Introductory Graphics Programming: Transition to IMPACT

Computer programming is a difficult field for students to learn, while the most effective teaching strategies are not known conclusively. Educator’s opinions vary as to the optimal approach. It is largely a point of agreement however that programming, as an applied field, is learned more quickly as a function of practice. Traditional lecture approaches impose a passive mindset upon the student and uses valuable time. This study posits that students might be better served by minimizing student time passively listening to lectures and instead keeping students actively engaged at the keyboard work through programming problems individually and in small groups. The IMPACT model helps facilitate this move away from a purely instructor-led model to a more student-centered model. Both affective and performance metrics are gathered and analyzed in the transition to the new teaching model. As the first IMPACT class, run in a true IMPACT room, is currently in session, study results are pending

Introductory programming: a systematic literature review

As computing becomes a mainstream discipline embedded in the school curriculum and acts as an enabler for an increasing range of academic disciplines in higher education, the literature on introductory programming is growing. Although there have been several reviews that focus on specific aspects of introductory programming, there has been no broad overview of the literature exploring recent trends across the breadth of introductory programming. This paper is the report of an ITiCSE working group that conducted a systematic review in order to gain an overview of the introductory programming literature. Partitioning the literature into papers addressing the student, teaching, the curriculum, and assessment, we explore trends, highlight advances in knowledge over the past 15 years, and indicate possible directions for future research

Virtual Reality: When “Real” Becomes Real

Virtual reality has moved out of the lab and into our living rooms. With it comes an entire new medium for entertainment, simulation, and social interaction. Its potential impact on humanity, however, is actually far more profound. VR provides not just a new digital content delivery platform. It creates, in literal fact, an entire new class of human experience. A virtual experience is only virtual according to our intellects, but to every other fiber of our perceptual system, the experience is not at all virtual. It is real. I will discuss the implications, both beautiful and unsettling, of a world in which human experiences can be wholly designed and manufactured, yet perceived by our nervous systems as absolutely real

A framework for validating light fields created using physically based rendering techniques

This research study presents a framework for applying physically based global illumination techniques to the creation of software models of light fields that are then validated against actual light fields measured in physical experiments. A prior experiment was performed by horticulture scientists in which the light field of an empty plant growth chamber was measured using quantum sensors at fixed spatial intervals. The result was a light map consisting of a 9 x 45, fixed-width, two-dimensional graph of sensor readings that described the intensity of radiant energy present in the chamber at the chosen locations. A single observation of the growth chamber was made resulting in a single data set consisting of 45 different, location-sensitive irradiance observations. To test this framework a series of simulations were performed in which the physical attributes of the growth chamber were duplicated as closely as possible in a virtual growth chamber software model. Modeled attributes included physical dimensions, wall and light reflectivity, and full-spectrum light characterization. Light transport was modeled using a physically based, global illumination rendering technique called photon mapping. Virtual sensors that recorded the intensity of the light that transmitted through their surface were placed in the virtual chamber at the same position and interval as the ones that were used in the physical experiment. The output of the virtual chamber experiments were represented as a graph in the same configuration as the one in the physical experiment. The experiment was conducted using a modified version of pbrt, a physically based, extensible renderer developed by Matt Pharr and Greg Humphreys [1]. As photon mapping uses a stochastic algorithm, many repetitions of the virtual chamber experiment were performed and the mean and standard deviation were recorded as a global measure for each chamber as well as for each individual sensor location. The global means of the physical and virtual chambers were compared using a simple linear regression analysis and were shown to have a p \u3c 0.0001 at α \u3c 0.05, thus indicating a significant association between them. The correlation coefficient between the chambers was –0.66 indicating a fairly strong negative relationship between the two groups. A robust statistical comparison of sensor-to-sensor similarity between the physical and virtual was not possible due to the limited number of observations in the physical data. However visual comparison of the patterns of response between a given physical and virtual sensor does show a significant inverse relationship between the two. It is unclear why the relationship between the virtual and physical chambers is inverse; potential causes and solutions are discussed. An important conclusion reached in this study is that photon mapping as implemented in pbrt demonstrates the ability to function as a tool for irradiance modeling as well as image synthesis

Exploring the Reliability of a Cross-Cultural Model for Digital Games: A Systematic Review

In recent years, the game industry has become one of the most popular and competitive industries. To quickly expand game markets and attract more game players and consumers, a variety of types of games are developed by the companies and developers. Cross-region games are also common in the current game markets. Consequently, a multi-national competition across different cultures or countries is inevitable. For successful expansion of game market, the existence of cultural differences of game players with various cultural backgrounds is one of the notable issues we cannot ignore. Even though there are studies focusing on the relevant cultural differences, there are no study summarizing the past findings. Additionally, no powerful norm has yet been defined, therefore this paper will investigate whether it is feasible to apply the Hofstedes’ Cultural Dimensions Theory, often utilized in Management, to game industries and to be a reliable guidance for game design and development for cross-culture game players

Cogent: Case Study of Meaningful Gamification in Education with Virtual Currency

This paper analyzes students’ experience with Cogent, a virtual economy system used throughout the 4 years of a B.S. degree in a Technology major. The case study explains the rules of the Cogent system and investigates its effectiveness to motivate students to learn. Using focus groups and interviews, we collected qualitative data from students about their experience and perceptions of Cogent. The results indicate that Cogent played an encouraging and motivational role for these students and suggest potential for the successful design and implementation of meaningful gamification systems to promote student motivation and engagement within an educational context

Cogent：A Case Study of Meaningful Gamification in Education with Virtual Currency

This paper analyzes students’ experience with Cogent, a virtual economy system used throughout the 4 years of a B.S. degree in a Technology major. The case study explains the rules of the Cogent system and investigates its effectiveness to motivate students to learn. Using focus groups and interviews, we collected qualitative data from students about their experience and perceptions of Cogent. The results indicate that Cogent played an encouraging and motivational role for these students and suggest potential for the successful design and implementation of meaningful gamification systems to promote student motivation and engagement within an educational context

Career Path - Understand the Relation of Majors to Occupations Through Interactive Visualization

To prepare students for the large range of different occupations, number of departments and majors in a university are expanding. In Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus, there are more than 100 departments across disciplines ranging from engineering, science, health and human science, technology, education, agriculture, management, pharmacy, to liberal arts. The wide options of majors make it difficult for students to make their decisions for their major and their future occupations. Many students have to change their major during the middle of college years, which will cause a big loss on money and time. Based on a survey data collected from Purdue and a national survey database, we developed an interactive visualization system to help high school students and college freshmen explore the connections between majors and occupations. Through this visualization, we tried to help students find out answers for the following questions: What major should I choose? What occupation should I pursue? What majors can help me pursue this occupation? What occupation can I apply for from this major? What is the required skill set for a particular major/occupation? What kinds of skills do a major help me develop? What majors/occupations are good to fit my KSA (knowledge, skills, and abilities)? What occupations are good to fit my temperament/preferred work characteristics? What are the long-term employment prospects for this major (earnings, unemployment, and flexibility to get many jobs)? What knowledge and skills are complementary to a particular major and helpful for landing specific jobs