[squeakland] Etoys, is it difficult or easy?

[Hilaire Fernandes]

Carlos,

In one hand comparing is good as it bring competition, in the other hand
when you are involved you don't fell that good when some compare one
thing your care with another one (I got that felling all the time with
DrGeo).
Comparing with Scratch is interesting as it bring interesting ideas for
improvement.

You are true about training. I trained teachers to use Etoys, they were
not at ease as well but it is a matter of personal investment. Teachers
will invest when they fell Etoys can fill an important gap. In the other
hand, Etoys is like a blank sheet of paper, many teachers are afraid of it.

Steve, regarding millions, if you look at the history of Squeak-Etoys, a
lot of money was invested into it. May be no ergonomic experts were
involved in the team at Apple, Disney, HP,.... Etoys really looks like
an expert authoring tool, it is probably its threatening aspect for most
teachers (the mass you want to address?)

In the other hand, if the target audience is only the expert teachers,
ready to learn and invest personal learning time, Etoys is just fine :)
and focusing on this teacher may be easier and more rewarding.

Hilaire


Le 08/09/2010 17:48, Carlos Rabassa a écrit :
> Hilaire, Richo,
>
>
> Thanks for your messages that allow us to have a dialog and understand each other.
>
>
>
> Hope you noticed my message only mentioned Etoys.
>
> I didn´t attempt to compare it with any other program.
>
> My intention was to compare the Etoys reality with the Etoys reputation among many people who speak about it.
>
> Needless to say my research was not scientific,  I didn´t claim to have made any kind of formal poll.
>
> I am not a professional researcher.
>
> I didn´t claim to know everything about Etoys  and other programs.
>
> All I said originated in many conversations with many individuals.
>
> I asked many questions and did my best to understand the answers.
>
> Needless to say my sample of the public is heavily loaded with people in Uruguay where I volunteer.
>
>
>
> One of my concerns with innocent negative comments is they tend to scare many people.
>
> "If they all say Etoys is difficult,  there might be a reason",  is what many think.
>
> "When you hear the river is because water is flowing".
>
>
>
> I didn´t want to be more specific on some of the negative comments but now I feel compelled to clarify what I wrote earlier.
>
> I would like to mention a very frequent comment I hear in Uruguay:
>
> "In order to qualify teachers to teach,  those teachers have to be taught".
>
> "The government hasn´t done enough yet in terms of providing courses and learning material to the teachers".
>
> Lets stop there.
>
>
>
> The government has issued hundreds of thousands of XO computers to the children and the teachers.
>
> What else do we expect?
>
> Isn´t it time for each one of us to do some effort to learn?
>
>
>
>
> For those teachers expecting the government to teach them,  I see only one hope:
>
> That they change their negative attitude.
>
> I am confident this is happening already and will happen faster and faster.
>
> When a negative person sees someone else who has succeeded,  they frequently think again, "why not me?".
>
> They will try and they will succeed too.
>
>
>
>
> Carlos Rabassa
> Volunteer
> Plan Ceibal Support Network
> Montevideo, Uruguay
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> squeakland at squeakland.org
> http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland
>   


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