9.2 The Scratch Experience

I found the Scratch experience to be extremely fun and relaxing, primarily because it has been a very long time since I've worked with a medium that I'm completely unfamiliar with. Most of the digital forms that we've worked with throughout the semester I've at least encountered or explored at some point, however creative coding is entirely new to me and I found it refreshing to be able to experiment without really knowing what the medium is capable of. A lot of my experimentation involved using the preset sprites and inputs to simply see what could be created, and in this alone, I already see how someone who is more experienced with the Scratch interface could use it to create wonderfully imaginative and interactive works. There's a plethora of awesome options for creatives to take advantage of: drawing/customization tools for the creation or modification of your own sprites, import tools to bring in existing images as sprites, an array of coding blocks with seemingly endless command options, and perhaps the most fascinating, a create-your-own block option where those who are familiar with coding can make their own input commands using the pre-established interface. For the art classroom, potential educators could use Scratch to:

1. Introduce students to simple animation concepts and interactive art creation through, code-guided drawing lessons: I feel as though Scratch's tools are extremely accessible (if time and patience is applied) and can provide a valuable middle-ground for students who have no experience with animation and interactive art. Softwares such as Adobe Animate and Maya have somewhat of a high-learning curve, even for students who are proficient in drawing, and it can be a bit daunting to jump into these because they are heavily reliant on the users having an existing knowledge base. Scratch, however, is not at all reliant on preexisting knowledge, and because of this, I believe it could be very effective to teach students through it. Students might quickly find thrill in drawing their own sprites and getting them to shift and transform via movement or appearance blocks that are triggered by event commands. As students become more proficient with these techniques, I could even see the potential for students to be able to create moving digital drawings, collages, or landscapes that also operate via these event commands. 
2. Explore game design with students from an artistic lens: Game design and development are often overlooked in the arts because the final product is heavily-reliant on computing and coding, however Scratch's user-friendly interface works to alleviate this issue and could potentially make game creation a more approachable endeavor for artists and creatives. Game design, when explored within an arts classroom, could take a variety of different forms. On one hand, students might try their hand at creating their own flash games, and Scratch conveniently facilitates this by offering tutorials that instruct in the creation of numerous game types from the ground up. On the other hand, students might take a more immersive approach and try creating interactive game applications that work in conjunction with the other forms of art that they are already creating. I envision this potential pathway taking the form of "interactive exhibits," wherein Scratch is used to code fun game-based interfaces that accompany works of art, in a manner similar to many tech-savvy museums that are already moving in this direction (e.g. The Cleveland Museum of Art from Post 1.3). Much like Scratch itself, the potential possibilities for this sort of creation are endless.