[squeakland] Etoys, is it difficult or easy?

[Carlos Rabassa]

Every so often we hear someone saying Etoys is difficult.

We talked to lots of people and asked about their Etoys experiences.

Our conclusion is that comment frequently comes either from someone who is just repeating what someone else said or from someone who never really tried to learn.



Many individuals around the world have succeeded creating Etoys projects.

One proof is in the projects published in the Squeakland Showcase:

http://squeakland.org/showcase/everyone/

(including 26 projects from South America)

Another proof is the number of Squeakers that keeps growing

http://squeakland.org/squeakers/ 

(including 72 enthusiasts from Uruguay).



The most frequent road to success we found many used:


They used the tutorials offered in the Squeakland website:

http://squeakland.org/tutorials/screencasts/

Some watched these original english videos made by Tim Falconer.

Some watched the spanish translations by Lino Bessonart and Adrián Manera (Audiovisuales Etoys) offered at:

http://rapceibal.blogspot.com/

Many current squeakers were introduced to Etoys at personal presentations by an instructor who learned with those videos.


As an excellent complement to the videos,  we heard of many current squeakers who used "the Illinois site" meaning the Quick Guides prepared by Kathleen Harness of EtoysIllinois.org a site offered by  the Office for Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education (MSTE) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Kathleen´s Quick Guides are originally in English.

You may find them at EtoysIllinois.org or in the Squeakland website:

http://www.squeakland.org/tutorials/guides/

You may also find them by clicking the question mark (help button) on the top left corner of the Etoys screen.

In the new version of Etoys,  Etoys 4.1 soon to be released,  the Quick Guides will be in English and also in Spanish when clicking on the question mark help button.



A large number of the original english guides have been translated to Spanish by Sdenka Salas Pilco of OLPC Puno, Perú,  who on September 3, 2010,  responding to our question,  told us:

"Our dear colleagues were not able to use the marvelous HELP of Etoys,  because it is in English.  This is why I had to translate it to be able to get it to everyone.  Oh,  how marvelous it was!!  The children were able to learn directly from the little tutorials".



Let´s take advantage of all this valuable material.

Creating your first project is very easy,  a young child can draw a smiling face and save it and,  that´s a project to be proud of and tell our friends.

If you want to continue into more complex projects,  the sky is the limit.

I don´t think there is anyone in the world who can claim to know everything about Etoys and to have created all possible projects.

There is always a new twist to make a project more useful.


Carlos Rabassa
Volunteer
Plan Ceibal Support Network
Montevideo, Uruguay



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