Udacity's Android Developer Nanodegree was launched at this year's Google I/O and the first cohort of students enrolled in June. The latest Android course on offer is on Material Design and is available free as well as part of the nanodegree.

Material Design for Android Developers is a four-week module (assuming 6 hours per week) at Intermediate level. In it Android developers will learn how to apply the material design principles that define Android's visual language.

According to Nick Butcher, who is one of the instructors:

This 5-lesson series begins with a crash course on the fundamentals of Android UI design. It helps you to sort your DIPs from your pixels, to pick the right layouts and navigation structures and shows you how to style your app to match your brand. The rest of the course is a deep dive into the principles and implementation of material design to show you how to build beautiful consistent experiences that are right at home on Android.

Even though it only became available last week, there are already over 9,000 students studying this course. It is self-paced and as a standalone unit you can access its materials for free,

You can also complete it as part of a nanodegree at a cost of $200 per month. Enrollment is now open for the next cohort of new students (closing September 24th) and the full program is expected to take 6-12 months with a minimum of 10 hours per week. If you graduate in less than 12 months you get half your tuition fee back.

All the courses in the Android Developer Nanodegree come from Google and the emphasis is on building apps. As well as the final capstone project at the end, participants work on a portfolio of projects including a music streaming application and a joke telling app. You also have to "productionize" apps to go from a functional state to production-ready and implement the new material design techniques, which is what this latest course prepares you for. 

The starting point for the Nanodegree is Developing Android Apps: Android Fundamentals, a 10-week course at intermediate level.

Other courses, at a more advanced level, include:

• Advanced Android App Development: Productionize and Publish Your App

   

• Gradle for Android and Java: Build Better Apps Through Automation

   

• Google Play Services: Use Google APIs to Improve Your Apps
   
• Android Ubiquitous Computing: Extend Apps to Wearables, TV and Auto 

This nanodegree is not for beginners. It is intended for students with preferably 3 years of programming experience in Java or another object-oriented programming language. If you have less experience you are advised to follow preparatory or refresher courses first.

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