RE: MicroWorlds wish list

["Ray Catzel" <raycatzel@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Shawn,
Thanks for the opportunity to participate in the creation of a wish list for
the new release of MicroWorlds. It is welcoming news that LCSI is continuing
to enhance this product. MicroWorlds provides a special niche education
software that I believe is unique and very valuable.

Wendy Petti et al have put together a good list of items and I will use this
list for my own input. I will sequence the items according to my priorities.

MicroWorlds has a unique place in the curriculum and no software (that I
have examined) facilitates the gradual introduction of programming in such
an effective way. The students maintain a high interest level in their
MicroWorlds projects while they enrich their understanding of software
development and enhance their problem solving skills.
Here are my priorities from Wendy's list (with the odd comment). My priority
# is first, then Wendy's #:

  1.. Wendy's # 1. I agree with this because of the vital importance of the
Internet. If you could do what Macromedia does with their Flash player, that
would be great.
  2.. Wendy's # 6. First my request:  I would like to see a change in the
way the picture editing window is loaded: currently if you double click on
either a shape or a selected area on the project page, the picture editing
window is loaded. This is clumsy and complicated for the youngest users of
MicroWorlds because they often tend to double click by accident. I suggest
that the editing window should only be invoked through a right click and
selection from the menu, which is already implemented.  This change should
be very easy to implement. Regarding Wendy's items here, I have a few
concerns. I am concerned that attaching large image files to a project would
make them huge and more time consuming to load.  I realize that we are
dealing with two different modes - project creation and project execution.
Both are important. MicroWorlds is slow enough as it is - especially for
multitasking multimedia projects. Project size and execution times are
especially relevant when we are faced with real costs to keep them on the
Web.
  3.. Wendy's # 5. I have a problem of forcing a different name for a
button. I find the association of the button with a procedure a very
valuable learning experience for the young students. It is an excellent way
of internalizing the "event procedure" concept. To achieve what you want is
surely easy to do:  simply create a new procedure with the name you want to
appear on the button and which invokes the procedure that you want to
execute but not have on the button. Or maybe I am missing something here.
  4.. Wendy's # 12. One print feature that I would like (before those
selected) is a WYSIWYG feature. It would enable one to see the printed
project page as it would appear in print. Maybe this would entail being able
to zoom the project page so that it would be possible to manipulate objects
while viewing the whole page. This would facilitate projects such as
creating a poster or greeting cards.
  5.. Wendy's # 2. It would be a great feature if the turtle shape could be
rotated in the same way as a turtle.
  6.. Wendy's # 10. Enhancement of word processing functionality in text
boxes would reduce the need for using Word.
  7.. Wendy's # 3. I would also like to see a word search feature. For
example: I tried to look up the way HTML templates are used. I found nothing
in the vocabulary section. Looking for "HTML" in the help documentation
would be helpful in this case..
Here is a brief profile of my students and environment: grades 1 to 12;
about 200 students altogether.
In the early grades I focus on developing graphic and text manipulation type
skills. Typical application would be drawing a picture (with animation when
the students develop those skills) and telling the story in a text box
(often with the teachers assistance).
Coding is gradually introduced first in the turtle objects and buttons. By
grades 5 and above they respond well to using the code in the procedures
section to enhance their projects.
For senior grades, which have clearly defined computer science outcomes [in
Ontario, Canada] (in preparation for university, etc.) I use MicroWorlds as
a quick introduction to programming and also for animation. The students
enjoy it more than Visual Basic, but the latter is more suited to the
rigorous data declarations, array handling and file manipulations required
by the curriculum.

No software can provide all things. I also use a keyboarding drill program,
Word, Excel and PowerPoint. I have some simulation games and (good)
edutainment packages for their "free time" at the end of the lessons. All
grades use the Internet and computer classes give the students a forum
(especially at the youngest ages) to discuss their discoveries on the
Internet with their peers.

-----Original Message-----
From: mwforum-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:mwforum-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Wendy Petti
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 6:14 PM
To: mwforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: info@xxxxxxx
Subject: RE: MicroWorlds wish list


Shawn,

Three of us at OpenWorld Learning put our heads together to come up with
our MW wish list.  These ideas come from Daniel Ajoy, Chris Myers, and
myself:

1) Very important:  the plugin should be easier to download and install
and should load faster.  Ideally the plugin would auto-detect if the
user's computer needs the plug-in and would automatically launch an
easy-install screen requiring only one click of a button to
self-install.   In this way, countless more people would begin using
MicroWorlds projects online and would fall in love with MicroWorlds.
Having an easier-to-install plug-in would be the best possible PR you
could develop.

2) (Adding to Graham's suggestion of having the ability to set the
turtle's shape to rotate a certain number of degrees on each click):  It
would be great to have the option of the shape pivoting/angling itself
to match the turtle's heading (just as the turtle itself now pivots).
Since in some projects it is preferable for the turtle's shape to remain
in a fixed orientation, it would be great if there could be a shape
orientation parameter which could be set for turtles:  fixed,
auto-pivot, or pivot-on-click (I guess ideally the user could also set
the number of degrees that the shape would pivot when the turtle is
clicked).

3) The help section would be more functional and easier to use if:
        a) it were more obvious how to access the vocabulary index
        b) the user could see the procedures used in all of the little demo
projects embedded
in the help pages course
        c) the user could bookmark specific help pages of interest
        d) there were printable documentation (including a PDF file of all
vocabulary documentation) and more support materials

4) Include these primitives currently found in MSWLogo:
        repcount
        px
        for     ("For" is similar to "dotimes" but takes more inputs and
therefore
leads to more efficient coding.)

5) The name of a button should be different from what it executes.

6) Extra images and other multimedia files should be include-able in the
MW project file.

7) As in MSWLogo, it would be useful to have a "label" primitive that
draws True-Type text horizontally, vertically or at an angle.

8) Procedures should be definable with optional parameters.

9) File/Export/Page Image" should have a primitive that allows to save a
rectangular area of a page.

10) Text manipulation in textboxes should be easier and more functional,
including:
        a) a way to center text
        b) customary key commands for dealing with selected text (ex: CTRL-B
for bold)

11) It would be helpful to have a way to create a library of frequently
used procedures which would load automatically when MW starts. The
library procedures should not be visible in the Procedures Tab.

12) Some improvements to the print options are in order:
        a) Provide a means of printing without the project name and page
name
appearing in the bottom right corner.
        b) Currently, MW can print single pages or the whole project; it
would
be nice to be able to specify a cluster of pages to print from a
project.  (At least on the printer setup I tested, trying to specify a
range of pages from the whole project does not produce the expected
result:  in a 3-page project, setting the range for pages 2 - 3 produces
a printout of page 2 and then page 1.)
        c) The procedures page should print with a wide left (and top)
margin
so that pages can be placed in a notebook; currently the procedures
margins are pretty much non-existent.

13) The HTML template should generate HTML that presents an option to
download the project file.

14) It would be good to have a way to determine if the project is run
online or offline.

Wendy Petti
OpenWorld Learning
http://mia.openworldlearning.org


> -----Original Message-----
> From: mwforum-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:mwforum-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Logo Computer
> Systems Inc.
> Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 11:17 AM
> To: mwforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: MicroWorlds wish list
>
>
> Hello,
>
> as you all might already know we are working on a new version
> of MicroWorlds.
>
> Please send me (as soon as possible) any recommendations/suggestions
> that you would like to see implemented in the new version.  I can't
> make you any promises although it won't hurt to try.
>
> Regards.
>
> Shawn Jesty
> LCSI
> --
>
> Logo Computer Systems Inc.
> 1 Westmount Square, Suite 300
> Montreal,QC  Canada
> H3Z 2P9
> info@xxxxxxx
> www.lcsi.ca
> _______________________________________________
> MWForum mailing list
> MWForum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> http://mia.openworldlearning.org/mwforum/
>

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