could seem complex, none of the students that developed their app the previous year had any knowledge on programming. The key point in the course is to have the determination and the willpower to go all the way and finish the app. All the students that work each single week on the app and do their duties will have their own apps running in their own webpage. I guarantee that.

  The apps developed by the students the last year are in this link (https://forwardedu.org/green_digitalization_course/gd_students_apps), user (bjork@demo.com), password (ciao).

• Credit reduction due to overlap

  None.

• Compulsory Activity

  None.

• Assessment

  Portfolio in groups of 6-7 students consisting of the following parts:

  • Essay on transport carbon emissions (7-8 pages).
  • Developing an app to assess transport carbon emissions.
  • Weekly challenges.
  • Final conference presentation.

  A final grade will be allocated to each group.

  All parts of the portfolio must be conducted in the same semester.

  The essay and the presentation in the final conference will be evaluated by the course responsible and an external evaluator.

  An assessment in FOR19 will not be organised in the the non-teaching semester. As of autumn 2023, only mandatory bachelor courses with an individual assessment will have an assessment in the non-teaching semester. This only applies to students with a valid course approval. The retake options that apply at all times are decided by the dean for the bachelor program and will be published in the course description.

• Grading Scale

  A-F.

• Literature

  I will develop my own material that will be available in the webpage of the course.

  The webpage of the course is in this link (https://forwardedu.org/green_digitalization_course), user (bjork@demo.com), password (ciao).