A CS 6724 special topics course “Technology on the Trail” will be offered at Virginia Tech in Spring Semester 2017. [Note: the course is cross-listed as an undergrad CS 4784 Capstone.] The 3-hour course will meet weekly for 3 hours on Friday afternoons to examine how technology influences the hiking experience—both in positive and negative ways—for individuals, groups, and external stakeholders.  The course will involve significant reading, writing, and discussion, and there will be opportunities to obtain, design for, and evaluate technology on the trail.

It is expected that the course will attract a small but diverse set of participants with interest and expertise in one or more of hiking, walking, personal tracking devices, health and wellness (physical and spiritual), human computer interaction, quantified self, mobile computing and technologies, and in-the-wild evaluations. Relevant courses include grad and undergrad human computer interaction, mobile computing, machine learning, and data analytics courses. Interested potential participants should email the course instructor, Dr. Scott McCrickard, indicating interest and experience in these topics and courses. The course is targeted for graduate students but ambitious undergrads are encouraged to consider the course as well.