 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group The Shareware curriculum John Poulianakis |
In Victoria's Curriculum and Standards Framework Statement for Information Technology, there are four key terms which define the essential focus of any course. These are investigating, designing, producing and evaluating. The emphasis throughout is on exploring the diversity and range of what is available in information technology (IT). The question is, "How to gain access to a wide range of materials?" Few students and schools can afford the latest machines and software, not to mention site licenses for putting the software on many machines. The answer is to be found in shareware.
Shareware is an important and exciting field that has many opportunities for educational use within and beyond the normal computer curriculum practised at many schools. It has many benefits for anyone who wants to extend his or her computer knowledge including teachers, school administrators and students. For the school administrator and teacher, it offers a wide range of inexpensive software, thus minimising the school's expenditure while maximising students' learning. And there is a wide range of shareware available for all models of desktop computers, especially PCs. For the student, the major benefit from shareware is that it can generate not only interest, but will inspire a desire to explore far beyond the bounds of normal subject expectations. Therefore, students will adapt to exploration and autonomy as an attitude towards computing and computer applications. That is to say,
learning about computers = exploration = fun = play
It is through playing with software, that students may dive into a system of thought and, as they find their way around it, discover a great many things which are applicable to other software and IT in general. Thus, IT literacy may develop beyond the range of the teacher as information giver and the student as information receiver.
Types of activities
The variety of shareware available and the fact that it can be tried without payment means the shareware curriculum generates many activities not possible, or severely restricted within the normal educational context. Primarily, we may refer to a number of basic activities which can be performed across all software types in shareware which all lead to a critical awareness of the many aspects of IT.
- Comparison: The student is in a position to compare various products which claim to do the same or similar things. This would lead to an ability to appreciate the differences and learn to see the limitations in various programs.
- Software Development: Through the process of comparison, the student can also see and appreciate the evolution of a software or a software type. For example, older DOS-based shareware can be reviewed, and then some comparable Windows types. Similarly, many shareware programs contain history text that outlines the versions of the package, and indicates the changes and bugs that were found. By the same token, it is possible to have the different versions or editions of the same package and appreciate the evolution that has taken place.
- Evaluation: As well as from general evaluation, shareware products of the same intent can be compared, and students may develop criteria for evaluation. In this context, students can rate programs, appreciate features and lack of features, and furthermore, perform critiques in terms of what is lacking in perhaps the best of a particular category.
- Documentation: Students may examine documentation as they use the various software, and see from experience what is good and bad documentation. This appreciation can lead to their own documentation writing. Tips and tricks can also be written for their favourite software, especially games.
- Hands-on approach: Access to shareware and shareware catalogues naturally leads to the desire to try out and examine many things, rather than merely limiting exploration to the few packages used at school or at home. The more things are tried and explored, the more knowledgeable a student becomes.
- Software creation: There is no shortage of shareware that allows the user to do things. Whether to make a game, edit existing games, create a database, add to an existing database, combine graphics with text, write help files, hypertext, and so on. In other words, the creative aspect is present in abundance for those who wish to explore it, while the amusement aspect is there for the less creative. Either way, using shareware can lead to an interest in finding out and doing more.
- Individual work: Shareware means a student can go off in isolation pursuing his or her favourite software or interest in deeper degrees of involvement. Individual projects can be tailor made, since it doesn't matter whether a student own sophisticated or basic equipment, there is much to follow up.
- Group work: Group work is also possible since a large project may be taken home if shareware is being used. Students with similar or specialised interest may use group work to follow up on their interests whatever its remoteness from the average students.
- Program Management Skills: The skills of program management take on a new importance if a student is busy with the computer, being motivated by curiosity and interest. DOS and Windows suddenly become relevant. The various ways of transferring files, copying, moving, renaming, attribute identification, taking notes from text and help files on software, become a part of the student's everyday activity. Similarly, in a shareware context, things like DLLs being placed in the Windows system directory, installing and uninstalling, tracking storage, RAM usage, monitoring system resources, and archiving in various formats (i.e. ZIP, ARC, etc.) also emerge as important, slowly leading the student into deeper aspects of the computer's operations.
Working with games
Games are a good place to start. These are after all, a major attraction for students, and in fact many people are first enticed by the audio-visual world of games. Games, however, can lead to many things: Basic activities may be seen as:
- Analysing the different genres of games and finding examples of each, for example, role playing, simulations, strategy, adventure, arcade, puzzle, and card games.
- Comparing games within specific genres. for example Doom vs Raptor.
- Seeing how games change through the various versions.
- Evaluating and documenting games.
- Making clear explanations of how to play, from an introductory and experienced user perspective.
- Writing tips and tricks for various games.
- Using level editors and other utilities to customise existing games.
Working with databases
Databases are especially interesting when the have some personal relevance, for example when they involve the family and take into account the interests of the children:
- Compare one or more databases which do the same thing.
- Use a database for student's or parent's information (eg., recipes, home inventory, video collection, or as a personal information manager).
- Compile a class database on types of computer games; design own databases with designated variables.
- Use an existing database which has variables already in it, for example a gardening database.
- Determine the variables of a specific database prior to looking at it.
- Look at the types of subjects that can be put into databases.
- Test files made from other programs to see if they can be used by a database (export and import).
- Write documentation for a database using screen capture.
The use of graphics evokes a large number of factors, from different types of graphics formats, to viewing and using these formats. Hence, with shareware, we could:
- Distinguish between the various graphic formats (.PIX, .GIF, .TIF, CLIP).
- Convert one type into another.
- Assess the differences in size of different graphics formats.
- Compare different graphics viewers and slide-show capabilities.
- Import and manipulate graphics in documents or presentations, such as home pages.
- Morph graphics.
- Try graphics and draw programs.
Apart from the general program management skills that come from using shareware, an understanding of file extensions is a useful and necessary focus if one is using many different types of files and programs, and if one is wanting to import and export files into and out of programs. The following skills could be cultivated:
- Identifying file extensions.
- Associating file extensions through file manager.
- Making file extensions readable through.WRI and .TXT extension.
- Changing one type of extension to another.
- Identifying and changing non-windows help files to be read.
- Printing text/help files through extension changing.
- Identifying and executing .ZIP (and other compression) files.
- Using and setting up, unzipping/zipping utilities (ie., Winzip, and Dragzip).
- Comparing different archiving systems.
Students or schools that have a CD-ROM readily available, can access the hundreds of megabytes of software found on shareware CDs. There is a wealth of learning to be done here. For example students could study the
- Range of menu systems for accessing files
- Methods of retrieving programs, how they are saved and where they are sent
- Types of interfaces
- Studying the shareware industry
- Shareware advertisements
- Different marketing methods (BBS, ads, catalogues, stands, swap meets, etc.)
- Price structures (per KB, per disk, per program, CD, etc.)
- Catalogue presentations (with or without pictures, floppy-disk or paper)
The integration of shareware into a course can take many forms, depending on many variables, such as the skill and knowledge of the teacher and of course, the initiative of the student since self-extension is what the shareware curriculum is all about.
One could base a whole course on shareware, or a part of a course. The teacher could cover briefly or more extensively each type of application while the students fill in the details by trying and testing through different activities. Alternatively, a number of types of application could be covered, allowing students to spend more time on their favourite type of software.
The future benefits of the shareware approach
An important benefit from using shareware is the long term aspect. That is, students may become used to looking at shareware and attempting to integrate it into their other studies, and well as their home and hobby applications. This makes for a long term involvement with computers, and an interest in following the computer scene through shareware.
Furthermore, this will benefit the shareware industry, since it both promotes the products and exposes many more people to what the industry has to offer. A generation of students thus may grow up being familiar with this industry.
The legal question is also relevant here. Since shareware is to be used as an object of study as well in the trying out different applications, there should be no contravening the legalities of using shareware. Of course, shareware which is going to be used by the school or students on a long term basis should be registered but this is another aspect of learning about shareware.
Reprinted from the April 1996 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
