OU LearningWorks A Customized Programming Environment for …

Short Description
Smalltalk Programming. n . introduction. LearningBook structure. LearningBooks are com-. posed o? sections, which. are in turn composed of …

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Content
OU LearningWorks: A Customized Programming
Environment for Smalltalk Modules
Mark Woodman, Rob Griffiths, Malcolm Macgregor, Simon Holland
Computing Department, The Open University
Walton Hall, Milton Keynes
England MK7 6AA
+44 1908274066
m.woodman, r.w.griffiths, m.d.macgregor, s.holland@open.ac.uk
ABSTRACT when it is closed. The core image is never permanently
We have exploited and adapted Goldberg’s LearningWorks changed; new classes are kept in LearningBooks.
framework to produce an environment with new programming
tools, visualization tools, and system simulations.
The environment is designed to be used via plug-in
modules, called LearningBooks, sets of classes and persistent
objects, for which we have developed
a pedagogic standard that includes, for
example, an HTML browser and various
Launching the environment
The first application to be run is a launcher which is
metaphorically a bookshelf for the LearningBooks. These
are kept in their original instructordefined
form, and in user-saved
versions containing new classes or
of the aforementioned tools and systems.
The context for this development has ‘ Learn,ng~oob
been a distance learning degree-level
course in object technology which is
enrolling over 5000 mature students per
year, mostly in the UK, Western Europe
and Singapore….