The Alice Project

Technology Review of  
Programming Alice Project

Reviewed by: Student B

Alice Programming:

Named in honor of Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Alice is a computer software that allows the user to program animated movies, design simple games in 3D, and create interactive stories. For students and teachers who are not experienced in computer science, Alice is a great program to use to get a first experience in programming. It provides a lot of support, tools, and materials that teachers can use when using Alice for all grades and different subject matters. As the website points out Alice is “designed to teach logical and computational skills.” While working with Alice, you don’t have to worry about putting the symbol and punctuation mark in just the right spot. It makes it easier to define the parameters of programming without requiring code like professional computer programming software requires.

Website Address:

http://www.alice.org/ 

Special Features:

• Alice does not require knowledge of computer science code to create animations, 3D games, and interactive stories, but younger students will probably require some assistance getting familiar with the software.

• There are many resources and tutorials available on the website that help the user learn how to use Alice successfully. 

• Curriculum is available on the website, including lesson plans, textbooks, activities, etc. 

• Alice can be used by teachers and students of all levels, from elementary schools to universities.

• Alice provides a library of audio files that users can add to their projects for an added dimension. 

Cost:

The Alice Project is provided by Carnegie Mellon University. Due to generous donations from multiple donors and partners, the creators of Alice have managed to offer this program as a free public service. As well, generous users, research and curriculum partners have contributed support to make this project possible. It is a free program and there are no ads to work around. This is an incredible resource for a classroom setting to help students learn fundamental programming skills. Since it is free of charge, teachers would benefit from this type of program for a one- or two-computer classroom use. 

Hardware/Software Requirements: 

You can download the software on Windows, Mac, or Linux operating systems. Installing the software should be easy and fairly quick since the program is placed directly on your computer hard drive where files can be copied over. It will vary depending on your hardware and broadband. On my Windows laptop, it took approximately thirty minutes from downloading and extracting the file to opening the new folder.

Either a desktop or laptop computer is recommended to run this program. The following are minimum requirements: 

• 1 GB RAM 

• VGA graphics card with high (32 bit) color capabilities and at least 1024 X 768 resolution 

• A sound card 

• A two- or three-button mouse. Arranging 3D objects works best using a mouse, but the touch pad on a laptop works as well.

• Java JDK (required prior to installing Alice 3). 

• Windows

Windows XP, Vista 32-bit, Vista 64-bit, Windows 7 32-bit, Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8 32-bit, Windows 8 64-bit. 

• Mac

Mac OS X 10.5 and earlier, Power PC or Intel processor (for Alice 2.2).

Mac OS X 10.6 and later, Intel processor (for Alice 2.3). 

• Linux

Ubuntu, Red Hat, 250 MB of free space (you will need opengl drivers and a Java Runtime Environment)

Training is not required but someone who is not familiar with programming might have a tough time knowing what to do unless they follow the tutorial via Help. Informal training can be accessed via YouTube as well.

Curriculum:

Available on their website are links to a variety of different curricula, most provided at no extra cost. There are different pages for their two available programs, (Alice 2 and Alice 3) with a variety of lesson plans, activities, textbooks and all inclusive curriculum guides. You can access all of these resources on the Alice website using the resources tab on the left side of the screen. 

Intended Audience:

The Alice project was created as a way to teach programming to children. There are also ways to learn more advanced Java programming. Most of the curriculum guides aim to teach children between 5th and 12th grade, but many have modifications that can suit as little as Kindergartners. Although the program itself is made to teach programming, the website has a large variety of resources and guides available to teachers to enhance the learning process. 

Advantages:

1.  Unlike high-level programming languages that involve strict reinforcement of directions, Alice is a free environment where the user designs the scene according to his or her imagination. 

2. Sociability of this language allows movies to be exported in the format of .MOV, motivating users to share their creative programs with other people, such as friends and teachers.

3. Alice can be used by teachers at all levels from middle schools to universities and sometimes younger.

4. Alice can be appealing to teachers and students because it shows students the output of their program in a manner that is easy to interpret.

Disadvantages:

1. No collision detection support. This is generally what turns off teenagers to Alice.

2. No developer support - slow response. I think Alice has been at 2.2 since 2005. Alice 3.0 is basically frozen since the big announcement that Maxis/EA were going to create it.

3. Out of date graphics

4. Very long expressions for checking simple things; trying to create an AND or OR expression is very difficult.

Uses:

Alice is designed to teach computer programming. However, it could be used in either a classroom or library setting to design animations, movies or games that reflect concepts or ideas learned in class. 

1. Students could create an animated story telling about a book they read, instead of a written book report.

2. Students could create a game to exhibit math concepts, logical thinking and problem solving skills.

3. Students or teachers could create a movie to teach about a famous person in a social studies unit. 

RICE Rating/Ease of Use:

FOUR STARS

This technology is relevant to today’s classroom. It should require less than one hour to introduce and implement, it is free, and effective. It should require minimal monitoring since students are not openly exposed to the internet.

When rating Relevance, we give Alice a full star for teachers using the program at the middle-school to early college level. Its purpose is to teach computer programming skills, so it is relevant if used to teach students who have some programming skills, or even younger students who are learning code. 

Implementation receives a full star because the program loads relatively quickly and teachers/students who know Java or coding should find this program relatively easy. 

Cost receives a full star because it is free. 

Effectiveness receives a full star because it meets ISTE –Student standards for creativity and innovation; critical thinking, problem solving and decision making; digital citizenship, and technology operations and concepts. Research has also shown that the use of Alice improves student retention in CS classes from 47% to 88% (Kelleher). 

Alice is relatively easy to use. I believe a user who has some familiarity with coding or programming would find Alice to be a very user-friendly program. As a user who has no knowledge of programming, I was easily able to add objects and move them around. Creating movement or actions will take a bit more time and some tutorials. I believe the drag and drop method Alice uses is an easy, effective way to encourage students to begin computer programming.

Sources:

Adventures in Alice Programming. Retrieved August 22, 2017, http://www.cs.duke.edu/csed/alice/aliceInSchools/ (Kaitlyn Peterson)

Alice. Retrieved August 22, 2017, from http://www.alice.org/index.php (Nanci Sandoval)

Alice Community Forum. Retrieved August 25,2017, from https://www.alice.org/community/showthread.php?t=7749 (Jasmine)

Alice. Retrieved August 24, 2017, from https://www.alice.org/about/ (Jasmine)

Alice. FAQ. Retrieved August 22, 2017, from http://alice3.pbworks.com/w/page/54959064/Syste%20Requirements (Nanci Sandoval)

Alice. Tell Stories. Build Games. Learn to Program. (n.d.). Retrieved August 23, 2017, from http://www.alice.org/  (Olga Householder)

Benefits of Alice. (2010, June 7). Word Press. Retrieved August 24, 2017, from https://aliceprogramming.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/benefits-of-alice-2/ (Jasmine)

De Leon, K. (2015, April 13). Alice Final Game Project. Retrieved August 24, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CTruCAVay8  (Molly Burnett)

Kelleher, C. (2006, October 04). The Alice Project: A Different Way to Teach Introductory Computer Science. Retrieved August 23, 2017, from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/video/the-alice-project-a-different-way-to-teach-introductory-computer-science/  (Molly Burnett)

Muhith, M. (2013, December 11). Alice 3D - Harry Potter Ending Scene. Retrieved August 23, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23gGnGyAB9Q (Molly Burnett)

Slavin, T., (2014). Alice. Beanz Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.kidscodecs.com/alice-tutorials/.   (Olga Householder)

Von Oehsen, E. (2012, December 17). Alice Programming - Snow Men Final Project Evan - 7th Grade. Retrieved August 24, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPrQ0yUtywY (Molly Burnett)

Wentworth, R. (2015, October 25). Garfield maze game made with Alice programming. Retrieved August 23, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZbvxLWWQeU (Molly Burnett)