Coding with LibreLogo
A Step Back into the Future
1. Shortly
1.1 Contents
The contents are available in the eTwinningLearningLab, which is a space reserved to eTwinning members, but they can be found in a companion MOOC as well, which is free.
The MOOC, Coding at School with Free Software, is self paced and can be attended by everyone, just make a free account when enrolling. It shall be available until 17 november 2018.
eTwinners are encouraged to take advantage of the MOOC as well, since the tutorial videos may be helpful for the activities.
All the examples discussed within the contents can be downloaded in a zip file. The same file is available both in eTwinningLearningLab and in the MOOC.
1.2 Discussion
A reddit channel is available here: CodingAtSchool. The discussion is open to everybody, regardless they are eTwinners or not.
1.3 What’s going on now…
Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 people are expected to browse the materials and, eventually, do some initial activities.
On Tuesday, in the eTwinningLearningLab there will be a live event. This first event will be for helping you in finding your way.
1.4 But I want more instructions…
Ok:
- read carefully and watch the videos in the first lesson
- if you feel adventurous then read the second lesson as well, download LibreOffice and activate the LibreLogo toolbar, then begin to tinker with the Turtle…
2. More details
2.1 Contents
The structure of contents of the eTwinningLearningLab and MOOC versions is the same and it is constituted by the following ten chapters:
- A step back into the future
- Hands on the tools
- The fear of math
- Drawing with LibreLogo
- Turtle Geometry
- More fancy commands
- The Turtle does the turtle
- Recursion, growth, fractals
- Marta’s story – The Turtle Total Trip Theorem
- Starting to go ‘round and ‘round… to the Halley comet
Contents cover a broad range of contexts, from primary school to upper secondary school and in one case first year of university college. Don’t be afraid if something may appear too complex, just pick up what’s good for you and work well on this.
During the ten days of the eTwinning Learning Event, three or four live events will take place, the first one on Tuesday 18. There will be two replicas, one at 18:00 and the other at 18:30, in case the participants will be more than 100, being this the maximum allowed number for a live event.
On the other hand, in the Coding at School with Free Software MOOC you’ll find three or four videos per lesson of ~6 to 10 minutes each, most 6 to 8. They are meant to better clarify the written texts and to give support in the proposed activities.
By being in the eTwinningLearningLab you benefit from the wonderful eTwinning community and from 3-4 live events.
By browsing in the MOOC you take advantage from many extra videos and a smooth mobile experience, whereas you are finding such devices more convenient for reading and watching. Be aware, however, that if it is right to use a mobile device for reading and watching, you’ll need a computer for all the coding activities.
Again: eTwinners do both!
2.2 Discussion
A reddit channel is available here: CodingAtSchool. The discussion is open to everybody, regardless they are eTwinners or not.
The involvement in a common discussion is important. This course is very much about activities that require a lot of exercise and sharing may be a powerful mean to create a learning community. The incredible boost of free software development since some 30-40 years is largely due to the attitude of sharing problems and solutions in public discussion places. We are going to do very well if we’ll adhere to such a practice. And this is also good to transmit to our kids…
In order to use it, you have to signup for free. It’s very easy and, at any rate, there are tons of tutorials out there. Here you have couple of short ones, one for signing up…
…and one for basic use…
I’m asking you to use Reddit whenever possible. This is useful because by using a pubblic communication channel, every question and every answer are shared, thus optimizing communication flows. Moreover, answers given by participants may be even better than teacher’s one.
However you can reach me also through the following channels:
This blog (iamarf.org) through post comments
Twitter: @iamarf
Facebook: iamarf
Email: arfATunifi.it
In these last cases, please use the following hashtag: #llats18 (stands for LibreLogo At School 2018).
Andreas Formiconi 