ideas for v2

[max-mapper]

• web based
• auto report errors to server anonymously
• progress bar/light gamification
• rapid fire format w/ contextual feedback
• should teach ability to look things up
• multiplayer components (battlebots)
• slowmojs?
• easy to use debugger/mistakes.io?

question types

• multi choice
• "change this line to produce correct output"
• visual/turtle challenges

cc @timoxley

[max-mapper]

• animated gifs of repl usage to solve problems and debug stuff

two most important skills: how to search for things (mdn, stackoverflow), how to play with things in the console

[max-mapper]

cats are imprisoned on a dog planet

[max-mapper]

brainstormed some more on a narrative idea:

phase 1

you are a cat that wakes up in a humane society. you join the cat uprising. unfortunately you cannot walk, but you are given a roomba by the uprising. you must learn to program javascript on the roomba so you can sit on it and move around.

we will need some illustrations + text, no interactive bits yet. the movement doesn't need to be implemented until phase 2.

for phase 1 we are thinking duolingo-style digestible problems to get familiar with basic js syntax and rules.

phase 2

after you have spent an hour or two learning syntax you need to start moving the roomba. this will basically be turtle logo

[max-mapper]

voxel cats: https://i.imgur.com/Z8OGV7n.png https://i.imgur.com/Xj4jeW9.png

we need:

• a voxel renderer in the style of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKdRri5jSMs (45secs in) cc @hughsk @mikolalysenko
• a narrator module that takes a face and a mouth PNG template and renders text in the style of the beginning of the above youtube video intro, modulating the mouth over the face to simulate talking

cc @olizilla

[olizilla]

...notes from an intense imagineering session

• you're awake
• you are in a cell
• you are a cat
• you appear to be a movement impaired cat
• time passes
• you hear a mechanical sound bumping into your cell
• a flap opens and a roomba pushes it's way in.
• the roomba has a cat bowl with some food.
• you stumble into it, knocking the bowl off it's back.
• you see a terminal
• ...
• you type...
• $ (hu)man
• you get the man page for the roomba...
• the roomba appears to have been hacked already. It's surprisingly complicit.
• logo style js syntax
• multiple choice q's
• fix this one line q's
• write the script to send the roomba to get the keys
• write the script to ride the roomba outta of there
• After you escape the roomba tells you of the "time cat league" (TBC) and introduces the back story...
• later on you program the birds.
• tcp over pigeon.

and so begins...Time Cat Adventure Quest!

[max-mapper]

cc @frijol

[max-mapper]

other awesome things (try these out!)

• http://veltman.tumblr.com/post/65613277843/the-command-line-murders-teaching-the-terminal-with-a
• https://gist.github.com/chrisdickinson/821359fb8d95570ab22a

[Frijol]

Notes of good ideas from Duolingo type interaction:

• short challenges (mobile?)
• expected to fail the first time
• 6ish challenge types
  • guess what it means
  • type it out yourself (community able to bolster "this answer should be accepted")
  • drag explanatory blocks into order
  • pick the correct answer from a list

Also the idea of "you cannot possibly go on until you realize you have this ability" (a la Super Meat Boy in Indie Game). How to develop intuition for figuring out new abilities?

[timoxley]

@hughsk had idea of idea of following groups of small challenges with a kind of "boss level" or gauntlet to develop creative thinking using previously learned knowledge.

[max-mapper]

cc @somehats

[SomeHats]

Some of the ideas we're working on for http://eraseallkittens.com/ (https://github.com/drumrollhq/E.A.K.), which teaches 8-13yo kids HTML and CSS through a 2D platformer:

We've done a fair bit of research on how people acquire languages (speak-y ones, not code-y ones). We plan to cover each topic with roughly these 5 steps:

1. Full information. We give them everything they need to solve a particular problem. "To solve this level, you need to add a tag: <p>Hello!</p>"
2. Partial information. We give them most of what they need, but not all. "To solve this level, you need to finish this tag: <p>Hello!"
3. Correction. They have to correct some incorrect code. "Fix this tag: <p>Hello<p/>"
4. Creation. They need to use which ever bit of language they've been learning without any support.
5. Consolidation. Some time later, they need to use the thing again, possibly at the same time as some other technique they've been learning

We still need to work out how to support people when they get stuck, and how to make sure this doesn't feel too repetitive.

Other stuff we're trying to do with E.A.K:

• It has to feel more like a game than a learning tool
• Real-life earning map == in-game skill tree == in game geographical map
• Moving people on from just learning language to actually building their own stuff

Hope some of this stuff is useful for you folks! YAY WALL OF TEXT