Comments on: AgentSheets: Learning Programming, for middle-schoolers http://danweinreb.org/blog/agentsheets-learning-programming-for-middle-schoolers Software and Innovation Sun, 10 Jul 2011 14:13:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Alexander Repenning http://danweinreb.org/blog/agentsheets-learning-programming-for-middle-schoolers/comment-page-1#comment-4978 Alexander Repenning Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:18:35 +0000 http://danweinreb.org/blog/?p=81#comment-4978 | but you have to convince me why I’d ask my school system to pay for it. Free tools do not imply free solutions. A lot of research has gone into AgentSheet. Do take this challenge and try to make a game (http://scalablegamedesign.cs.colorado.edu/wiki/Frogger_Design) in just 2 hours. Alice may be free but does it actually work for game design? Even the Alice people seem to have given up on the idea of using Alice for game design and are focusing on story telling. We have not seen any evidence that game design is too hard or that the girls do not want to do it. If you use the right tool game design works quite well. Also, the Alice book is not free. All of the AgentSheets materials are free. If there would be a way to keep software usable and maintained for free I would be happy to explore it. Another thing. The real cost is teacher training. With a site license a single hour of a teacher wasted would probably cost more than a copy of AgentSheets. all the best | but you have to convince me why I’d ask my school system to pay for it.

Free tools do not imply free solutions. A lot of research has gone into AgentSheet. Do take this challenge and try to make a game (http://scalablegamedesign.cs.colorado.edu/wiki/Frogger_Design) in just 2 hours. Alice may be free but does it actually work for game design? Even the Alice people seem to have given up on the idea of using Alice for game design and are focusing on story telling. We have not seen any evidence that game design is too hard or that the girls do not want to do it. If you use the right tool game design works quite well. Also, the Alice book is not free. All of the AgentSheets materials are free. If there would be a way to keep software usable and maintained for free I would be happy to explore it.

Another thing. The real cost is teacher training. With a site license a single hour of a teacher wasted would probably cost more than a copy of AgentSheets.

all the best

]]> By: slobodan blazeski http://danweinreb.org/blog/agentsheets-learning-programming-for-middle-schoolers/comment-page-1#comment-4902 slobodan blazeski Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:23:08 +0000 http://danweinreb.org/blog/?p=81#comment-4902 Looks very promising. I'm interested to see how good it's 3d technology is. Looks very promising. I’m interested to see how good it’s 3d technology is.

]]> By: Dan Weinreb http://danweinreb.org/blog/agentsheets-learning-programming-for-middle-schoolers/comment-page-1#comment-2729 Dan Weinreb Sat, 10 Jan 2009 13:54:28 +0000 http://danweinreb.org/blog/?p=81#comment-2729 I have no idea; you could ask Alex Repenning. However, from everything I'm hearing, the engineering team working on the OLPC is drifting away. I have an OLPC, because I thought it would become a major software platform, and because there were so many other cool things about it. But a lot of them never got done and it doesn't look like they will. So I've put it aside. It would be great if the project realized at least its technical aims, as well as its educational aims, and I hope I'm wrong to be pessimistic. I have no idea; you could ask Alex Repenning. However, from everything I’m hearing, the engineering team working on the OLPC is drifting away. I have an OLPC, because I thought it would become a major software platform, and because there were so many other cool things about it. But a lot of them never got done and it doesn’t look like they will. So I’ve put it aside. It would be great if the project realized at least its technical aims, as well as its educational aims, and I hope I’m wrong to be pessimistic.

]]> By: Ralph Hyre http://danweinreb.org/blog/agentsheets-learning-programming-for-middle-schoolers/comment-page-1#comment-2727 Ralph Hyre Sat, 10 Jan 2009 05:48:32 +0000 http://danweinreb.org/blog/?p=81#comment-2727 OK, I have to ask.. When will the XO version be (freely?) available? I've seen the software hoarding mentality kill other computing environments, like Boxer. Alice is freely available from CMU, and I know that Agentsheets does other things, but you have to convince me why I'd ask my school system to pay for it. OK, I have to ask..

When will the XO version be (freely?) available?

I’ve seen the software hoarding mentality kill other computing environments, like Boxer. Alice is freely available from CMU, and I know that Agentsheets does other things, but you have to convince me why I’d ask my school system to pay for it.

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