Human Resource Machine
Addictive, unique way to supplement coding instruction
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Human Resource Machine
Pros: Entertaining, addictive, and enjoyable puzzles make programming come to life.
Cons: Very little in-game instruction or help; students might give up or just search the internet for the solution.
Bottom Line: A novel way to learn programming that will require student collaboration and extra adult support.
Human Resource Machine is a fantastic way to supplement a class on coding concepts. Students will understand the puzzles better if they already have some basic familiarity with programming concepts such as loops and algorithms. Without those fundamentals, they may find some of the levels difficult even at the earliest stages.
The game would make an excellent whole-class activity following some basic instruction. Students also may enjoy playing in pairs or small groups so they can help each other with more difficult challenges. This would also be a clever way to encourage students to continue exploring programming at home.
Available on the web or as an app, Human Resource Machine is a programming puzzle game that lets you play as an office drone -- a cog in a machine performing simple tasks and trying to avoid having robots take over your job. On each level, your boss gives a command, and you automate the task by moving items from your inbox to the outbox. Moving items is achieved through simple, drag-and-drop commands in a sidebar.
The graphics are fun and simple with a slightly gothic Tim Burton-esque look that will appeal to teens, and although the game itself doesn't offer much assistance, it's not difficult to find hints online -- or entire solutions to the puzzles. The game is available on Steam, but since that's often problematic for schools, most teachers will probably be more interested in the app for iOS or Android.
On the one hand, Human Resource Machine is a novel approach to teaching programming -- a game that boldly merges light story, clever graphics, and sequential problem-solving to teach the concepts of code. Even though the puzzles start off simply enough, however, they quickly become very difficult and involve advanced mathematics and programming concepts that the game may or may not have introduced. This is where things may start to fall apart; without teacher support or group collaboration, students are likely to become extremely frustrated and either give up on the game altogether or start searching solutions online instead. Human Resource Machine would make a fun supplement to a programming class, but it definitely requires some scaffolding and doesn't teach coding in a comprehensive way.
Learning Rating
Community Rating
Super Fun and Engaging Way to Delve into Coding!
It's a fantastic app and one I highly recommend for middle school and high school students to try out. It is fun, engaging, and interactive. Students will feel like they're playing a game and teachers will rub their hands together in glee while the students sit there working out how to mathematically compute the code sequences to make the machines work. Awesome job!
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