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[Terry Judd]

I've had to build screen capture capabilities into a number of projects over the last few years and generally have a lot of fun doing it. Perhaps not the easiest task to begin with but broken down into a series of lessons should be doable. A simple tool could allow the user to drag out a selection area (using import snapshot) and then place the image in its own (resized) window. Once there let the user doodle on it (using a freehand draw graphic) and save the result to an image file. For extra complexity add in the ability to change colours and pen sizes.

Terry...

On 12/08/2011, at 08:01 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.  ;-)
> 
> Judy
> 
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