Thank you for your previous support of the Alice project. Let’s see what you’ve helped make possible….

1. Thank you for your previous support of the Alice project. • Let’s see what you’ve helped make possible….

2. Alice Getting students interesting in computing againPI: Randy Pauschpausch@cmu.eduCarnegie Mellon University For more information… www.alice.org

3. For the last 25 years… • We have taught computer programming the same way: • Students types his/her program with the keyboard • There is a frustrating need to get the syntax correct • The program produces textual output • 25 years ago, producing textual output was cool; it isn’t now. The Java Program: class HelloWorldApp { public static void main(String[] args) { System.out.println("Hello World!"); } } Prints Out: Hello World!

4. We have lost over 50% ofCS majors in the last 7 years • http://www.cra.org/CRN/articles/march06/vegso.html Median Per Dept. Total

6. 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 in college students • The approach of “telling stories with 3D movies” has been formally shown to motivate middle school girls • Provided free (open source) by Carnegie Mellon • Runs on Windows, Mactinosh, and Linux

8. Live Demo

9. We steal from the best… • Walt Disney Imagineering’s “Player” for interactive 3d content • Alan Kay/Squeak for the drag-and-drop interface

10. Alice has always been free.Alice will always continue to be free.

11. Pedagogically: Why Alice Works • No syntax-based frustration • Data is visible; changes are animated; you can see what is happening • Highly motivating

12. Seven textbooks have beenwritten based on Alice.

13. Roughly 10% of US Colleges Already Teach With Alice • Highest penetration at Community Colleges (where need is greatest) • Primarily Used for “CS1”, “pre-CS1”, and “computer literacy” courses.

14. Last 12 months, at www.alice.org • 3.5 million page views • 528,000 unique visitors • 158,000 IP addresses performed 440,540 downloads of the system. • (this excludes CD/textbook distribution)

15. Alice helps at-risk CS majors

16. 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).

17. Alice is “real programming” • Java CodeAlice Code (Java Mode)

19. Alice and Middle School Girls • Recent Ph.D. dissertation by Caitlin Kelleher (starting on faculty this fall at Washington U. in St. Louis!) • Present programming as a means to the end of storytelling. • She measured the benefits of this storytelling approach

20. Evaluation with Girls Scouts But we believe the approach works for both genders and all ages. Formative: ~250 users Summative: 88 users

21. Formative: Storyboards “D kneels down to see if they were ok”

22. Storyboard Actions

23. Summative: Three Activities in Alice 2: Editing Programs 1: Scene Layout 3: Running Programs

24. Users of Storytelling Alice spend 42% more time programming (as opposed to doing scene layout) p< 0.001 p < 0.001

25. Storytelling Alice motivates reluctant programmers

26. Storytelling Alice motivates reluctant programmers

27. Storytelling Alice motivates reluctant programmers

28. Time on task is a strong predictor of learning

29. Users of Storytelling Alice are more likely to sneak extra time to continue programming. p < 0.001

30. What’s Next? • We have made inroads in college and high school • Caitlin Kelleher’s work shows the way forward

31. Production Values Matter

32. Best Selling PC Games of all time: • The Sims (16 million) • Myst (9 million) • Starcraft (9 million) • Half-Life (8 million) • Age of Empires II (7 million) • World of Warcraft (5 million) • The Sims 2 (4.5 million) • Diablo II (4 million) • Doom (3 million) • Half-Life 2 (3 million) • StarCraft: Brood War (3 million) • Warcraft II (3 million) • Warcraft III (3 million) • Age of Empires (3 million) • Diablo (2.5 million) • Civilization III (2.5 million) • Quake (1.8 million) • Battlefield 1942 (1.5 million) • Civilization IV (1.2 million)

33. Best Selling PC Games of all time: And more female than male players! • The Sims (16 million) • Myst (9 million) • Starcraft (9 million) • Half-Life (8 million) • Age of Empires II (7 million) • World of Warcraft (5 million) • The Sims 2 (4.5 million) • Diablo II (4 million) • Doom (3 million) • Half-Life 2 (3 million) • StarCraft: Brood War (3 million) • Warcraft II (3 million) • Warcraft III (3 million) • Age of Empires (3 million) • Diablo (2.5 million) • Civilization III (2.5 million) • Quake (1.8 million) • Battlefield 1942 (1.5 million) • Civilization IV (1.2 million)

34. Production Values Matter

35. The Future: Alice v3.0 • Available in 2008. • Goal: Alice as the system to teach introductory programming. • Driven by Caitlin Kelleher’s findings about storytelling • Students are motivated to make movies (or videogames) • Electronic Arts (EA) has given us $300,000 and permission to use the characters and animations from “The SimsTM 2” in Alice v3.0 • Heinz Foundation has given us $200,000 • Alice v3.0 will us Java as the student language • Drag & drop interface *or* typing code (whichever you prefer)

36. We have already done the hard engineering: this scene uses Sims II characters, and is rendered in an early prototype of Alice v3.0

37. Live Demo