Advice for teaching Alice in High School -
03-29-2009, 08:53 PM
I'm about to begin a unit in "Alice" in my High School digital imagery class. My goals are to teach a little about 3D imagery. I'm more focused on creation of creative and artistic "worlds," than I am on programming.
tell them that this program will frustrate them, beyond their wildest dreams. i like it, but it crashes alot, sometimes won't save, can't handle a file over 15mb, exit for no reason. be prepared for a backlash.
________ DIGITAL BOX VAPORIZER
And yep, all of the above have already happened. I guess I'm used to programs crashing and having problems and issues and can approach those issues with only a little frustration.
My high school students don't have much patience. The slightest issue and a few are ready to quit.
I've worked with them and enough of them are into it that I think we'll be ok.
Hoping that 3.0 solves some of the issues. But only hoping.
I downloaded a series of clips on youtube made with alice by other high school students (youtube is blocked in my school). I showed these to the kids and it really inspired them. There's some great work out there - have a look!
What I found helpful was that I had competitions with my friends. I was a self taught in Comp Sci, being the best in my class. I kept challenging my friends to make better animations (I usually won) and we would get better like that.
Make the students actually wat to do the work. Give them a kind of reward for a very good job. Offer extra credit, priveledges, prizes even.
Just make it fun. I am a B average student, having A's in the math and science classes, and C's in the language and social studies classes. The only reason is that I have a 100 average in Comp Sci is because it is fun. The first few days I was on Alice, I felt as though I was playing a game.
Also, make sure that the students have flashdrives. If they save it to a network drive, the programs will crash faster. My school has 2.0, on my flash I have 2.2. A lot better, a lot faster, and the computer works better that way.
Just make it fun. I am a B average student, having A's in the math and science classes, and C's in the language and social studies classes. The only reason is that I have a 100 average in Comp Sci is because it is fun. The first few days I was on Alice, I felt as though I was playing a game.
Also, make sure that the students have flashdrives. If they save it to a network drive, the programs will crash faster. My school has 2.0, on my flash I have 2.2. A lot better, a lot faster, and the computer works better that way.
Amen to that on both counts. I've taken two classes so far with Alice, and I've aced both of them because they didn't seem like work.
I'm definitely new to Alice and I realize this is the place to be for all things Alice, but if you are focusing on 3D content creation and not programming, then something like DAZ|Studio or Blender would be a better chance.
Well, you should just start basic. Show them some of the games we make. Show them a nice Alice origional like Resident penguin then show mabye one of my games like Hero's. just a suggestion