Coding Fun

I am teaching an overview of Emerging Technologies for Teaching next semester and just wanted to share an excerpt from one of the modules.

My friend from New York just sent me a link (actually she tweeted it to all her many Twitter friends). Check it out and watch her robot (and a couple of sharks) dance to Cheap Thrills by Sia.

By clicking the "How it Works" button at the bottom, you will be able to create your own and join code.org (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. along with millions of teachers around the world who are bringing coding to children (and adults) of all ages.

Here is the code for this particular dancing robot show.

Of course, this is in Blockly, if you want to see the real JavaScript code behind the curtain, so to speak, it looks like this:

var dancer1;

whenSetup(function () {
  setBackgroundEffectWithPalette("sparkles", "rave");
  makeNewDanceSpriteGroup(2, "SHARK", "row");
  changeMoveEachLR("SHARK", MOVES.DoubleJam, -1);
  dancer1 = makeNewDanceSprite("ROBOT", dancer1, {x: 200, y: 200});
  changeMoveLR(dancer1, "rand", -1);
});

atTimestamp(6, "measures", function () {
  changeMoveEachLR(sprites, MOVES.Dab, -1);
});

atTimestamp(8, "measures", function () {
  changeMoveEachLR(sprites, MOVES.Roll, -1);
});

atTimestamp(10, "measures", function () {
  changeMoveEachLR(sprites, MOVES.Clown, -1);
});

atTimestamp(4, "measures", function () {
  changeMoveEachLR(sprites, MOVES.Drop, -1);
});

Once you click "ReMix" you will be prompted to join code.org. Please do so.

You will then be able to modify the code for the dance, change the song, change the characters, change the dance, and more. Be experimental and click the drop-down boxes to modify the types and numbers of characters. With a few clicks, I added 8 dancing dogs under a disco ball being led by a moose in a jacket. 

Play around with the code and SHARE your resulting dance with me. The level of complexity is up to you and, just remember, this is what students today are learning how to do. Blockly is the gateway to JavaScript.

Have fun.

NewseumED...a great tool to teach students to be critical consumers of news

During winter 2018 and fall 2018, I signed up for a free virtual webinar for my undergraduate students. The virtual webinar was hosted by NewseumED and the topic was Fighting Fake News: How to Outsmart Trolls & Troublemakers for grades 6-12 and higher ed. Since we are in Michigan and NewseumEd is in DC,  it was done virtually. My students gained so much from the webinar. During our follow-up discussion, many talked about how much they learned about identifying fake news and indicated that this is something they want to implement in their future classes.

You can book a virtual visit with NewseumEd for your students. They have numerous topics. Just go to their site.

PSST...I learned about the NewseumEd site at a session that I attended the MACUL 2018 Conference. The 2019 MACUL Conference is in Detroit MI March 20-22, 2019.

Proud Graduate

What a surprise it was to run into Rebecca Pietrowski (EDMT Class of 2014) who is now working at EMU as an Instructional Designer. She guided a few colleagues through the latest tools for improving the look and feel of Canvas courses. Well done and welcome to EMU.

Rebecca (left) with EMU's John Breunger