2019
IT Talenteschmiede (en. “talent forge”)
funded by Styrian Government/Austria
Purpose: To increase the number of IT professionals/students with new teaching concepts, workshops, open learning spaces, evaluation of activities
Consortium: TU Graz, University of Applied Science Graz, University of Graz
Description: Analyse/evaluate Pocket Code and other existing visual coding tools. Create teaching concepts and material for workshops. Evaluate tools and concepts during Girls Coding week, Maker Days, robotic courses, and other CS related courses.
All activities SDC-Styria: https://www.sdc-styria.at/en
An evaluation of the attractiveness of Pocket Code shows that students were motivated by its ease of use and its appealing design; however, girls rated the app less enthusiastically. To appeal to female teenagers in particular, a tailored version of the app “Luna&Cat” has been developed. This customised version stands in contrast to the “one size fits all” solution Pocket Code, which may discourage certain user groups. For apps to have a higher chance to appeal to a specific target group, it is, among many other points, necessary to optimise their store listing on app stores, especially as we found that app stores are the most effective way to reach teenagers. For the new version, a focus group discussion was performed. This discussion first brought insights about our target group and suggested names and designs for the new app; and second, allowed each student to make proposals for their desired games. This is important because most girls have the feeling that the games they play are not created for them. With this customised app, our aim is to reach and build a user base of interested female teenagers who want to learn how to code.
Download-Link: https://catrob.at/luna
Code'n'Stitch
To make the app more interesting and attractive for our target group of young women between 12 and 15 years old, we are planning to extend the app with the option to program embroidery machines. In this way, self-created patterns and designs can be stitched on t-shirts, pants or even bags. Thus, with Pocket Code, the embroidery machines will be programmable. Patterns and different forms can be created using Pocket Codes’ visual programming language. As a result, teenagers have something they can be proud of, something they can wear, and that they can show to others.
The project will be realized together with “bits4kids” and the fashion shop “Apflbutzn”.
2018
Zusammenarbeit mit dem Institut für Software-Technologie
@GIBS
Programming is Fun
One of the apps of Catrobat is Pocket Code, a visual programming language environment that allows the creation of games, stories, animations, and many types of other apps directly on smartphones or
tablets, thereby teaching fundamental programming skills. This app consists of a visual Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and a programming language interpreter for the visual Catrobat Programming language. The IDE automatically translates the underlying code parsed by the XML file into visual brick elements and vice versa. With the use of simple graphic blocks, users can create
their own game, colorful animations, or extensive stories directly on the mobile phone without prior knowledge. Visual and block based coding language helps novices with an easy to use interface and predefined Lego® style bricks
2015 - 2017
The Create@School app is a more tailored version of Pocket Code for academic purpose, with predefined templates for students to start with an almost finished game and accessibility settings have been added for students with special needs. Create@School is also linked to other services such as behavioral tracking to collect events during coding, as well as the Project Management Dashboard (PMD) for project submission and assessment by teachers. Create@School is still a beta version. As a teacher please request for accounts (within the app).