Coding With The Agent Update
and I have always felt coding is an important skill (even helped me with the few times I needed HTML on some early websites I did). I even had to 'teach' Computer Science a few years ago and my knowledge of BASIC (again I adore my 64) made me a 'qualified' instructor of QBasic . In the past few years, block coding has emerged to help students (especially younger students) be able to explore the world of coding. One of the most known ventures in this area is MIT's Scratch (check out their About Page for some background information). There are many other block coding programs out there including one I dabbled with when I had access to iPads called Hopscotch. I truly believe that providing students with these opportunities to become familiar with coding and computational thinking are important. Movements like Hour of Code and books like Code Breaker have attempted to awaken educational institutions that coding is not only fun and engaging for students but it is educationally sound (with references to Seymour Papert) and critical in future industry (who will program the robots). I also think we need to instill our students the need to be producers of technology not just consumers or risk being at the mercy of those who are the producers. I love using Minecraft in my classroom. In the last couple of years, Minecraft has been bought by Microsoft (see article) and Microsoft has since made an education version (see previous link). One of the features of Minecraft Education Edition is the addition of the Agent. The Agent is your block coding friend and is a great fit in the world of blocks (click here to learn more). The Agent uses a similar block coding to Scratch called MakeCode ( which is also used to program Microbits which I may also explore more on this journey). I also like the fact that I can 'look under the hood' in MakeCode and check out the JavaScript that goes into each block. That may be a journey for another day and one I can work with my own son on as he is learning JavaScript in his AP Computer Science class. I am starting to be able to predict what block code will come next, understand the logic in how the blocks are connecting, and seeing how I can use this feature in my social and math classes and provide students with valuable coding experience while meeting curriculum outcomes. I have been using Screen-Cast-O-Matic (see Matteo's Review) to record my tutorial videos and I really like this tool. I also can appreciate Matteo's journey with his class on creating coding tutorials. I am also grateful to Curtis for sharing his coding journey and I can relate to the 'debugging' process which is a great learning experience in itself. I have been tweeting at least on tutorial a day and I'm pretty happy with my consistency. It was also encouraging to get a shout out from Minecraft Education Edition on my work on this too. I'm looking forward to continuing my 'block party'. Check out my playlist below for episodes of my fun with the Agent.
4 Comments
Matteo Di Muro
10/21/2019 09:56:15 am
Hey Dean, that's awesome that you got a shout out!
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Dean Vendramin
10/21/2019 11:18:10 am
I've been fortunate enough to get a lot of support from Minecraft Education Edition in my Minecraft and coding journeys.Thanks for your interest. I have enjoyed this journey and I'm grateful for our class that has helped me go down this path and the support I got from the ECI831 crew too. Right now I have a couple of social studies 9 and a Work Place math 20 classes.I have some generated ideas to integrate the Agent into these and other classes.
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Melinda Demeter
10/22/2019 09:40:12 am
Dean,
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Dean Vendramin
10/22/2019 01:25:31 pm
Thanks Melinda. It is a different language for sure. There are many ways to use in a class for sure. I think students need to know how to speak in this language as it is part of our world now and will be even more in the future. Appreciate you feedback and glad you find resources useful. Thanks
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AuthorDean Vendramin. Educator for over 20 years. Currently Education Leader for Math/Science at Archbishop M.C. O'Neill Catholic High School. Have a passion for all things in education with emphasis on technology integration, assessment, professional development, and 21 Century Education. Posts are articles he has written for the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation monthly newsletter The Bulletin, Saskatchewan Math Teachers' Society The Variable, blog requests from memberships he is a part of, and his own thoughts. Archives
February 2022
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