Teaching

Ancient Brain has support for teaching programming classes, whether introduction to coding for schoolkids, or advanced programming in graphics and AI for university students. Coding is in JavaScript.

Register a class

Step one is to bulk register a class using the following:

Teacher and Student accounts

When you register a class using the link above, you get special "Teacher" and "Student" accounts with certain properties.

First note that:

In normal JavaScript coding, you can "View Source" to see the code.
In a normal account on Ancient Brain, everyone can see your creations (Worlds and Minds) and see your code.

"Teacher" and "Student" accounts are different:

All student code is obfuscated and at hidden URLs. Student code is hidden from other students and other users on the system, who cannot find it (and so cannot run it). Even if the student tells them where it is, the code will still be obfuscated (jumbled up).
As the teacher, you can find and see and run all Worlds and Minds written by your students.
As the teacher, you can see the source code of all Worlds and Minds written by your students.
As the teacher, you can edit the code of all Worlds and Minds written by your students.

Marking student programs when you can edit them is fun:

You can make small changes to your students' programs to see what happens. You can even fix bugs and see what the rest of the program does.
When marking coders, it is rare enough for teachers to edit a student program and run it again. The reason being that it is usually not safe or not practical. Here it is both safe and practical.

Ancient Brain support for teaching

Ancient Brain features that support teachers and students:

3D graphics: The site, and its JavaScript libraries, support advanced 3D graphics. Even a simple programming problem can easily be situated inside an attractive 3D graphical World, making the practical engaging for your students.
Students can upload custom images, audio: Students can upload their own images to use in their JavaScript graphics "World". They can upload music and sound effects, and many other customisations. This helps give them ownership of and pride in their creations.
Students can show off their work: Student work is not confined to college computers. Students can show off their work to their parents and others at home and on mobile. It is at a hidden URL, but visible when the student logs in. The student can also tell their parents the URL. We want to encourage students to be proud of their work and show it off at home.
Online submission: Online submission by the students. No forms for you to manage. No email. No paper.
Student code hidden: Student code is hidden from other students (but visible to you).
Teacher can see everything: As the teacher, you can see your students' code. You have a dashboard where you see all their submissions.
No risk to your computer: When running student submissions, there is no risk to your computer. There is no install. There is no cleanup afterwards.
Automatic marking: If you set up a World-Mind type problem, you get an online scoreboard with automatic marking. You run students' code and their score on the problem is automatically filled in.
Teacher can search all class code: The menu bar has JS code search to search all visible code on the site. As the teacher, you can search for any string in the code of all of your students. Making it easy to track down copying. Your students cannot search the code of the class. They can only search their own code and the code of public Worlds on the site.
Best feature: Edit student code and run again: This is perhaps the best feature. When marking, you can easily edit a student program, make some changes, and run it again to see what happens. All with no install and no risk to your computer. You can even bug fix student code. Few teachers ever edit a student program and run it again, because it is usually not practical. This system aims to change that, and make it easy and even fun to do.