[MWForum]Thanks, Wendy

Tue, 15 Jul 2003 22:09:31 -0600

Craig,

Thanks for your interest in OWL.  I'm delighted you are finding the
materials useful.  Wendy, Daniel and I sure love MicroWorlds and have
enjoyed developing MicroWorlds in Action. We look forward to your using
and shaping these MicroWorlds support materials.

-Chris

Christopher Myers
Founder and Director
OpenWorld Learning (OWL)
www.openworldlearning.org

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mwforum-admin@lists.mathcats.com [mailto:mwforum-
> admin@lists.mathcats.com] On Behalf Of cy
> Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 9:15 PM
> To: mwforum@lists.mathcats.com
> Subject: [MWForum]Thanks, Wendy
> 
> What a wonderful summary of the development of OWL / MIA. I loved
reading
> about the ins and outs and the turtle in the pond. Slick and
professional
> isn't always the best way to go. I found your pages very inviting.
> 
> Craig
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Wendy Petti" <wpetti@mathcats.com>
> To: <mwforum@lists.mathcats.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 6:38 PM
> Subject: [MWForum]RE: OWL and MIA
> 
> 
> > Craig, may I answer your question on behalf of Daniel and Chris
Myers
> and
> > myself?
> >
> > OWL (OpenWorld Learning) is a small educational nonprofit
organization
> in
> > Colorado.  Daniel is the webmaster and I am the Director of
Curriculum.
> > Chris Myers is the executive director who hired both of us.  Daniel
> lives
> > in Ecuador and I live in Maryland and we both work long-distance for
> OWL.
> > I've made a few trips to the OWL computer labs in Denver, but none
of us
> > has ever met Daniel.
> >
> > I think you must be referring to OWL's MicroWorlds in Action
website,
> yes?
> > http://mia.openworldlearning.org
> >
> > MIA was Chris's brainchild, and Daniel and I brought his idea to
life.
> A
> > little more than two years ago, I asked on the LogoForum if anyone
would
> be
> > interested in helping me create a website of materials to help teach
> > teachers and students how to use MicroWorlds.  Chris contacted me
and
> asked
> > me if I would create the site with OWL's backing and the help of
> Daniel's
> > awesome computer skills, customizing the site to meet the needs of
OWL's
> > teachers and students.  I was happy to come on board.
> >
> > It was Chris's idea to have an online project library with thematic
> folders
> > containing related projects of increasing difficulty.  He wanted
even
> > beginners to be able to work through projects without getting
> frustrated,
> > and that is why each folder is broken up into a sequence of
projects; a
> > user can dabble in all of the "easy" projects, jumping from folder
to
> > folder, or can work through progressively more complex projects
within
> each
> > folder.  It was also Chris's idea to have three types of extension
> > activities accompanying each project.  The three of us together over
a
> > period of some months gradually agreed on the interface for each
folder
> and
> > each project.  It was a bit complicated since we had decided to
provide
> two
> > versions of each project:  one with a screenshot and one with an
> > interactive MW project.  I'm pretty sure it was Chris's idea to
indicate
> > the approximate difficulty of each project using the symbols found
at
> ski
> > resorts.  We also agreed to have a resources section, including "How
do
> I?"
> > questions and some sort of search capability or vocabulary
table/index.
> >
> > Chris pretty closely monitored our work on the first one or two
folders,
> > and after that he left it up to Daniel and me to continue building
the
> > site.  I have created pretty much all of the content and graphics
for
> the
> > site - with some helpful input from Daniel on some of the trickier
code
> and
> > explanations - and Daniel has done all of the work in turning the
> materials
> > into a website.  It is pretty amazing, in my opinion, what he has
> developed
> > behind the scenes.  I send him a MicroWorlds project which contains,
on
> the
> > procedures page, not just the procedures but also a list of
vocabulary
> > words, project notes, and extension questions.  Daniel has created
some
> > sort of code that takes this information and automatically turns it
into
> a
> > web page.  I think he has also automated the process of creating the
> image
> > of the project map, although I'm not quite sure about that.  He has
> written
> > a program that automatically builds the web page as the user
accesses
> it.
> > And I'm pretty sure that the main page for each folder is created
> > on-the-spot each time a user accesses a new folder.  It
automatically
> > creates all of the folder tabs, and the colored border around the
> listing
> > of projects and sample screenshot, and the difficulty level symbols,
and
> so
> > on.  As I understand it, the shapes pages are also created
automatically
> > from a program Daniel wrote.
> >
> > Daniel also obtained permission from LCSI to use the vocabulary
> information
> > from the MWPro help section and wrote a program that automatically
> created
> > the printable hyperlinked vocabulary table in the resources section.
> (The
> > MWPro vocabulary cannot be printed except perhaps one primitive at a
> time,
> > but MIA's vocabulary table provides a concise summary of all of the
MW
> > primitives with definitions, sample code, and where the primitives
have
> > been used so far on the MIA site.)
> >
> > What also amazes me is that Daniel is using a very very very old
> computer
> a
> > nd a very very very slow Internet connection from Ecuador.  But he
has
> also
> > developed an incredibly sophisticated database program to track the
> > progress of hundreds of students using OWL's computer labs, and he
can
> > create beautiful, informative reports from this data.
> >
> > I only work part-time for OWL and I've been involved with quite a
few
> > offline activities on OWL's behalf too, so progress in building the
> > MicroWorlds in Action website has been rather slow, since I take my
> jolly
> > time about creating new materials!  I'm very happy with the new "How
Do
> I?"
> > section, and we plan to add lots and lots of additional questions in
the
> > coming months.  We would be very happy to include your questions in
that
> > section, so ask away!!
> >
> > While MicroWorlds in Action has been designed with OWL's teachers
and
> > students in mind, it was very important to me that we provide a
website
> of
> > materials that would be useful and accessible to MicroWorlds users
> > everywhere.  So even though there are in existence some offline OWL
> > materials for the exclusive use of OWL's teachers and students, the
MIA
> > website is OWL's gift to the worldwide MicroWorlds community.  We
hope
> you
> > find it useful, and we certainly welcome your suggestions and ideas
for
> > future developments.
> >
> > And (sigh) one of these days we will probably begin adapting the
site to
> > take into consideration the brand new version of MicroWorlds, MW Ex!
> >
> > Oh, by the way, MIA's silly home page with the turtle in a pond full
of
> > rocks was meant to be temporary until a professional web designer or
> > graphics artist could render a more polished home page that was more
> > compatible with OWL's home site (at www.openworldlearning.org ) but
over
> > time I think my silly drawing has sort of grown on us, and maybe we
will
> > just let our little turtle keep his pond!
> >
> > Wendy Petti
> > OWL's Director of Curriculum
> > and MIA's content developer
> > http://mia.openworldlearning.org
> > also creator of Math Cats (which has a MicroWorlds section)
> > http://www.mathcats.com
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: mwforum-admin@lists.mathcats.com
> > > [mailto:mwforum-admin@lists.mathcats.com]On Behalf Of cy
> > > Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 6:01 PM
> > > To: mwforum@lists.mathcats.com
> > > Subject: [MWForum]Thanks, Daniel
> > >
> > ..
> > >
> > > By the way, I just recently discovered OWL online. What a
> > > fantastic resource
> > > for teachers. I really appreciate the work that has been done
> > > and the style
> > > in which the information is shared. What is your role in OWL?
> > >
> > > Craig
> > >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> 
> 
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