Beyond the programming lines, Bear’s programming Carnival.

【人社英專  巫安盈提供】

(學生與Jeffrey老師合影/照片由巫安盈提供)

107-2 was the culmination of the programming course for the EBSC program of the Humanistic Department of Yuan Ze university, which has taken students through an adventure that took them around the infinite world of computer programming, through the “Learning with Bear” platform created by Prof. Jeffrey Sebastian, also known as “Bear” by all of his students. This year’s final examination took place in the first “Programming Carnival” which showcased the projects created by the students, using recycled materials and 100% programmed by them. The student projects applied all the knowledge gained in class, such as AI, Game logic programming and Physical computing. Guests were brought to test and play the different games and challenges created by the students that had one single objective and challenge from the teacher, create the most fun game possible using the limited materials they had available.

(學生發揮想象力並攜手再利用環保資源/照片由巫安盈提供)

EBSC and Learning with Bear’s programming platform’s objective is not only to teach students to program and create software and hardware, but to let the students discover that they are able to do ANYTHING THEY WANT TO and that no task is too hard for them. Whilst programming language can be an intimidating topic approach for many, Learning with Bear’s programming platform has allowed students to conquer their fear and shine with a light of their own.

This is what students shared about their experience:

“Bear’s class is amazing, and I think two main reasons can explain why.

1. Creativity

During my elementary school to high school or even university, we seldom use tools to create things we want, education in Taiwan is mostly sitting and listen. I know I’m not that kind of student, but in this environment, I have to be. However, in Bear’s class, we need to use normal material to make our project. Such as paper box, plastic spoon, aluminum paper and so on.  Therefore, I’m very glad that I can have a professor like Jeffrey, in his class, there’s no correct answer! Because if students can use their way to create a new thing, he will be very surprised. And he also hopes students to challenge him or to give him some ideas that he had never thought about. So the interaction in his class has never stop! Last but not least, he wants us to think there’s no word “impossible”. Just keep your mouth shut and do it, that’s all.

2. Encouraging

I remember there’s once Bear want us to play a game, a programming game. And at first I was good at it, I passed some stage in few minutes, but it getting harder and harder, and at the end, I almost gave up, that time Bear came to my side and said “Hey man! You shouldn’t give up at this time, because you almost finish it, here’s a thing, let me give you a hint, and promise me that you will give it a try, ok?” After that, I broke all the stages and win the game! And that’s what Bear do in our normal class, he will encourage his students to challenge their-self and push them to their limit until they are proud of them-self.

About 6/21 our final exam, Bear made it more like an amusement park instead of stress and quite presentation. I love it! He also finds some guests came to class and play our project. We all enjoyed the time very much. The experience we had in his class was undeniable special and full of joy. Hope he can keep changing the unchanged education concept in Taiwan. To inspire more students to think they can be the best. ”

~ Allen Chan | Student EBSC

(在展示作品和互動過程中，學生和參與者玩得不亦樂乎/照片由巫安盈提供)

“Hi, my name is Hannah, today I want to briefly share my reflection in the programming class. Last Friday there was a final carnival in our learning with bear class, each team showed their creativity and works as a final evaluation. Some works are really fancy and make people want to play with, for example, piano, surfboard, soccer, dancing machine, etc. There are so many great, awesome game to be found here in our class! Who says the students majored in communication cannot program? In our class, we all make it!

In this class, we not only learn how to design a program but also learn to MAKE THE IDEA COMES TRUE. Never afraid of showing the crazy idea，never underestimate yourself!”

~Hannah Liu  | Student EBSC

(學生透過再利用環保資源結合電腦程序創造新玩意/照片由巫安盈提供)

“I like the way Bear has shown us how to work with other students. It made me think that this lesson is very useful for my future job because my department is English Bachelor of Strategic Communication so I should know more and more about different field. Otherwise, this course also helped me to improve my English skills because we needed use English during lessons to work with my teammates to create our games I remember my feeling when the first time I have ever handed a Microbit to connect with Scratch to control our own games. Bear made the lessons become more easier for us by given to us the efforts because we needed to create many games during this class to competition with other group.

Day by day, I felt in love with Programming class and always want to learn about it.”

~Anna Hoang  | Student EBSC