Why Educational Software So Often Fails



    This presentation will consist of two parts. The first half will be theoretical: I will explain the crucial distinction between Process and Object. Most educational strategies focus on Object, but the computer is at heart a Processing machine. Too much educational software fails to properly emphasize Process. In the second half of the presentation, I shall demonstrate Balance of the Planet, my simulation-game about environmental problems. This program is Process-intensive. The audience will learn a radically different way of thinking about software design (Process versus Object) that clearly shows how to create excellent educational software. The first half of the lecture will show them the idea in the abstract, while the second half will demonstrate the specifics required to build such software.

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