Computer science colloquia: Kelvin Sung
| Date/Time: | Thursday, 11 Nov 2010 at 3:40 pm |
|---|---|
| Location: | 1115 Pearson |
| Cost: | Free |
| Phone: | 515-294-6516 |
| Channel: | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences |
| Categories: | Lectures |
| Actions: | Download iCal/vCal | Email Reminder |
The recent developments in computer gaming classes and gaming-themed curricula are exciting and have demonstrated resounding successes in attracting and retaining students in the Computer Science discipline. However, for faculty members with no computer gaming or graphics background the outlook of adopting or developing games-related courseware materials may seem daunting. This presentation describes the on-going results from the "Game-Themed Introductory Programming Project" where the project's ultimate goal is to empower such faculty members with game-themed teaching materials as part of their general teaching tools. In the first phase of the project, we have designed and built general Game-Themed introductory programming assignment modules that demand no existing knowledge of games or graphics from the adopting faculty, and have demonstrated minimum changes to existing classes are required in successful adoption of these materials. Currently, in the second phase of our project, we are building game-themed examples and tutorials to provide a pathway for interested faculty to gradually incorporate game-related materials into their existing courses. Our project is "student-centric" because our materials allow students practice Computer Science concepts in a more real-world-like context. More importantly, our materials are also "faculty-centric" because these materials are the stepping stones for faculty to begin experimenting with a promising new approach to teaching introductory programming courses. This presentation is summarized with the status of our dissemination efforts in offering workshops for faculty.
Kelvin Sung <http://faculty.washington.edu/ksung/>; is a Professor with the Computing and Software Systems at University of Washington Bothell (UWB). He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1992. His background is in computer graphics, hardware and machine architecture. He came to UWB from Alias|Wavefront (now part of Autodesk) in Toronto, where he played a key role in designing and implementing the Maya Renderer. Before joining Alias|Wavefront, Kelvin was an Assistant Professor with the School of Computing, National University of Singapore. Kelvin's research interests are in studying the role of technology in supporting human communication. His recent works are related to teaching and learning of computer graphics and foundational concepts in programming based on computer games.