Game-themed programming assignments for faculty: a case study

  • Authors:

  • Cinnamon Hillyard;Robin Angotti;Michael Panitz;Kelvin Sung;John Nordlinger;David Goldstein

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Washington, Bothell, Bothell, WA, USA;University of Washington, Bothell, Bothell, WA, USA;Cascadia Community College, Bothell, WA, USA;University of Washington, Bothell, Bothell, WA, USA;Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA, USA;Univresity of Washington, Bothell, Bothell, WA, USA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 41st ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

Despite the proven success of using computer video games as a context for teaching introductory programming (CS1/2) courses, barriers including the lack of adoptable materials, required background expertise (in graphics/games), and institutional acceptance still prevent interested faculty members from experimenting with this approach. The Game-Themed programming Assignment (GTA) modules are designed specifically for these faculty members such that they can selectively pick and choose a subset to experiment with and gradually adopt the materials in their own classes. The design and academic merits of the GTA modules have been verified and presented previously [24]. This paper begins by describing results from GTA workshops for CS1/2 faculty and goes on to detail the results of our year-long project in adopting the GTA modules in classes. In this case, we have demonstrated that introductory programming concepts can be examined, practiced, and learned based on GTA modules when neither the faculty nor the students involved have backgrounds in graphics or games. More importantly, our results showed that it is straightforward to blend the GTA modules into existing classes with minimum alterations. In these ways, the GTA modules are excellent catalysts enabling faculty to begin exploring teaching with game-themed materials.