Title: Introducing a capstone course on social networks

Authors: Mohammad Fraiwan

Addresses: Department of Computer Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 3030, Irbid 22110, Jordan

Abstract: Cyberspace is increasingly being dominated by social networks. It is estimated that the number of users of such networks and media will reach 3.1 billion by 2021. Now even news outlets are reporting on people tweets, pictures, and online status. Social networks provide a platform for political, social, business, and leisure activities. Computer engineering students need to be well equipped to deal with such important platforms, which will empower them to generate new business opportunities, develop useful applications, or simply prepare for the job market. In this paper, an undergraduate capstone course in social networks is described that not only exposes students to that plethora of social networks, but also makes it possible to collect and analyse data from these networks and propose useful applications. Students were required to work in teams on a project idea of their own device. The course methodology, assessment, and technical aspects will be presented. Moreover, the empirical assessment of the learning modules and the students learning experience against the associated education activities is described in detail.

Keywords: data mining; Facebook; LinkedIn; Python; semantic web; social networks; Twitter.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCEELL.2021.118315

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, 2021 Vol.31 No.4, pp.485 - 500

Received: 19 Mar 2019
Accepted: 03 Apr 2020
Published online: 20 Oct 2021 *

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