Many of our class programs are free downloads. Please install these programs at home. Your students can get extra practice and show you what they're creating.
If you have a slow connection at home, your student can get a copy on a USB drive or a blank CD.
Flash
Makes cartoon-like computer animations. We use it for several projects, including our music video animation.
Price: $600
This is one of our most expensive pieces of software. DON'T buy this for home use.
Scratch
An introductory programming tool developed by MIT. Used to make video games and learn the basics of computer programming.
Price: Free! Download it here.
Sketchup
A 3-D modeling tool made by Google. Used to make models of buildings, vehicles, and pretty much any other object.
Price: Free! Download it here. (there's a Pro version that costs money, but we use the free one in class)
GIMP
The GNU Image Manipulation Program is a photo-editing program similar to Photoshop. We use it for basic photo editing and other graphics work.
Price: Free! Download it here.
GarageBand
GarageBand is an audio production program for music and spoken-word recordings. We use it to produce the student podcast episodes.
Price: Included free with a Mac computer, but there is no Windows version available.
iMovie
Video editing program. Used to edit student-produced movies and upload them to YouTube.
Price: Included free with a Mac computer, but there is no Windows version available. (although the free Windows Movie Maker is similar)
GIMP
The GNU Image Manipulation Program is a photo-editing program similar to Photoshop. All of our editing in this class is done with the GIMP. I highly recommend students get a copy to use at home.
Price: Free! Download it here.
Scratch
An introductory programming tool developed by MIT. Used to make video games and learn the basics of computer programming.
Price: Free! Download it here.
Alice
Alice is a 3-D programming-learning tool developed by Carnegie Mellon. Written in Java, students drag-and-drop pieces of code to assemble complex object-oriented programs.
Price: Free! Download it here.
Jeroo
A 2-D tile-based program where students guide kangaroos around an island avoiding traps and accomplishing various goals. Trickier than the other two, Jeroo requires writing actual programming code to instruct the kangaroos.
Price: Free! Download it here.
Flash
Makes cartoon-like computer animations. We use it for several projects, including our music video animation and our rotoscoping project.
Price: $600
This is one of our most expensive pieces of software. DON'T buy this for home use.
Sketchup
A 3-D modeling tool made by Google. Used to make models of buildings, vehicles, and pretty much any other object.
Price: Free! Download it here. (there's a Pro version that costs money, but we use the free one in class)
Smultron
A text editor for Mac computers. Includes HTML and CSS templates and built-in HTML validation. We write all our HTML and CSS code in this editor.
Price: Free! Download it here. (Mac version only)
jEdit
A text editor for Mac or Windows; this is a good alternative to Smultron if you have Windows at home. It's more powerful than Smultron, but not quite as easy to use. Still, it's widely supported and a favorite of many in the industry.
Price: Free! Download it here.