It's hard to think that it's been over 10 years, but in 1997, we were all abuzz with the latest upgrade to Hyperstudio and what opportunities it gave students and teachers in the classroom.
Hyperstudio had achieved status as one of the very best products that we could provide students as it promoted story telling, creativity, writing, representing, ...
With this powerful tool, ideas became projects; storyboards became interactive products; images and sounds became major resources that enabled students to become great communicators and to design and think through projects in a medium that seemed to be impossible to conceive ever happening in a classroom.
The basics behind Hyperstudio were good then and remain good now. Take a look through any of the Ministry of Education's Expert Panel reports and you'll find all kinds of ways where Hyperstudio remains the answer to the questions asked.
Spin time forward and see what we have.
Hyperstudio remains a main staple for those who understand what it's all about. Many titles that were around in 1997 have gone away. For good reason too. With the exception of a few pieces of software that really understood the classroom, older titles were designed to operate at the very lowest of levels.
At the RCAC Symposium, Marc Prensky made reference to them as being the electronic equivalent of worksheets. Hardly engaging and pretty difficult to focus on except for a brief moment in time. For all of the time and effort that it takes to get them running, the educational payback is minimal and they've become glorified babysitters. You won't see this genre of software in today's progressive classroom.
The success of Hyperstudio as a presentation and story telling tool has excited educators to reach out into other areas where the tools are age appropriate. There are huge successes in classrooms that use Kidpix, Clicker 5, Corel Presentations, Appleworks, Keynote, and StarOffice appropriately.
Updated curriculum describes opportunities for students to use these tools to communicate and represent. Course expectations talk about font choice, colour and design issues, content, communication, and so much more...
At loggerheads to this, we have tools that were originally designed for business now reaching into the classrooms. They've got wizards to do the thinking for the developer.
How many times have you sat back to see a presentation and immediately you recognize the design from a browse through a clip gallery?
This is hardly an appropriate way to meet the goal of being a citizen in a media rich society.
Think of what you expect to see when you view a Hyperstudio or Kidpix presentation. No two would or should look alike. They aren't driven by some wizard; they were driven by design, the need to communicate, the understanding of colour and what it can do, graphics that mean something, and most importantly evidence that the designer has thought her way through what you're viewing.
That's exciting and also why some pieces of software will always stand the test of time. Good software coupled with good teaching are the good tools that enable students to achieve their potential.
