What makes a "good" game programming assignment?

Authors:
Daniel C. Cliburn;Susan M. Miller
Affiliations:
The University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA;Kent State University, Kent, OH
Venue:
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
Year:
2008

Citing 7
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Abstract

Gaming in the Computer Science (CS) curriculum has received considerable attention in recent years as a way to motivate students in their coursework, as well as to encourage them to pursue CS as a college major. Although the number of approaches to using games as course assignments is vast, understanding the impact of game assignments is limited. This paper presents results of in-depth interviews with six students who participated in a study that examined the use of games as assignments. In order to obtain maximum variation in responses, a purposeful sampling method was used to select participants for the interviews. Student responses revealed that in general students like game assignments with structure and prefer games that they already know to more open ended project options.