Well, we've been back from break for almost 3 weeks now, so it's definitely time to update this. Class and lab have really started to focus on information we can use for the projects. In lab we've been learning a lot of code that will really help with our quizzes/activities/whatever we end up calling them. Most of the work we've been doing is for the project, so I'll just get right to that.
We started by talking about our original design documents, and refining them. We made some minor changes, adjusting dates, and eliminating some of our topics. We worked on our user interface, and agreed that putting our students right in the Flash environment would really help them get comfortable using Flash itself. We presented our paper prototype before break. After break we began work on our interface in Flash as well as our script. The interface is basically done, although the script has a bit of work to go.
We presented both of these to the class last week. This forced us to really think about what kind of interactions we would have with our users. Prof. Blank suggested that rather than quizzes, we should find a way to have our users demonstrate how to perform the actual task we are teaching. This would help our learners more than a straightforward quiz, but the coding will be much more difficult. If we go this route, I think we will more than likely have to cut the chapter on tweens. We'll see how this goes as we finalize the script for at least our first four chapters. It will be a challenge to do a good job with the interactions for the drawing chapter, much less the chapter on tweens.
So to sum up, the design part of our project is nearly finished. We will have our work cut out for us in April when we start implementation.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Assignment 2
This week we talked about user interface design, and our groups started thinking about how our user interfaces would look. This has really let me see how great Google groups are for this kind of project. My group has started to post and discuss actions our users would need to perform at different times. We are each able to edit the same page as we think of ideas, as well as have a discussion about them. This is really helpful for getting our thoughts in order. When we do meet as a group, we can focus on what the interface will need to look like, because we already have the functions it needs laid out.
We also learned how Flash makes it really easy to create quizzes with different types of questions.
Assignment 2: Compare the user interface of the Universal Computer and the Universal Machine
The first think I noticed about the Universal Computer was that user interface was much simpler than that of the Universal Machine. I think this is transparency. The Universal Computer had a very simple bar at the bottom, and a chapter menu on the side, which left plenty of room for content. The Universal Machine took up more area, but had no more functionality than that of the Universal Computer.
The second thing I liked I would describe as feedback. The Universal Computer had a menu down the side with the list of chapters and sections you could go through. When you finished a section, a little check appeared next to its title. This would be very helpful for finding a particular section a user wanted to go over. For me, it was very helpful in letting me know how much more content I had to go through. I liked this a lot better than the Universal Machine, in which I had no idea where I was in a chapter.
I also thought that Universal Computer made better use of real world mapping. The locations of the various buttons reminded me of popular media players. The content was listed on the side, so you could pick what you wanted to play quickly, and the play, pause, back and forward buttons were all located together on the bottom. I was able to know exactly how to use the interface with no instruction.
I appreciated the change in theme from the Universal Machine. I didn't really like the space theme, and agree with comments made in class that it was a little juvenile. I liked the ideas used in the Universal Computer, how it was related more to a class, with professors, TAs, and other students. I thought that the character changes, and the other students asking questions made the lessons more interesting than just straight lecturing.
One of the uses of Flash that I liked was the activities that came up during the lesson. I liked that the activities were able to go over the same material again without being straight multiple choice quizzes. For example, the activity where you dragged words describing different interfaces (like too complicated, good use of color) to an actual picture of an interface is much more effective in reinforcing the idea than a question like: Which of these is not a quality of a good interface?
I also liked that the character responded to your answers. This was neat, and much more entertaining than a simple right/wrong text response.
We also learned how Flash makes it really easy to create quizzes with different types of questions.
Assignment 2: Compare the user interface of the Universal Computer and the Universal Machine
The first think I noticed about the Universal Computer was that user interface was much simpler than that of the Universal Machine. I think this is transparency. The Universal Computer had a very simple bar at the bottom, and a chapter menu on the side, which left plenty of room for content. The Universal Machine took up more area, but had no more functionality than that of the Universal Computer.
The second thing I liked I would describe as feedback. The Universal Computer had a menu down the side with the list of chapters and sections you could go through. When you finished a section, a little check appeared next to its title. This would be very helpful for finding a particular section a user wanted to go over. For me, it was very helpful in letting me know how much more content I had to go through. I liked this a lot better than the Universal Machine, in which I had no idea where I was in a chapter.
I also thought that Universal Computer made better use of real world mapping. The locations of the various buttons reminded me of popular media players. The content was listed on the side, so you could pick what you wanted to play quickly, and the play, pause, back and forward buttons were all located together on the bottom. I was able to know exactly how to use the interface with no instruction.
I appreciated the change in theme from the Universal Machine. I didn't really like the space theme, and agree with comments made in class that it was a little juvenile. I liked the ideas used in the Universal Computer, how it was related more to a class, with professors, TAs, and other students. I thought that the character changes, and the other students asking questions made the lessons more interesting than just straight lecturing.
One of the uses of Flash that I liked was the activities that came up during the lesson. I liked that the activities were able to go over the same material again without being straight multiple choice quizzes. For example, the activity where you dragged words describing different interfaces (like too complicated, good use of color) to an actual picture of an interface is much more effective in reinforcing the idea than a question like: Which of these is not a quality of a good interface?
I also liked that the character responded to your answers. This was neat, and much more entertaining than a simple right/wrong text response.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Groups and stuff
So I realized I had forgotten to update my blog, this one's coming a little late.
These past two weeks we've been learning a lot in Flash lab, especially things important to animation, like tweens and symbols. Yesterday, we had a lecture on action script, which will allow us to have user interaction in our projects.
In class we've been talking about forming multimedia teams and planning out projects.
The most important thing we've done recently is form groups and chose our projects. My group is using flash in order to teach the basics of flash. This week we had our first meeting, and formed a Google group to keep in touch and keep our documents in order. We have also been writing our design documents for the project. We chose our roles for the project as well. I'm the script writer, which shouldn't be too bad as I have the pdf textbook for this class to help me, and the sound designer, which I have a little experience with as well.
That's all for now!! Hopefully I'll have some more interesting stuff to talk about as our group continues to meet.
These past two weeks we've been learning a lot in Flash lab, especially things important to animation, like tweens and symbols. Yesterday, we had a lecture on action script, which will allow us to have user interaction in our projects.
In class we've been talking about forming multimedia teams and planning out projects.
The most important thing we've done recently is form groups and chose our projects. My group is using flash in order to teach the basics of flash. This week we had our first meeting, and formed a Google group to keep in touch and keep our documents in order. We have also been writing our design documents for the project. We chose our roles for the project as well. I'm the script writer, which shouldn't be too bad as I have the pdf textbook for this class to help me, and the sound designer, which I have a little experience with as well.
That's all for now!! Hopefully I'll have some more interesting stuff to talk about as our group continues to meet.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Assignment 1
The Universal Machine and The Analytical Engine
When trying to run the UMStars interface, I encountered several errors, mostly with loading icons and sound. The UMWords interface worked just fine.
1. The audience of both titles were computer science/engineering students.
2. UM was focused on teaching software development only, while AE taught basic computer tasks, programming, and some of the hardware involved in computing.
3. UM used multimedia to teach all of its lessons, AE used multimedia to support lessons in the textbook, through labs.
4. Because the bottom portion of both interfaces is the same, I'm guessing that the UMStars was too complicated in the way you navigate through the chapters. (I couldn't load the main part of the screen, apparently there are files missing on the LAN computers.) The UMWords interface is certainly simple enough, and it is easy to navigate through the sections.
5. UM uses multimedia to teach all its lessons, which I think is the most effective method for learning at home. AE uses multimedia to support the lessons that are in a textbook, which I think is more effective for learning from a teacher.
6. UM's strength is its step by step approach, using the multimedia to navigate, and lots of interactivity. However, I think it would benefit from a little more text, or a book to go with it. AE seems to have a great deal of content, but almost no interactivity. The labs and multimedia only serve to support a great deal of text. I think this book should use a lot more interaction, especially in the labs. The only labs that really had this were the hardware ones.
7. I think that AE could learn from UM to greatly improve its interactivity, and the overal asthetics and usability of their online content.
8. I would guess that it would take a team two months to come up with a chapter's worth of content.
When trying to run the UMStars interface, I encountered several errors, mostly with loading icons and sound. The UMWords interface worked just fine.
1. The audience of both titles were computer science/engineering students.
2. UM was focused on teaching software development only, while AE taught basic computer tasks, programming, and some of the hardware involved in computing.
3. UM used multimedia to teach all of its lessons, AE used multimedia to support lessons in the textbook, through labs.
4. Because the bottom portion of both interfaces is the same, I'm guessing that the UMStars was too complicated in the way you navigate through the chapters. (I couldn't load the main part of the screen, apparently there are files missing on the LAN computers.) The UMWords interface is certainly simple enough, and it is easy to navigate through the sections.
5. UM uses multimedia to teach all its lessons, which I think is the most effective method for learning at home. AE uses multimedia to support the lessons that are in a textbook, which I think is more effective for learning from a teacher.
6. UM's strength is its step by step approach, using the multimedia to navigate, and lots of interactivity. However, I think it would benefit from a little more text, or a book to go with it. AE seems to have a great deal of content, but almost no interactivity. The labs and multimedia only serve to support a great deal of text. I think this book should use a lot more interaction, especially in the labs. The only labs that really had this were the hardware ones.
7. I think that AE could learn from UM to greatly improve its interactivity, and the overal asthetics and usability of their online content.
8. I would guess that it would take a team two months to come up with a chapter's worth of content.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Week One
Summary of this week: Introduction to course, and learned how to draw basic shapes and text in flash.
Assignment for this week: Compare the Universal Machine: A Multimedia Introduction to Computing and the Analytical Engine: An Introduction to Computer Science:
I could not find the website related to the AE book, the website that was printed on the back of the picture I saw of the textbook is no longer up. The information I found on the book says that it provides a general overview of many topics in computer science. At the time the book first came out, the lessons in the book were supported by multimedia on the website, as well as on a CD that came with the book. Both the website and the CD contained a number of labs to support the information in the book. The UM book sounds like it goes into a lot more detail about how to actually program, and focuses on C++. From the screenshot and small demo of content that I saw, the multimedia involved with this book is well organized and easy to use. Both books use both textbook content, a multimedia CD, and online content. It sounds like they differ on how much detail they go into in terms of actual coding versus theory and strategy for programming.
Project: not totally sure what kinds of ideas would be good, here is what I came up with ..
1. Title: Typing Teacher
Subject: to teach basic typing skills
Audience: anyone who wants to learn to type
Comments: more interesting than how I learned to type (a book), lends itself to a lot of interaction/games
2. Title: ??
Subject: basic physics (physics of motion)
Audience: high school students
Comments: turn classic problems into games/quizzes - like shooting a cannon, driving a car, etc.
3. Title: Understanding sports
Subject: rules behind some basic sports- football, soccer, baseball, etc.
Audience: anyone who wants to learn the rules of a sport, just to enjoy watching it more, or to start playing
Comments: my most fun idea, but would be hard to program games, other than in a quiz fashion, or maybe play calling ...
My favorite idea is the sports one, but I doubt I'll be able to program games of the sport itself. Play calling or maybe a type of quiz where you are a referee are possible ideas for games and quizzes.
Assignment for this week: Compare the Universal Machine: A Multimedia Introduction to Computing and the Analytical Engine: An Introduction to Computer Science:
I could not find the website related to the AE book, the website that was printed on the back of the picture I saw of the textbook is no longer up. The information I found on the book says that it provides a general overview of many topics in computer science. At the time the book first came out, the lessons in the book were supported by multimedia on the website, as well as on a CD that came with the book. Both the website and the CD contained a number of labs to support the information in the book. The UM book sounds like it goes into a lot more detail about how to actually program, and focuses on C++. From the screenshot and small demo of content that I saw, the multimedia involved with this book is well organized and easy to use. Both books use both textbook content, a multimedia CD, and online content. It sounds like they differ on how much detail they go into in terms of actual coding versus theory and strategy for programming.
Project: not totally sure what kinds of ideas would be good, here is what I came up with ..
1. Title: Typing Teacher
Subject: to teach basic typing skills
Audience: anyone who wants to learn to type
Comments: more interesting than how I learned to type (a book), lends itself to a lot of interaction/games
2. Title: ??
Subject: basic physics (physics of motion)
Audience: high school students
Comments: turn classic problems into games/quizzes - like shooting a cannon, driving a car, etc.
3. Title: Understanding sports
Subject: rules behind some basic sports- football, soccer, baseball, etc.
Audience: anyone who wants to learn the rules of a sport, just to enjoy watching it more, or to start playing
Comments: my most fun idea, but would be hard to program games, other than in a quiz fashion, or maybe play calling ...
My favorite idea is the sports one, but I doubt I'll be able to program games of the sport itself. Play calling or maybe a type of quiz where you are a referee are possible ideas for games and quizzes.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
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