ED Tech Review - Google Grasshopper
Name:
Grasshopper
Creator:
Platforms:
Functionality:
This software application provides quick games on your phone that teach you to write real JavaScript. It moves learners through progressively challenging levels at your own pace. Grasshopper will develop coding abilities, advancing learners from novice level concepts to graduating with fundamental programming skills. This incorporates Android notification features, so you can set how often you want it to ping you for a lesson. Once a (day, week, etc) it will pop up a notification on your device for you to take on a lesson.
Usefulness:
The interface is very well designed and easy to use. It follows the pattern of simplicity found throughout Google products and is intuitive to pick up. You are climbing a ladder of lessons which provide scaffolding and motivation / feeling of progression. The notification feature is really what makes this application great. The lessons are very short and whenever you are pinged you can either dive right in, or treat it like a text message to be read when you have ~5 minutes. This delivery mechanism really works for short impromptu lessons and games.
Overall impressions:
Grasshopper is a great application for learning coding basics. The focus is on Javascript but the code(especially early on) is written in a very generic manner and is a great introduction. Js is a great introductory language and the combination of climbing the ladder and notifications truly make this a great learning application. One knock against it is you are never actually typing the code because it comes from pre-arranged code blocks. This makes sense as it would be a challenging experience to type (especially code) on a mobile device or phone. While it is great at teaching concepts and the basics it has a bit of a "coding in a bubble" feel to it.
Educational use:
This is designed as a single user experience, however with the notification scheduling I can see incorporating this into coding courses. The content itself is on point and teaches coding concepts very well. One thing that may be of issue is there are no external hooks or way to export progress. While the application does teach coding, it stays away from typing actual code at most points because it is on a mobile device. At this point these restrictions may leave it as more of a tool for augmenting lessons rather than driving a course.
Additional thoughts and concerns:
not typing actual code. you are seeing the code blocks, not sure what is lost/gained? through this type of input.
no current way to export results or track
anytime model is very attractive and powerful
the ability to have lessons prompt you with tasks like this has great potential
Recommendation:
Grasshopper is a great educational application for Android devices. While it may not be a great foundation for an entire course, it provides much in the way adding to any beginner coding curriculum. My recommendation is to both use this application as any individual interested in coding, and as a tool for augmenting any teaching materials. I can see myself personally using this in my courses as an extra option while teaching Javascript.
