Gaming in CS Curricula
Monday, October 17, 2005 at 1:50 AMI quote from a TechnologyReview.com article:
"In a report for the National Science Foundation in 2000, the Carnegie Mellon researchers showed that freshmen in CS1 who used Alice [a program to teach programming through a game framework] average a B grade, while those in the control group who didn't use Alice averaged a C.
Furthermore, retention rates -- the proportion of students using Alice in CS1 who moved on to CS2 -- rose from 47 percent to 88 percent."
Several universities around the world are also using gaming-related courses to reverse the alarming slide in computer science enrollees.
I wonder when will UP Diliman's DCS have a course on gaming or gaming development. Closest to such a course might be CS 176 (Computer Graphics) and CS 174 (Mobile Computing -- mobile phone games, anyone?). Here's a confession: as an avid gamer in high school, I took BS Computer Science because I wanted to create my own games.
Fortunately, our student organization, UP ACM, has two Special Interest Groups (SIGs) related to gaming -- the Gaming Guild and the Graphics SIG. I really hope the SIG Heads present more exciting and informative projects for the second semester.
Hi there, it's me again (the guy who asked about an MSCS course in UP before).
For me, I think game development courses can actually help students improve their grades. For one, you will most likely enjoy programming games. Second, games are very broad and these make use a lot of theories we learn at school ;-) graphics... AI... (and yes, we will be employing lots of objects and classes). The first mini-game I made (thanks to RAD I was able to pull it off in 3 days hehehe) was like a simple desktop Tamagotchi for our AI class back then.
Just like you, I have an interest once in game development (it's piracy that discourages me). You can start out by joining the IGDA I joined months ago (sadly, I am inactive - you know, schedule).
;-)
to fleeb: hi there! glad to have you back. sorry for being delinquent in my reply..i was just clearing up a few things left in my sem.. ;)
you got it right. cheers to a fellow advocate of game dev't in CS! and...RAD? as in, RAD Game Tools? astig!
hm..join IGDA? i'd take that suggestion to heart, though I might apply for the free account for now. thanks for the tip :)
I'm sure DCS is willing to have a course on gaming. The problem: no member of the faculty specializes in gaming. Hmm, maybe you can help by enrolling in an MSCS course (major in gaming) abroad after graduation then come back to UPD ehehe (hay I wish I can help, but I have to graduate first :P)
to buchicoy: haha, i wish i had the time or the desire. :D i'm seriously considering taking up History as a second course, while doing a part-time job. before creative writing and journ, there were the dusty ol' history books first. ;)
Wow, I thought you'd take up Journalism or MBA. Good luck!
to buchicoy: It's actually a four-way logjam: History, Creative Writing, Journ, or MBA? Anyway, thanks! :)
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