Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
Profs Building Open-Source Educational Gaming Engine
8/13/2007
Washington State University Vancouver professor Scott Wallace and University of Puget Sound computer science professor Andrew Nierman were recently awarded a $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to build a gaming engine designed to make learning computer science more absorbing for students."The idea is, students are really interested in gaming," Nierman told the Tacoma, WA, News Tribune. The grant lasts two years and will cover costs of students working on the Java Instructional Gaming Project (JIG Project).
The game engine can already can render the effects of gravity on simple objects. In a couple of hours with the game engine, a beginner could write a game similar to the Asteroids classic electronic game, Nierman said.
By the end the end of the year, Wallace and Nieman plan to use the engine in senior-level computer science classes. Soon after, they hope to to use it in beginning classes, they said.
Nieman and Wallace are also working on a database of 10 lessons that professors could use to teach with the open-source engine. They also said they hope other computer science professors will add to the lesson repository so the teaching possibilities can grow.
Read More:
Paul McCloskey is a contributing editor for the Campus Technology group of publications.
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
Recommended Reading
- Microsoft Unveils 'Ultimate' Support Service
Microsoft Monday rolled out the highest level of its enterprise support programs to date, adding a new offering called "Microsoft Services Premier Ultimate." The offering builds upon the company's existing Premier services program.
- Digital Arrays for Evidence-Based Learning
Our culture is redefining itself and we are redefining how we see learning. It is time for educators to get out of the box of seat time, finally, and consider evidence-based learning.
- 'That Which Weaves Together': The NSF Cyberlearning Report
Trent Batson takes a look at the National Science Foundation's Report of the NSF Task Force on Cyberlearning, "Fostering Learning in the Networked World: The Cyberlearning Opportunity and Challenge."
- The Power of Wikis in Higher Ed
Over the last six years, Stewart Mader has staked his career on the power of wikis. Mader first worked on wiki adoption initiatives in the IT department at Brown University, becoming fascinated by their power and potential. In this first half of a two-part interview, Mader talks about powerful ways to use wikis in education, content ownership issues, and how wikis tend to be used--and why.
- Sakai 2.5.2 Gets Performance Boost; New Modules Released
The Sakai Foundation has released the Sakai Collaboration and Learning Environment 2.5.2, the first maintenance update to the open-source learning management system since the 2.5 release in March. The new version includes performance enhancements, as well as a number of bug fixes and other enhancements.
- Microsoft Changes Virtualization Licensing Rules
Microsoft has made substantial changes to its virtualization licensing program, changes that will lower the cost of using virtualization for many customers.
