TEACHER TOOLKIT
Working with young people to create add-ons
"The most important attribute you can have is creative imagination—the ability to be the first on your block to figure out how all these enabling tools can be put together in new and exciting ways to create products, communities, opportunities..."
— Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat
By encouraging your students to create add-ons for commonly used applications, you highlight their contributions to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) world and its importance. In the process, they will develop essential skills for a career in this exciting field.
Reflections from an expert to help you and your students
David Skinner, a leading international executive coach and co-founder of Leadership Systems Limited, shares his tips on personal development in the video links on the home page. David has over 20 years of experience as a business consultant and coach. He has worked in 40 countries. His input is intended to help students to think more about their personal development as they prepare for or start their careers, covering topics related to lifelong learning, empowerment, and achievement.
- Skills for personal development
- Personal characteristics to be a successful employee
- Coaching and your personal development
What is an add-on?
An add-on is a self-developed tool that can extend the usability of an existing application and sometimes more than one application. An add-on can also be a game, an interface between two applications, or even a new way of using a standard application — imagination and skill are the only limits.
For examples of add-ons visit [link].
Add-ons in teaching and learning
It is nearly impossible to imagine our society without computers. Children and young people use computers and online technology to play, learn, explore, communicate, and socialize.
The first aim of creating add-ons is to empower young people to apply their creativity to technology as a learning activity and make them more comfortable with computers. Creation of add-ons is a great subject for creative expression.
The second aim is of a more social nature. Creating add-ons can be a valuable team activity. Together, students can learn to define objectives, map processes, share activities, and work toward a common goal. Working in a team, young people can learn to function in different roles, taking on shared responsibility and accountability.
The third aim is to provide innovative opportunities for students to develop their information gathering skills and take a structured approach to reaching a goal. These activities will help them distinguishing between cause and effect and identify important issues.
Finally, designing and building add-ons is a wonderful way to stimulate a better understanding of technology and development. The activities proposed below aim to give your pupils new insights to ICT by becoming a builder rather than just a user.
Experimenting with add-on development
To begin development of add-ons, start with a brainstorming session about working with computers:
- What kind of software do your pupils use at school and at home? Identify categories such as entertainment, schoolwork, personal research, socializing.
- What are the positive experiences of computer use?
Talk about satisfying results, fun, and giving and receiving feedback.
Would they want to create a programme themselves? - What are the less positive experiences? Computers can be slow, boring, and repetitive.
Would they be interested in trying to solve some of these problems by developing their own macro or program?
Open a discussion about the source of these experiences. This can best be done in small groups of four to six pupils. Appoint a discussion leader in each group to record the outcome and explain it to the class.
Follow this with a discussion about how to build on positive experiences. Look for practical solutions and generate ideas for small add-ons. Treat the creation of an add-on as a small group project.
One example of a small add-on is the creation of test your memory game in PowerPoint using macros. Review the Student Toolkit for more information and examples.
Practical information
Refer to the points below to help pupils get started:
- Is their idea a new concept?
- This requires more experience in creating an add-on and is also a test of research skills.
- Is the idea to make the computer carry out a sequence of activities?
- Are there a great number of changes or settings needed to get the correct result?
- Are the steps in the sequence in the right order and small enough?
- Is the sequence of activities unique or is the idea generic?
- Is it generally applicable?
- What do your pupils know about add-on development?
Basic steps in creating an add-on include:
- Ensure that your pupils have a clear understanding of what an add-on is. Have them research the word "add-on" (also spelled "addon") online to discover some of the uses of add-ons.
- Have students work in small groups or teams to define their add-on and its objectives.
- Confirm that the team chooses the most appropriate starting point in the process.
- Have pupils identify the constraints and limits on the project.
- Help students decide how to create the add-on, for instance, by way of a template, macro, or form.
- Have students create a sequence of steps outlining the add-on functions.
- Translate the steps into functions using appropriate development tools.
- Save or compile the add-on.
- Have students test the add-on among themselves and trusted outsiders.
Tips:
- Use OneNote to maintain a log of ideas and positive and negative experiences revealed during testing.
- Evaluate the entries on a regular basis.
- Microsoft PowerPoint can be a very useful tool for sequencing the functional steps of an add-on.
Class activities
Activity 1
Give your pupils a PowerPoint presentation containing the objects they need to construct a house, such as doors, windows, walls, a roof, lawn, and chimney. The objective is to get pupils to reflect on the correct animation sequence to build the house in correct order. The end products can be presented to the class and evaluated.
Preparation:
- Design a building using separate parts.
- Position the parts in an illogical arrangement on the slide before giving it to pupils.
Practical steps:
- This task can be done as an individual assignment or as a team effort.
- More experienced pupils could add their own design objects such as a grating, garden gate, and other objects.
- Have students convert the sequence of steps into a flow chart.
Activity 2
Use Word or PowerPoint to create a flow chart similar to the one created above to identify the steps used in a common class assignment, for example, creating a project focused on Internet research.
Activity 3
Create a Web page from a Microsoft Word document.
As a class project divide your class into groups to work on the following tasks:
- Decide upon a topic and text for the Web page.
- Create completely new images with tools like Microsoft Paint or hand draw and scan the artwork.
- Create a Word document presenting the images.
- Save the document as a Web page and test it in different browsers.
Useful Web sites
Differences between macros and Add-ins http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms924115.aspx
There are many freeware tools on many topics available at sites such as Snapfiles http://www.Snapfiles.com/freeware/.
Creative Commons
After students have created their add-on, it is a good idea for them to copyright it. Copyright covers the set of exclusive rights that belong to the author or creator of an original work.
Go to www.creativecommons.org to learn more about which licences apply to student work. Students should then clearly indicate the copyright on their creations. Authors may let other people copy, distribute and/or adapt their work, if desired, but users must still reference the author and creator. Students should respect the rights of other creators and inquire about copyright protection before incorporating prior works into their creations.
Send questions to add-on.helpdesk@eun.org