On Walkabout with Greenfoot » Microworlds

I've begun to examine Greenfoot as an environment to introduce my 9th grade computer programming students to Java. After running through the first tutorial, I have found it to be a great way to visually organize my presentation of OOP (object oriented programming) and also provide my students with a creative way to begin exploring basic game design with Java.

I've offered an incentive for the class to vote through the poll module in our moodle install for the best implementation of the WombatWorld scenario; I'll display the winner along side our iboerne.com presentation at the 2007 TCEA Convention Student Showcase.

Specifically, we will be using the WombatWorld scenario, but Ill also be interested in exploring the MBCS ('Marine Biology Case Study'). More on our progress later.

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I'm definitely into the hybrid thing lately. Hybrid instruction not only in the sense of implementation: online and face to face learning through moodle (http://moodle.org) and short class lectures/discussions, but also philosophically in a sense of allowing students to have some type of control over the curriculum, and direction of their own study. Every moodle assignment I offer, is open to interpretation and creativity. This is why I believe that rubrics can potentially take the fun out of learning. They limit learners to the parameters made by the teacher. Especially when we are teaching technoloies that are more native to the learner than the educator.

This article takes a neutral approach to - what I will call the Sudbury model, but really applies to many other free, democratic school models. I agree with both sides of the argument, and I have settled on balance and moderation of both freedom and standardization. This combined with a balance between face to face and elearning and I think we might make some real progress in my classroom.
Free Radicals

In the country's most alternative classrooms, there's no such thing as a report card.

Sudbury schools are only one variety of so-called free, or democratic, schools, which eschew most conventions of traditional education in favor of a much more radical program. At most free schools, literally every decision, from those about staff hiring and firing to determinations concerning rules, facilities, and budget issues, is made by the entire school community in a one-person, one-vote process. There are no tests, no report cards, no requirements, and no classes -- and no curriculum, other than what students set for themselves.

It is a philosophy that may strike the uninitiated as far-fetched, if not irresponsible, but it seems to be working.......

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• admin's blog

Congratulations to my students for their great work on iBoerne.com. Our submission for Student Showcase
has been accepted for the 2007 TCEA Convention !

iBoerne.com: an Interactive Online Game for Programming Students | jessecravens.com

iBoerne.com is a mashup of Google maps and Drupal using the drupal gmap module to create virtual competition between teams of students. The teams are: Yellow, Red, Green, Blue. The rules of the game were created to encourage the six member teams to discuss concepts such as project management, virtual teams, workflow, efficiency, and collaboration tools.