[Sugar-devel] [DESIGN] 'Resume' vs 'Start a new' Activity

[Gerald Ardito]

Edward,

I am interested in what you have about the various <key> click behavior on
the basic XO.

And, I can validate your estimate about the year to learn from our pilot
program last year. I can also say that it depends less upon prior experience
with computers as it does with a willingness to explore and meet obstacles,
at least the 5th graders with whom I've been working. Many times, students
at this level with a certain amount of experience with computers don't/can't
really generalize to a new system.

Thanks again.
Gerald

On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 12:21 AM, Edward Cherlin <echerlin at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 19:14, Gerald Ardito <gmanb5 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Edward,
> >
> > This is very helpful.
> > Thanks.
>
> My pleasure. I have lots more of this sort of thing in draft. Let me
> know of any other such issues you have run into, and I can give you
> what I have, or think about it further. There are numerous uses for
> left-click, double-click, triple-click, click-and-drag, right click,
> hover, and in some systems mouse gestures. I use a four-button
> trackball, and my son uses a special game control mouse, but we don't
> have to get into all of that with Sugar. ^_^
>
> It will also be helpful, if you try my suggested process, to document
> how long it takes for children in a given class to catch on to an
> idea, and how long it takes for it to become automatic. I don't know
> how we can instrument such a study, but I expect that someone here
> will have an idea. I expect to see variations by age, by prior
> computer experience (positive or negative), and by cultural and social
> factors.
>
> BTW, nobody should suppose that this succession of ideas is finished
> and perfect. No amount of sympathetic imagination can substitute for
> classroom experience, any more than a battle plan can survive contact
> with the enemy. I want to hear suggestions for improvement, and I want
> to hear about other issues that arise. Alan Kay has said that it takes
> about a year to polish a math or physics lesson, and I will be
> surprised if it is very much shorter for each of the key issues in
> Sugar.
>
> > Gerald
> >
> > On Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 9:27 AM, Edward Cherlin <echerlin at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> Excellent post. We need lots more like it to give us real-world
> >> information on children's learning issues.
> >>
> >> I am documenting these problems in [[The Undiscoverable]], and working
> >> on a guide for teachers to introduce and reinforce whatever children
> >> have trouble with. It has been on hold during my move from California
> >> to Indiana, but I can resume work now.
> >>
> >> Have you tried giving explicit lessons on Start New and Resume as part
> >> of larger lessons? Something like this, perhaps:
> >>
> >> Class, we worked on [activity, function] yesterday, and we wanted to
> >> know how to [other function]. Let's see if we can discover how to do
> >> that in [activity]. First, right-click on [activity name] and select
> >> New to start a new session. Then click the [tab name] tab, and look
> >> at the controls. Do any of them look as though they do what we want?
> >> What happens when you try them?...
> >>
> >> At the end of the session, have students exit and give the session a
> >> meaningful name related to the idea you were teaching.
> >>
> >> Later:
> >>
> >> Do you remember what we did with [new idea from yesterday]? [Responses
> >> from class] Now go to your Journals and click the [name] session to
> >> resume it.
> >>
> >> Do this as often as necessary in different activities until you are
> >> sure that the students remember it. Let me know how this works.
> >>
> >> I used to do this as the very first lesson in teaching adults word
> >> processing and text editing.
> >>
> >> 1. Start program. (Most apps give you an empty document by default. If
> >> not, create one.)
> >> 2. Save empty file in specified directory with any name.
> >> 3. Type something.
> >> 4. Save again.
> >> 5. Close file, or create new document.
> >> 6. Re-open file.
> >> 7. Exit program.
> >> 8. Find file, and click to resume.
> >>
> >>
> >> On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 03:09, Simon Schampijer <simon at schampijer.de>
> >> wrote:
> >> > Hi,
> >> >
> >> > I have observed certain difficulties with the 'resume' and 'start a
> new'
> >> > activity concept. At the moment we have the following situation:
> >> >
> >> > *** Current Situation:
> >> > In the Home View you can resume an activity and start a new one. The
> >> > option to start a new activity is in the palette of the activity icon.
> A
> >> > list of last entries from this activity type is present in the palette
> >> > as well. When you click on the icon with the left mouse button, the
> last
> >> > activity is resumed by default. Clicking with the right mouse button
> on
> >> > the icon does reveal the activity palette. The activity is revealed
> >> > after a delay when hovering over the icon, too. Since version 0.86
> when
> >> > you hold the alt-key pressed and click on the activity icon you can
> >> > start a new activity. This is visually guided by the uncolored
> activity
> >> > icon.
> >> >
> >> > In the Journal you can resume activities. There is no option to start
> a
> >> > new activity from within the Journal.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > *** Background:
> >> > I teach a Sugar class of 15 students (5th and 6th grade) in a German
> >> > primary school [1]. The classes are on a weekly one hour basis. They
> had
> >> > 10-15 hours of Sugar by now. We use Sugar 0.84 on Fedora 11. I
> explained
> >> > the concept of the Journal, repeated several times how to start a new
> >> > activity and how to resume one. I explained them that revealing of the
> >> > palette is quicker when using the right mouse button.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > *** Disclaimer:
> >> > The information below is not meant to be hard data. There are
> >> > differences in backgrounds (cultural etc), ages and quite importantly:
> a
> >> > difference between a first time user, a regular user and a daily user.
> >> > Some might as well question if I have chosen the right methodical way
> to
> >> > explain things, and be sure sometimes I do question myself, however
> the
> >> > data gathered might be a good basis for discussing this issue and
> maybe
> >> > others will provide some data, too.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > *** Observations:
> >> > Most of the kids click on the activity icon when they want to start a
> >> > new activity. Since there is a delay to reveal the palette, the
> learner
> >> > does not see the other information in the palette.
> >> >
> >> > When they resume a previous activity, and they wanted to start a new
> >> > one, I have seen learners erasing the previous content and keep on
> >> > working in that activity.
> >> >
> >> > Nearly all the kids do not use the right click to reveal the palette.
> >> > They wait for it to appear.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > *** Survey:
> >> > Last class I asked the learners in a small survey the following
> >> > questions:
> >> >
> >> > A: How do you do a new drawing in TurtleArt?
> >> > R:
> >> > Some: Nothing, or did misunderstood the question.
> >> > Some: I click on TurtleArt.
> >> > One said: One clicks with the right mouse on TurtleArt and clicks with
> >> > the left one on New.
> >> > One said: Go on TurtleArt, wait, click New.
> >> >
> >> > A: How do you edit a previous drawing in TurtleArt?
> >> > R:
> >> > Many: Go to the Journal and resume there.
> >> > One: Go to Journal or right click and choose the one one want to
> resume.
> >> > One: Go on TurtleArt and choose the name one wants to resume.
> >> > Some: Nothing / did not understand the question
> >> >
> >> > A: Is there a difference between the right mouse click and the left
> >> > mouse click?
> >> > R:
> >> > One: it is quicker to use the right mouse button.
> >> > Some: you get a new field/list.
> >> > Many: Nothing / did not understand the question
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > *** Comments:
> >> > The concept of using the Journal to resume a previous activity does
> work
> >> > very well for the kids. With adding the list of previous activities to
> >> > the activity palette in the home view we added that concept to the
> home
> >> > view. The issue is, it is a secondary option. There is only one way in
> >> > Sugar to start a new activity - to work from scratch. And this is a
> >> > secondary option.
> >> >
> >> > For me it would be worth trying to test going back to create a new one
> >> > by default, as I think this is what my learners somehow expected.
> >> >
> >> > Small additions to the activity palette could be helpful, too. Adding
> >> > the journal date field to the entries. And having headers like in [2],
> >> > though I think there was a technical issue with this.
> >> >
> >> > Another improvement could be to cut the delay, so the secondary
> options
> >> > are more prominent. Or, the left mouse click would reveal the palette
> >> > and the learner then needs to decide what option to choose. This would
> >> > clash with the rest of the UI I guess.
> >> >
> >> > I remember we had some design mockups quite some time ago, where a
> >> > certain amount of Journal entries where displayed in the home view in
> a
> >> > horizontal time line. Maybe this would help to make the Journal more
> >> > accessible from there.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Congrats, if you made it reading that far. Comments, ideas, mockups,
> >> > plans for more data I should provide etc welcome.
> >> >
> >> > Thanks,
> >> >    Simon
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > [1] at the moment only in German:
> >> > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Planetarium
> >> > [2]
> >> >
> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Design_Team/Designs/Activity_Management#6
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > Sugar-devel mailing list
> >> > Sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin
> >> Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
> >> The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
> >> http://www.earthtreasury.org/
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Sugar-devel mailing list
> >> Sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin
> Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
> The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
> http://www.earthtreasury.org/
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/sugar-devel/attachments/20100110/42f54955/attachment.htm