Re: hyperstudio: Linux and its HyperStudiolessness

["David L. Young" <davey@psd.k12.co.us>]

Hi Ian--

I certainly can't speak for the entire educational community, but can only
share my perceptions of training middle school students and K-12 teachers
how to use it.

On Tue, 10 Aug 1999, Ian Bicking wrote:

> What we'd like to know is what are the most important and loved 
> aspects of HyperStudio.  Do you like that there's only the three 
> types of objects, and the simplicity that implies?  Do you like that 
> there's lots of teachers that use HyperStudio that you can trade 
> ideas with?  (hmm... that would be hard to copy)  What are the 
> best parts?
 
I think what you've written captures some of the picture.  I also think
that HyperStudio is very intuitive.  Most students, even those with little
formal applications training, seem to pick up the basics of the program
quickly.  My experience has been that teachers grasp it quickly also.  I
think this happens because HyperStudio was written from a "user"
perspective, not that of a programmer.  I've found HyperLogo tedious to
work with also, but the fact that it's there means that the program can be
extended beyond it's basic features.  This means that students can grow
with it over several years of use.  I've seen some extremely professional
HyperStudio stacks done by Perry Reeves and Bill Lynn (and many others 
I won't try to list) that are as good or better in the delivery of
excellent multimedia than anything I've seen in PowerPoint, Director or
Flash.  I've had difficulty getting HyperStudio stacks to run consistently
from the web, however, something that Macromedia products do very well.
But the cost and the learning curve for fully functioning MM products is
steep (I do train some advanced students to use Director).  Most students,
however, need to get results quickly to stay motivated and, as you well
know, most schools have very limited budgets.

I hope this helps.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+  									 +
+  David L. Young		  Technology and Mathematics Instructor  +
+  Heath Junior High		              davey@alpha.psd.k12.co.us  +
+  2223 16th Street			     school phone (970)353-1750  +
+  Greeley, CO  80631	           http://ceo.cudenver.edu/~Dave_Young/  +
+                                                                        +
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++