Targetting teachers

[Richard Gaskin]

Richmond wrote:

 > Looking for something else I stumbled on this:
 >
 > https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED432257
...
 > Now all that needs to be done is substitute 'Livecode' for
 > 'Hypercard', so I would really like to know:
 >
 > 1. Why that is not being pushed in a major way (articles in teaching
 > publications?).
 >
 > 2. There seems to be almost zero support from educational
 > establishments for teachers to take the time to get up to speed
 > with this and develop in-house stuff for subject delivery and
 > reinforcement.

Today's audience has very different needs from when that article was 
written in 1999.  And with HyperCard designed as an authoring tool while 
LiveCode is designed as a development tool, the opportunities for using 
LiveCode to teach CS in K-12 require a different approach.

In addition to the many differences between the tools themselves, 
teaching methods have changed as well.  Much of the courseware that was 
delivered on CD-ROM back in the day is now delivered over the Web with 
Moodle.  And there are many other difference besides.

But one thing they all have in common is the need for a computer, a 
keyboard, and an engaged learner - that foundational recipe remains the 
essence of the challenge ahead.

In the UK, LiveCode is already part of the core curriculum for grade 
school Computer Science.

As we've explore ways we might achieve this among the educators in the 
States, one factor became clear:  nothing happens in US EDU unless it 
meets the Common Core standards.

One of the projects in the EDU Outreach team in the forums identified 
this need early on, for the formation of what we hope will become a 
teacher's guide to LC.

Through a stroke of good fortune, one of the friends I met through the 
SoCal Linux Expo has been coming to our local LC user group meetings, 
and has generously begun the task of outlining Common Core standards in 
a format we can then build upon for flesh out curricula.

I'm hoping that once the Common Core summary is available we may be able 
to find existing materials in our community to meet those learning 
objectives, and perhaps create and share templates to fill in any 
remaining gaps.

The thread for that project is here - anyone interested in furthering LC 
in EDU is welcome to participate:

<http://forums.livecode.com/viewtopic.php?f=107&t=26709>

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  LiveCode Community Liaison
  richard at livecode.org