with your mad hatter Randy Pausch Carnegie Mellon University pauschcmu.edu this presentation given a

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with your mad hatterRandy PauschCarnegie
Mellon Universitypausch_at_cmu.eduthis
presentation given at SIGCSE 2006,and available
atwww.alice.org
Alice Tea Party
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Thanks to Prentice Hall

• For providing a room
• And food and drink!

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Thanks to Prentice Hall

• For providing a room
• And food and drink!

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Our Tea Party Agenda

• The Current Alice v2.0
• What is Alice?
• Demonstration
• QA
• A Sneak Peak at the Future Alice v3.0
• Caitlin Kellehers work on Storytelling
• Description
• QA

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The Shrinking CS Pool

• Computer Science has lost roughly 50 of its
  majors in the last 5 years
  
• UCLA survey, showing a 60 decline in freshman
  interest in CS from 2000-2004 http//www.cra.org/C
  RN/articles/may05/vegso
  
• The Taulbee survey shows a 40 decline in
  computing majors from 2000-2004
  http//www.cra.org/statistics/
  
• Alice is a potential silver bullet

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The Alice System (www.alice.org)

• Allows students to learn computer programming
  more easily
  
• Drag-and-Drop editor for creating programs
• Programs are 3D movies or games
• Alice has been formally shown to improve learning
  and retention
  
• Alice is highly motivating for students
• Provided free (open source) by Carnegie Mellon
• Runs on Windows and Macintosh

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A Demo of Alice
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Alice is about focusing on what really matters
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Alice is about focusing on what really matters
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The Alice Approach

• Uses 3D graphics to engage students
• Has a smart drag-and-drop editor that prevents
  syntax errors
  
• Appeals to wide audience
• Storytelling
• (young women, minority students)
• Interactive computer games
• (young men)
• Not threatening Alice builds students confidence

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Key Alice Features

• Makes objects something students can see and
  relate to
  
• Has a java syntax mode to ease the transition to
  C/Java/VB.net
  

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Over 700 free objects in the gallery
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The Punch Line

• Alice works
• And we can prove it

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Alice helps at-risk CS majors
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Alice helps at-risk CS majors
M. Moskal, D. Lurie, and S. Cooper, Evaluating
the Effectiveness of a New Instructional
Approach. In Proceedings of 2004 SIGCSE
Conference, (Norfolk, VA).
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Why Alice Works

• No syntax-based frustration
• Data is visible changes are animated you can
  see what is happening
  
• Highly motivating

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Colleges (we know of) using Alice Fall 2005

• McMaster University
• Modesto Junior College
• Monmouth University
• New Hampshire CTC-Laconia
• New Mexico State University-Alamogor
• Northwestern College
• Pennsylvania State University
• Red Rocks CC
• Rowan University
• Rutgers University Camden Campus
• San Diego State University
• Saint Joseph's University
• Saint Bonaventure University
• SUNY Canton
• SUNY Tompkins Cortland CC
• Temple University
• The College of New Jersey
• Tufts University

• Amarillo College
• Anne Arundel CC
• Arizona State University West
• Belmont Abbey College
• Beloit College
• BGSU at Firelands
• BYU Idaho
• California State University Sacramento
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Clark College
• Camden County College
• College of Charleston
• Columbia College
• Community College of Philadelphia
• Duke University
• Eastern Michigan University
• Fort Lewis College
• Haverford College
• Illinois State University

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Colleges (we know of) using Alice Fall 2005

• McMaster University
• Modesto Junior College
• Monmouth University
• New Hampshire CTC-Laconia
• New Mexico State University-Alamogor
• Northwestern College
• Pennsylvania State University
• Red Rocks CC
• Rowan University
• Rutgers University Camden Campus
• San Diego State University
• Saint Joseph's University
• Saint Bonaventure University
• SUNY Canton
• SUNY Tompkins Cortland CC
• Temple University
• The College of New Jersey
• Tufts University

• Amarillo College
• Anne Arundel CC
• Arizona State University West
• Belmont Abbey College
• Beloit College
• BGSU at Firelands
• BYU Idaho
• California State University Sacramento
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Clark College
• Camden County College
• College of Charleston
• Columbia College
• Community College of Philadelphia
• Duke University
• Eastern Michigan University
• Fort Lewis College
• Haverford College
• Illinois State University

If you are using Alice and are not on this list,
please tell us!
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How Alice is being used

• In pre-CS1
• course for majors and students considering a CS
  major
  
• As conceptual introduction in CS1, followed by a
  transition to Java/C/VB
  
• Introduction to programming course
• non-majors (in business schools, for example)
• attract students to become CS majors
• Computer literacy
• problem-solving component
• Pre-AP in high schools

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High Schools (we know of) using Alice Fall 2005

• Archmere Academy (DE)
• Beaverton (OR)
• Central Catholic (OR)
• Cold Spring Harbor (NY)
• DOD Education School
• First Colonial High (VA)
• Fountain Valley (CA)
• Frank Cox (VA)
• Gahr (CA)
• Glennbrook North (IL)
• Harker (CA)
• Harriton (PA)
• Kelowna (BC, Canada)
• Lancaster Country (PA)
• Marquette (MO)
• North Allegheny (PA)
• Northern Highlands RHS (NJ)

• Northview (GA)
• Ocean Lakes (VA)
• Patchogue-Medford (NY)
• Paterson (NJ)
• Pemberton (NJ)
• Princess Anne (VA)
• Shenandoah Valley Governors School (VA)
• Sir Winston Churchill (Alberta, Canada)
• Smithtown (NY)
• South Gwinnett (GA)
• St. Francis de Sales (OH)
• Sycamore (IL)
• Tuscaloosa Academy (AL)
• Washington (WI)

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Scattered informal programs grades 5-12
Middle schoolers Dominique and Marcus using Alice
on a Macintosh in an after-school program on
South Side of Chicago
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Support Help Online Forum at www.alice.org
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Teaching Materials
Prentice Hall text launched in August, with
companion site www.aliceprogramming.net with lect
ure notes, etc.

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Teaching Materials
Prentice Hall text launched in August, with
companion site www.aliceprogramming.net with lect
ure notes, etc. Goal 5,000 copies in first yea
r Printed To Date 23,0000 copies
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Teaching Materials
Prentice Hall text launched in August, with
companion site www.aliceprogramming.net with lect
ure notes, etc. Goal 5,000 copies in first yea
r Printed To Date 23,0000 copies Ethics dis
claimer I have donated all my royalties toCMU
for further software development.
I personally make no moneyon Alice, in any way,
andAlice is open source and free.
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Course card
Soon Chuck Herbert text
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About Alice v2.0 ?Then, well give you a
sneak peak at Alice v3.0, which will arrive in
18-24 months.
Questions
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Going Forward A look at whats coming next from
the Alice team

• Alice 2.0 is out and reasonably stable. We are
  currently beginning development of Alice 3.0.
  
• Alice 3.0 is being underwritten, in part, by a
  300,000 gift from Electronic Arts (thanks!)
  
• Driven by Caitlin Kellehers Ph.D. dissertation
  results, which focused on getting middle school
  girls interested in computing -- but the ideas
  will drive high school and college use, as well.

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Critical Time Middle School

• For most girls, middle school is the last good
  time to reach them after that, they have decided
  math and science are not for them.

http//www.eric.ed.gov/resources/ericreview/vol6no
2/encourage.html
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Approach
Present programming as a means to the end of
storytelling.
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Evaluation by Girls Scouts
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Changes to Alice

• Enable girls to create the stories they envision
  
  
• high-level animations
• multiple scenes
• Provide a gallery that helps spark story
• Caricatured characters
• Animations that require explanation.

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Story-Alice Demo
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Users of the storytelling version show more
evidence of engagement/motivation
p 0.001
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The Future Alice v3.0

• Now beginning design/development 18-24 month
  plan
  
• Driven by Caitlins findings about storytelling
• Make movies, not videogames, although both are
  possible
  
• Will have a path to real programming
• Will dump and execute Java code
• So you can really code and keep the 3D
  graphics/motivation
  
• Will be co-developed with a textbook
• Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, and Don Slater
• Will be targeted (possible multiple
  configurations/flavors) at everyone from 5th
  grade to college freshmen.
  
• Will have high quality characters and
  animations.
  
• Should you wait? NO! Steve, Wanda, and Don
  (and others?) are also developing an interim
  solution for you textbook on Alice v2.0 and
  Java

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I cant tell you the best part about Alice v3.0
until March 10th

• Carnegie Mellon will be holding a major press
  conference at that time to announce some big news
  regarding Alice v3.0

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I cant tell you the best part about Alice v3.0
until March 10th
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I cant tell you the best partabout Alice v3.0
until March 10th

• But I really want you to hear about it so leave
  your email address on a file card (or your
  business card), and Ill email you in 7 days.

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About Alice v2.0 ?About Alice v3.0 ?Anything
else?Alice is free from www.alice.org, or we
have copies to give you right now.(by the way,
Caitlin will be looking for a faculty position
when she finishes, if your dept is hiring)
Questions
Would you like to say a few words on video about
your experiences with Alice?
Forms at podium to order desk copy of text