Generating user interface from conceptual, presentation and user models with JMermaid in a learning approach

Because of the pervasiveness of information technology in industry and the tremendous increase in User Interface (UI) design possibilities, the study of UI development has become an issue of great importance. To achieve short turnaround times when developing UIs, that moreover are of high quality and can adapt to various changes, the UI should be developed using a model-driven approach. Such model-driven development, generates a demand for IT professionals with model-driven UI development skills. The technical complexity of model-driven development adds up to the inherent complexity of UI design, and makes teaching UI development even more difficult. The evaluation of current environments reveals that none of them provides the necessary features to achieve good teaching support. Therefore the authors propose to extend the proven conceptual modelling teaching environment JMermaid by integrating of the W3C standard for Abstract User Interface meta-model and extending the existing models with presentation and user models. This tool will enable a student to generate a fully functional and feedback-enabled application with a single click and allow them to study how to design UI according to users preferences and skills.