A detailed syllabus for this course with schedules, assignments, and materials will be posted using a link here on or before .
(3 cr) Prereq: Permission of instructor
Catalog Description: Task-oriented practicum for the demonstration of fluency with advanced technology and the application of instructional design to the development of educational resources. Supervised task-centered experiences.
Fall, 2008.
David W. Brooks, Professor of Chemistry Education
Room 123A Henzlik
Office: 472-2018
E-mail: dbrooks1@unl.edu
What is this course about? RevCode is the language used by an application program, Runtime Revolution. This course is about developing applications using RevCode. . What makes RevCode different from other languages is the simplicity of the syntax; it is “English – like “ code. The user interface UI supports the use of text, images (both vectors and bitmaps), and other media (e.g., video streaming).
What kind of applications can be developed?
The back-end of every course I run makes use of RunRev CGIs. All of my interactive, immediate feedback quiz materials are RevCoded (compare with EDU),
Objects; Hierarchy. RunRev creates materials that operate as modified object-oriented files. Each object can have its own program. Events (like mouse button goes up) create messages (mouseUp) that objects use to run their programs. There is a message passing hierarchy. All messages first go to front program and ultimately pass though back programs before they reach the "engine."
Who is this for? Graduate students, faculty, staff, and even some undergraduates with a need to develop computer applications, large and small should consider this course. . You should have built Web pages, and you should have some programming experience -- even if that was something like high-level LOGO. This is not a course for the needy. This is not a course where the instructor will be nearby to look over your shoulder. A community of RunRev users, forums, and tutorials exist on line.
What is the history? In 1987, Apple released HyperCard and gave it away with every new Mac for about a decade. A spectacular array of products was developed. My first programs were drivers for videodiscs. RunRev is the great grandchild of HyperCard.
What materials and equipment do you need? You need a computer that runs RunRev with a copy of RunRev software. There are three versions of the software -- Media, Studio, and Enterprise. Media does not make stand-alones or run databases. Enterprise runs Oracle databases and creates stand-alones for Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms. Studio is in between. If you are a student, contact me and I'll try to cut a special deal for Studio. At a recent conference, about 2/3rds of the participants used some sort of Mac laptop, and the rest some sort of Windows laptop. The chief RunRev programmer seems to enjoy (and maybe prefers) the Windows environment.
Course objectives. Creating an application is about using the available objects, knowing commands and properties, understanding logic, manipulating text, and so forth. This course is intended to provide an opportunity for minimally structured interaction with the materials. There are no written papers or tests, just files created to illustrate the use of objects, commands, properties, etc. How will the course work? On Mondays before noon I will post media learning materials and downloadable files. There will be an assignment to create an application -- due on Friday afternoon. There will be a discussion board. Between the discussion board and e-mails to me, I may (mostly will) make additional media instructional materials for posting on Wednesdays. A project is required. There will be a tedious course grading schedule, with the grade determined by submitted homework's and your project. Each homework is evaluated P/F, but these assignments are repeatable (twice).
Your Project. Creating a course project is your principal goal. These can be of enormous variety: a science simulation, a game, a tool for managing some committee work, an interactive learning tool that captures keystrokes for analysis (i.e., a research tool), a tool for creating some Web pages, a household record keeping system, etc.
Why me? Why now? I used to teach a course in HyperCard. In the late 1990s, while at a MacWorld in San Francisco, I decided that Apple was abandoning HyperCard and that teaching such a course was inconsistent with my goals of always having up-to-date ideas for students. I try hard not to "do antiques." On four days notice, I began teaching a course in JavaScript -- a limited language that I have come to hate. Because RunRev is a small company with an application being developed by a small staff, I was not anxious to shift my teaching to RevCode. (Why teach students about stuff they'll not likely be able to use? Too many things can go wrong -- ones worse than being a Google user with no Internet access.) On May 9, 2008, I saw a public demonstration of the RunRev Web plug-in. Within moments, I decided to teach 882A and RevCode. Remember, that's still sort of vaporware -- meaning it's a promise rather than a reality. The demonstration, however, was impressive!
Examples; Targets. Many outstanding business applications run on RunRev. Perhaps the most important academic use is that everything in the back end of the University of Vienna runs on RunRev -- a university of 60,000 students serviced by under 20 RevCoders.
You may have a teaching or business idea that you think requires a Flash module or a Java applet -- but once you try RunRev, you'll probably see an alternative with much shorter development times.