[REBOL] Re: teaching rebol
From: tim:johnsons-web at: 1-Apr-2003 12:11
Hello Rebols:
I haven't followed this thread closely, but I noted
earlier that I believe that it started with a posting from
Gerard Cote, who had contacted me at an earlier time because
he know that I had designed and taught an intro to programming
class using rebol.
Let me share some of my observations after building the course
and "teaching" 3 semesters of rebol and 1 of python:
Let me point out also that this is an "online" school.
1)Distinguish between
Teaching programming using rebol
- and -
Teaching rebol programming.
==>> As we know, rebol has some unique features
2)Consider some custom features to make the
command line more interesting and user-friendly.
==>>MIT Scheme is a good example.
I believe that some of the features reside in works
that rebol gurus have contributed to the library,
include console history features.
3)Consider your targets:
If your targets are programmers who want to
learn to use rebol productively, start with
'words..... take it from someone who's been
there, if you don't understand 'words thoroughly
(and I must confess that I still don't as much
as I would like) you don't thoroughly tap
the power of rebol and set yourself up for
hard-to-trace errors.
If your targets are youngsters just learning programming
- is it fair to just train them to use rebol? Or is
it fair to make clear distinctions between variables
and 'words. In my class, (which is a very basic intro),
I treated 'words as variables. Although, I did info
some of the more advanced that there were distinctions.
4)My experience is that in the high school system (Alaska, USA)
there is a very low completion rate among students. The
conclusion that I came to after teaching 3 semesters of rebol
and one of python, (in an online venue) is that online
courses should be used to support trained instructors
who teach real "brick and mortar" classes.
It is a different situation for a motivated adult who might
see learning rebol or any other programming language is
part of career path.
My two cents worth.
"get 'em while they're young" :-)
--
Tim Johnson <[tim--johnsons-web--com]>
http://www.alaska-internet-solutions.com
http://www.johnsons-web.com
