Stanford Hosts Course on Designing Apps in Facebook
- By Paul McCloskey
- 09/18/07
Social Web hotspot Facebook is the focus of a new course at Stanford this semester designed to teach both techies and non-science majors how to build "engaging Web applications." In fact, the name of the course is called--in Learning Annex-style--"Create Engaging Web Applications Using Metrics and Learning on Facebook."
Yet the site will not focus directly on building applications. Instead, it will teach how to design "persuasive and engaging user experiences" in Facebook, according to its instructors.
The course will be taught by B.J. Fogg and Dave McClure. Fogg is involved in the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford. In addition to teaching the Stanford course, McClure is currently organizing a conference called "Graphing Social Patterns: the Business and Technology of Facebook."
According to a fact sheet on the course on the Facebook website, the instructors are looking for "a mix of students with technical background and non-technical backgrounds. However, if you already have a background in Facebook application development, we want you in this class."
Read More:
About the Author
Paul McCloskey is contributing editor of Syllabus.