I’ve never been big on MS products for a very long time now and am not going further into details :). Somehow while surfing the net one morning, I came across Kodu (originally named Boku) Game Lab.
What got me all interested was the Kodu Classroom Kit! Seems like a great start and I zoomed into details. First, I downloaded the classroom kit. Noticed there was a document called “Kodu Curriculum: Math Module” targeted at Math teachers. Ok so it got more interesting…
The “Math Module” had lesson plans and activities including sample scaffolding questions for teachers to kick-start Math lessons using Kodu. “The lessons are designed to be flexible so the instructor should take what she or he feels best suits the class and his or her teaching style. Our goal is to help address the many ways that students respond to technology—some like to be directed in their advancement and others tend to forge ahead, experimenting through trial and error.” Kudos to Kodu for that great amount of details!
- Anyone!
- It can be taught by any teacher, no previous programming expertise required
- Ages 8 and up typically have the most success
Now this is exciting!
Students can be assigned to create their own games to demonstrate knowledge in the subject and I’m certain they will work harder on the games than their regular homework.
Build worlds (and games) in Kodu using the built-in programmable objects. It's just like working with SimCity!
Once you've built a world, populate it with trees, flowers, castles – and then add characters. Everything can be interactive, if you want.
Kodu's visual programming tools are deceptively simple – it's possible to build very complex behaviours with the available commands. Here we're creating a Pac-Man like character that'll find and eat apples.
Characters can interact with each other, and there's the possibility of building multi-user games!
Source: http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/hands-on-microsoft-kodu-for-xbox-360-614461
Kodu does sound promising for the classroom (at least for Math) but beware that your PC hadware has to be up to mark (view Kodu’s “Getting Started” guide for details) else it will crash like how it does on mine 😦
So question to MS FUSE Labs, are we expecting Kodu to undergo a premature death just like Popfly?
Beyond r3ality 
Recent Comments