[Fle3-users] Teaching Java with Fle3

[David Le Blanc]

I teach an online introductory Java programming course to secondary students (http://ILearnITOnline.com). I am using Fle3 for the first time this year to support our learning activities. Fle3 seems the perfect tool to support learning the Java language in a distributed environment. Java is an Object Oriented Programming (OOP) language that often involves extending or altering existing objects (code). The Jamming component of Fle3 allows learners to post and see the Java objects developed by their classmates. I generally post a very basic Java object that incorporates the current coding constructs under study. I post a screen shot image of the program’s output and its java source file that when clicked shows the raw source code in the browser window. The learners then can choose to extend my initial code or one that has been posted by one of their classmates. This is a real advantage over traditional practices as the work of every learner in the course is made visible to everyone. The annotation feature of Jamming encourages peer feedback and questions directed at learners rather than just to the course instructor. I had some initial fears that the Jamming tool would encourage too much competition resulting in weaker learners feeling inadequate or overwhelmed. I was delighted to see that instead the learners have truly adopting collaborative approaches when engaged in Jamming sessions.      

 

David Le Blanc

http://mySandbox.net

http://TogetherApart.com