If anything really explains how subjects can go 2.0 it is Scratch, a programming tool from MIT.
Scratch is free, open source and produced by a well respected Computing institution. It works on Windows and Macs. It is a visual tool that lets kids create programs with coloured blocks. It is multimedia because it supports graphics, sounds and music.
And then, once the kids have made their projects, they can set up an account on Scratch’s web site and upload their games which can be played online in any web browser. The games are rated and comments can be left. Kids can organise other kids’ games into groups. They can also download the source for the games and modify it for their own games. Kids can learn from freely downloadable information sheets. Educators are invited to discuss Scratch in a forum.
Scratch is the best educational tool I’ve seen. The downside? Even with permission to run it on the computers (if/when it arrives), the safety proxies block the uploading of the files to Scratch, so work can’t be shared. The security-mad installation of IE won’t allow the Java applets to run to display games on the web page. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I shall endeavour to find solutions to this, but aargh!
Crazy! You might enjoy my piece in Connected where I (try to) make a call to Local Authorities to see some sense and get corporate and educationists speaking to each other more (and, importantly, listening and thinking things through). Should make me popular
:
http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2007/03/get_connected_s.html
Yes, there’s work to be done. I think the system just now is just too inflexible. If you can trust a teacher with 30 kids and an exam then you should be able to trust them with control over the internet accesss. I don’t think that has to mean there is no level of council-wide blocking but I do think it means teachers and technicians should have control over unblocking a site instantly if necessary.
Here it can take weeks for an unblocking, if it is allowed.
Hello, I am part of the Scratch team. I am thinking in adding a section on the website that would allow you to upload your projects directly from your browser. Do you think that would work with your proxy? It would be similar to the upload pages YouTube or Flickr have. (In the long run, it would be ideal to get Scratch working with proxies too)
As for IE blocking applets. Is your IE blocking any applet or just our applet? If it\’s just the IE configuration, you might want to try running Firefox from a USB thumbdrive.
Thanks a lot for your comments!
By the way, I found this article about how to configure the Java Runtime Environment to work with a proxy.
http://www.java.com/en/download/help/proxy_setup.xml
Do you think this would help your problem?
Hi Andres,
Thanks so much for getting in touch.
I think web based upload would work - I use it for uploading onto my coursework website so it should work for scratch too
I will check if the java fix works. I’m not too sure. Our proxies are run at council level so often their setup is a mystery. i will investigate
Please keep up the excellent work on scratch!
Peter,
Looks as though youm have mamaged to spend some time getting to grips with Scratch. Have you been using it with your pupils? What scope do you feel this application has in respect of it being rolled out to a wider eduication audience? Anyway, looking fdorwadr to seeing you in May for the games design event.
Derek,
I am not supposed to use Scratch on computers in the school as it is not approved yet. However, I have been using my laptop to demonstrate it, and use it to talk about problem solving. I’m planning to do a bit more of this next term.
Scratch could be the educational youtube for ICT pupils. It allows them the chance to create code in a pleasing, visual way. It could be used as a taster of programming in S1 and S2 but it can be used to create games in any subject, the way PowerPoint is used just now to share/present. If we are to encourage children to problem solve, this could be a nice way of doing it.