On 08/12/2011 01:01 AM, Judy Perry wrote:
I have a vague notion of a hands-on assignment for my classes next
term involving having them use the 30-day demo and making something
semi-interesting (to them) in LC.
Apparently I did a really sucky job of articulating this to the first
person I asked, so, here I try, try again, this time including my
necessary caveats and reasons why:
If you had a month, meaning, 4 long sessions or 8 shorter sessions, to
get an absolute Joe Public to make something small but
semi-interesting in LC, i.e., something they couldn't do in
PowerPoint, what are the top 5 things you'd want them to learn about
programming?
I mean, I'm guessing it's something like IDE, Stack-Card metaphor,
commands, functions, conditionals, variables... but I'm looking for
those categories along with some specific examples per my caveats below.
CAVEATS:
1. This is a General Education class meaning students either have to
take this "Computers and Society" course or some biology course
involving dissection. This means they don't particularly want to take
this class but it strikes them as less gross than dissecting worms or
heaven know what. But, seriously: nobody really wants to be there.
2. #1 above means that student engagement is a MUST. The point of
the assignment is NOT to make them hate using computers. #1 also
means that some of them barely know how to do attachments with email.
It also means that some of them are downright computer-phobic.
3. No "Hello World." Sorry, but "Hello World" is a distinct
historical and cultural artifact to which this audience simply will
not relate. One of the rules of interactive system design is that
using a computer to do something should always offer some seriously
compelling reason to do it that way as opposed to the way they know,
and writing three lines of script to put "Hello World" into a text
field isn't likely to sound more compelling that simply typing it in
the field themselves. The point of the assignment is NOT to turn them
into programmers but to help them appreciate some of the things that
go into the applications they use everyday and some of the things
those programmers have to contend with/know.
4. Each step or lesson along the way needs to result in something
that is engaging to the learner. Current adult learning theory is
that adults need, yupp, instant gratification, or at least be able to
see that they are getting somewhere.
5. No standalone production (I don't want to have to guess at what
they didn't do correctly). We may do revlets though.
Ideas, suggestions gratefully accepted; otherwise, I'll just wing it
like I usually do. ;-)
I, in these type of situations, get them to make a "copy" of a pocket
calculator.
However, I "don't know" what " IDE, Stack-Card metaphor, commands,
functions, conditionals, variables..." are . . . I "do know" what
'containers' and 'beads' are!
Certainly, a calculator that can do +, -, * and / in 90 minutes is
fairly good in the instant grats stakes.
Judy
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