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Gaming in the Classroom: Essential Elements Pitfalls Bad/Successes Good

Richard Liston Ursinus College. Gaming in the Classroom: Essential Elements Pitfalls Bad/Successes Good. $ whoami. $ whoami. Currently: CS Professor/Networking Researcher. $ whoami. Currently: CS Professor/Networking Researcher Formerly: Musician. $ whoami.

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Gaming in the Classroom: Essential Elements Pitfalls Bad/Successes Good

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  1. Richard Liston Ursinus College Gaming in the Classroom: Essential ElementsPitfalls Bad/Successes Good

  2. $ whoami

  3. $ whoami Currently: CS Professor/Networking Researcher

  4. $ whoami Currently: CS Professor/Networking Researcher Formerly: Musician

  5. $ whoami Currently: CS Professor/Networking Researcher Formerly: Musician • IF (“Adventure”)

  6. $ whoami Currently: CS Professor/Networking Researcher Formerly: Musician • IF (“Adventure”) • Hofstadter: “Gödel, Escher, Bach”

  7. $ whoami Currently: CS Professor/Networking Researcher Formerly: Musician • IF (“Adventure”) • Hofstadter: “Gödel, Escher, Bach” • Math/CS…and still love learning…

  8. Gaming, Learning and I NITLE Seminar, Summer 2005 Incorporated into my courses (various sources) • Intro to CS: quiz game (User I/O, designing for generality: reading from file) • Data Structures: artificial life (arrays, simple image file formats), minesweeper (recursion, 2D arrays) • Computer Networks: networked QuadraPong (protocol design/implementation, protocol interoperability) • CIE: Interactive Fiction (explore moral dilemmas w/Inform 7)

  9. Why Does Gaming Work?

  10. Why Does Gaming Work? • Students play games

  11. Why Does Gaming Work? • Students play games • Professors play games

  12. Why Does Gaming Work? • Students play games • Professors play games • Designing/implementing games is fun for all

  13. Why Does Gaming Work? • Students play games • Professors play games • Designing/implementing games is fun for all • Advantages (disadvantages?) of peer reviews • Learning value

  14. Learning Value • Immersion • Active thought • Requires broad knowledge • Game domain • Interdisciplinary skills • Learn good process: complete design

  15. Coming Up • Experience: successes and challenges • Possible projects in other disciplines (non-CS) • Some recommendations • Discussion

  16. Quiz Game Assignment: • Choose a topic about which you have a great deal of knowledge • Create a series of questions with multiple choice answers • Devise a scoring system • Administer the quiz • Print scores and some associated comment about the score

  17. Successes • All working games

  18. Successes • All working games • Topics • Math • Music • Television Shows • Sports: baseball, hockey • Geography • Food • “The Godfather”

  19. Challenges • Time to grade: plan this!

  20. Challenges • Time to grade: plan this! • Scoring system too open-ended

  21. Cellular Automata • AKA “Artificial life” • Assignment: • Use arrays (low-level data structure) • Read file describing initial conditions and rules • Write out image representing “generations”

  22. Successes: beauty

  23. Successes: beauty

  24. Successes: beauty

  25. Successes • Beautiful pictures • Experience with emergent properties • Work with image file formats • Work with low-level data structures

  26. Challenges • Time to grade: plan this! • Scoring system too open-ended • Short time, many new details • Complex: risky!

  27. QuadraPong Assignment: • Design network protocol • Use real IETF process • Modify game code with protocol • Test against other implementations

  28. Successes Game Engine Credit: Scott Kulp

  29. Successes Game Engine Credit: Scott Kulp

  30. Successes • Mostly properly working games • Learn about design in the real world • Work with real-time protocols • Solid software development process • Play during exam time!

  31. Challenges • Time to grade: plan this! • Scoring system too open-ended • Short time, many new details • Very complex: risky! • Managing group dynamics

  32. Challenges • Time to grade: plan this! • Scoring system too open-ended • Short time, many new details • Very complex: risky! • Managing group dynamics • Quiet during exam period!

  33. Games in other disciplines • Languages: • To create: must know vocabulary, structure • Can reinforce, steadily increase difficulty • Sciences • Solve math/physics/chemistry puzzles • Anthropomorphize photosynthesis • History: create historically accurate virtual world • Fixed in time • Historical events unfold over time

  34. Elements • Clear goal • Realistic time frame • Access to information • Domain of topic • Facility with development environment • Process • Schedule • Revision control: SubVersion • Shipping Product? • Maintenance?

  35. Some Recommendations • Employ solid software engineering practice (optimal)

  36. Some Recommendations • Employ solid software engineering practice (optimal) • Choose teams well • Different skills (may not be able to)

  37. Some Recommendations • Employ solid software engineering practice (optimal) • Choose teams well • Different skills (may not be able to) • Good idea (aye, there’s the rub)

  38. Some Recommendations • Employ solid software engineering practice (optimal) • Choose teams well • Different skills (may not be able to) • Good idea (aye, there’s the rub) • Design/design review • User studies using prototype (HCI techniques) • Thinkaloud: user talks while using the product • Task Completion: user completes specific tasks according to script

  39. Some Recommendations • Employ solid software engineering practice (optimal) • Choose teams well • Different skills (may not be able to) • Good idea (aye, there’s the rub) • Design/design review • User studies using prototype (HCI techniques) • Thinkaloud: user talks while using the product • Task Completion: user completes specific tasks according to script • Implement/review/debug

  40. Some Recommendations • Employ solid software engineering practice (optimal) • Choose teams well • Different skills (may not be able to) • Good idea (aye, there’s the rub) • Design/design review • User studies using prototype (HCI techniques) • Thinkaloud: user talks while using the product • Task Completion: user completes specific tasks according to script • Implement/review/debug • Testing: user studies with real system

  41. Some Recommendations • Know your system • Use • Features • Capabilities (don’t exceed)

  42. Some Recommendations • Don’t Panic! They’re learning: • Group skills (not all students enter college with the skills that would make them a good team members) • Development process (not just for CS) • Use of a game development environment; knowing something about what software can do won’t hurt anyone

  43. Some Recommendations • Plan a reasonable, complete schedule (How??) • Keep eyes open for red flags of schedule slip • Watch for group “issues” • Make the group think through the tasks in detail • Too easy to say “we’ll get it done in time” • Because we can imagine it, we can do it? • Implement when the design is complete • But is delay of gratification still fun? Yes, with support. • Keep everyone focused on a common end result

  44. Thank you!

  45. Let’s hear from you…

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