Quick Prototyping of Educational Software: An Object-Oriented Approach

Abstract

Educational software developers have been criticized for the lack of software engineering methodologies and principles in their analysis and design and therefore have led to low quality products. This article introduces and demonstrates the “quick” or “rapid” prototyping software engineering paradigm which can be easily employed by causal software designers such as classroom teachers using object-oriented software production tools. Development of an educational software called “The Match-Maker,” a game for learning new words, is used as an example using HyperCard™ and its scripting language, HyperTalk™, for quick prototyping. The flexibility and suitability of the object-oriented hypermedia for quick prototyping are identified. Software engineering principles involved in various development stages are presented. Good programming styles and design principles which can be implemented at ease in the object-oriented environment are also discussed.