Alice Summer Travels – Around the US and to Hong Kong

This summer Wanda Dann, Don Slater, and other members of the Alice team are teaching Alice workshops to educators at several institutions around the US. This week my coworker and I had the opportunity to sit in on one of these workshops at Santa Clara University. On the afternoon we were there, Don was teaching the some tips about events, methods, and camera techniques to a group of high school teachers. It was a fun and interesting afternoon!

Also, earlier this summer, I accompanied Wanda Dann and Pamela Lawhead on a trip to Hong Kong. We were there to introduce Alice to the staff and educators at HKFYG Jockey Club LEAD Centre. We spent the first few days of our trip with the LEAD Centre director and staff talking about Alice and teaching them the Alice basics. On Saturday, the LEAD Centre hosted about 45 local Hong Kong educators (both high school teachers and college professors) for an Alice Workshop. Wanda and Pam taught a great workshop and it was exciting to the enthusiasm and excitement about Alice! The LEAD Centre plans to learn more about Alice and start incorporating it into their programs soon. We look forward to hearing about their success!

Posted at 08:15AM Jul 22, 2009 by Jessica in Alice  |  Comments[0]

JavaOne Minutes with Dave from Alice

And here's a JavaOne Minute with Dave Culyba from the Alice team.

Posted at 09:16PM Jun 04, 2009 by Jessica in Alice  |  Comments[1]

JavaOne Minutes with Wanda and Dennis from Alice

Joyce Solano from the Sun's JavaOne Street Teams came by the Change (Y)our World Playground to talk to the Alice team yesterday. Here are the JavaOne Minutes she has compiled from her interviews with Wanda Dann and Dennis Cosgrove.

Posted at 08:00AM Jun 04, 2009 by Jessica in Alice  |  Comments[0]

Alice on Blog Talk Radio

Posted at 09:46PM Jun 03, 2009 by Jessica in Alice  |  Comments[0]

Alice Wins Duke's Choice Awards!

The Seventh Annual Duke's Choice Awards were announced yesterday -- and Alice 3 is a winner! Read about the press release announcing this year's winner's here: http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/pr/2009-06/sunflash.20090601.3.xml. Alice 3 was recognized in the Java Technology in Education category.

Congratulations to the Alice team and the other 2009 Duke's Choice Award winners!

Posted at 08:40AM Jun 03, 2009 by Jessica in Alice  |  Comments[0]

Alice @ JavaOne

The Alice development team is coming to JavaOne 2009!  Look for them at the Change (Y)our World Playground. In addition they will be at the following events:

• Lightning talks at CommunityOne
  Monday, June 1st
  
• Community Corner Podcast - Alice Team Roundtable
  Tuesday, June 2nd at 5:00PM
  Alice is an innovative 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. Created at Carnegie Mellon University, Alice is a freely available teaching tool designed to be a student's first exposure to object-oriented programming. Alice 3, currently under development, enables a transition from Alice to Java, allowing students to "open the hood" and work with the Java code for 3D animation programs.
  
• BOF-4982
  Alice 3: Introducing Java™ Technology-Based Programming with 3-D Graphics
  Tuesday, June 2rd at 9:30 PM - 10:20 PM
  This session introduces Alice 3 to attendees who want to know more about this innovative tool for introducing students to programming and to those who are interested in using Alice 3 as part of their outreach efforts. The discussion leaders, members of the Alice team, introduce Alice 3, with a special focus on its ability to transition students to Java™ technology-based programming. The session provides an arena for learning about Alice 3 and asking questions of the Alice team. Those who are new to Alice or thinking about using it get an opportunity to learn more about this tool and how it may be useful in outreach and instructional settings.
  
  The session is intended for anyone interested in exploring innovative technologies for introducing students to programming and computer science.
  
  The session's goals are to
  
  • Introduce Alice 3 to the JavaOne^SM community
  • Enable the JavaOne community to meet and interact with the Alice team in a friendly, informal setting
  • Provide an opportunity for the Alice team to share exemplary techniques
  • Discuss issues and concerns encountered in the use of Alice in various environments and educational contexts
  • Provide an opportunity for those new to Alice or thinking about using it to ask questions as they determine how it may be most useful in their particular situation
• More details to come...
  

Posted at 10:55AM May 11, 2009 by Jessica in Alice  |  Comments[0]

7th Annual Duke's Choice Awards

Submissions are now being accepted for the 7th Annual Duke's Choice Award Program!  This award celebrates extreme innovation in the world of Java technology. They are granted to the best and most innovative projects using the Java platform.

>> Click here for more information or to submit a nomination!

>> Click here to check out last year's winners!

The deadline to submit entries is March 27.

Posted at 09:27PM Mar 03, 2009 by Jessica in Alice  |  Comments[0]

Heading to Chattanooga!

Tomorrow I am traveling to Chattanooga to attend SIGCSE with the Alice and BlueJ / Greenfoot teams. Please stop by the Sun Microsystems booth to talk to the teams, see a demo of Alice 3 Beta, or enter the Return of the Greeps Greenfoot contest!

Posted at 10:11PM Mar 02, 2009 by Jessica in Alice  |  Comments[0]

Return of the Greeps!

At SIGCSE 2007, Greeps invaded for the first time, looking for tomatoes. Now they're back at SIGCSE 2009!

To learn more about this year's contest (and prizes!) check out the contest website:

Posted at 02:02PM Feb 25, 2009 by Jessica in Alice  |  Comments[0]

New! Engage with Java Screencast!

Hot off the presses - our new Engage with Java screencast!  Check it out - Engage with Java!

Posted at 03:52PM Feb 24, 2009 by Jessica in Alice  |  Comments[0]

Mary Blogs About Alice

Mary (a Sun employee and blogger) recently started volunteering at her local high school using Alice. It's great to see people excited about Alice!

Check it out!

• Mary Mary Quite Contrary - High School Girls + Alice + Me
  

I look forward to following the story about High School Girls + Alice + Mary as their journey unfolds!

Posted at 04:33PM Feb 17, 2009 by Jessica in Alice  |  Comments[0]

The Alice Tea Party at SIGCSE

Alice team will be in Chattanooga for SIGCSE 2009!

On Friday the Alice team will be hosting The Alice Tea Party. This event will include a demo of Alice 3 Beta, with 3D characters from The Sims 2. In addition, the first 250 attendees will get a free lunch and a free USB drive containing the latest beta version of Alice 3.  Hope to see you at The Alice Tea Party!

And here's a list of more Alice events scheduled for SIGCSE this year:

• Workshop: Alice 3 and Java for CS1 & AP CS
  Friday, 7:00pm-10:00pm
  Ballroom H
• Workshop: Exploring Wonderland: Teaching with Alice and Media Computation
  Saturday, 2:15pm-5:15pm
  Ballroom I
• Paper session: Engaging Middle School Teachers and Students with Alice in a Diverse Set of Subjects
  Friday, 1:30pm-2:45pm
  Ballroom F
• Birds-of-a-Feather: Teaching with Alice
  Thursday, 6:10pm-6:55pm
  Marriott Plaza AB

In addition, please stop by the Sun Microsystems booth for see demonstrations of Alice and to talk to members of the Alice team!

Posted at 02:45PM Feb 11, 2009 by Jessica in Alice  |  Comments[0]

Retrofuture Tech - A Video Blog Review of Alice

I came across this cool video blog review of Alice:

• Retrofuture Tech: RetroFuture Tech review Alice

Check it out!

Posted at 08:30AM Feb 09, 2009 by Jessica in Alice  |  Comments[0]

More Blog Links About Alice

One of the really cool things about Alice is that people are really engaged and interested in this technology. And as a result, people are talking about it. Here are some blog posts about Alice to check out:

• TIPS: Technology Internet Programming Science - Teaching Programming to the Masses
• Shaping Youth >> WISE Women & Alice 3.0: Geek Chic For Girls (Part 1)
• brookED3250 TECHNOLOGY REFLECTION
• Mon., Jan. 12, 2009 - Alice Computer Programming Software (FREE)
• Schools Without Walls: New Courses (Alice!)
  
• NFL Films Presents - Carnegie Mellon University

Enjoy!

Posted at 02:53PM Feb 03, 2009 by Jessica in Alice  |  Comments[0]

Alice, Greenfoot, and BlueJ in Communities on the Social Web

I wanted to share the links to growing Alice and BlueJ / Greenfoot communities on social media forums.

• The Alice Facebook Community
  
• The Alice Club on OSUM
• The Greenfoot Facebook Community
• The Greenfoot Club on OSUM
• The BlueJ Club on OSUM

Please join me and continue to grow these communities!

Posted at 11:26AM Jan 27, 2009 by Jessica in Alice  |  Comments[0]