Targetting teachers

[Richmond]

On 23.08.2016 22:09, Richard Gaskin wrote:
> 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.

I'm not entirely convinced about that as one can, if one wants, use 
*Hypercard* as a development tool
(just so long as one can find a market of people who are deploying a 
bunch of Performas), and one
can equally well use *Livecode* as an authroring tool.

In fact I think that *Livecode* has made a slight mistake in not 
pointing out that it is perfectly possible to use Livecode as an 
authoring tool, as by not doing that I believe it has cut itself off 
from a section of the educational market.

Just to point out something, however goofy it may seem in the great 
scheme of things, my Mother goes to pottery classes (at 86) and makes 
some things that are really quite good. Now to market her sculptures she 
popped together a quick cross-platform presentation standalone with 
Livecode. Certainly she is NOT doing software development, but she is 
authoring something that serves her purpose in a way that the dreaded 
PowerPoint does not: for with a Livecode standalone she does not have to 
bet about what software an art gallery has on its system.

>
> In addition to the many differences between the tools themselves, 
> teaching methods have changed as well.

Really? Says who?

A standalone that delivers 15 minutes of immersive experience to a 
demotivated pupil
will always prove a winner.

>   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.

Yup: and you should here the filthy words issuing from my local 
University's English department (where my wife is a Professor and I am a 
visiting lecturer) when anyone has to do something with Moodle.

>
> 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.

Read my lips: an immersive standalone will engage 99% of learners.

I teach every kind of child from 100% bright, engaged kids who you'd 
have to push into a deep freeze to get them to stop using their brains 
at max 24/7 to totally disinterested slack-jawed morons (Richmond's best 
politically correct phraseology); and in 10 years of my EFL school I've 
yet to have a kid who hasn't focussed straight off when presented a 
colourful, engaging piece of a standalone, even if it is only something 
getting them to learn fairly simple vocabulary.

This is not even making reference to stuff I got going on my BBC Master 
Compact in a Primary school
in Al Ain, UAE in 1989 ("back in the day" as you put it), or Hypercard 
stuff in Carbondale, Illinois, or Hypercard and Toolbook stuff in the 
UAE University back in Al Ain, UAE (I like that town), or Metacard/RR 
stuff with EFL learners at St. Andrews University in Scotland. No 
difference really!

27 years of pushing immersive software at people from 5 - 24 years old 
makes me begin to look like a drug king!

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

That's for children to learn programming with: that is not targetting 
teachers with Livecode as authorware.

I wonder exactly what you mean by "the UK" because Scotland has its own, 
distinct, education system
that is different from that used in England and Wales.

>
> 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.

I see a need for 2 things:

1. A book for teachers on how they can leverage Livecode to author stuff 
for classroom content delivery and reinforcement relatively quickly. 
i.e. *Livecode as Authorware.*

2. A book for teachers of IT to assist them in teaching young children 
how to perform elementary programming tasks with Livecode. i.e. 
*Livecode as an entry-level Programming Environment.

*Both areas are areas in which Livecode rocks 100%, but I don't think 
things are served very well if the 2 areas are confused or conflated.

>
> 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>
>

I am starting some sort of a book; whether for #1 or #2 above is yet to 
be seen, although just possibly I will end up with both.

Richmond.