Inspired by the need for remote learning technologies due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the isolated sense of lonely learners, we reimagined a remote classroom that fosters collaboration, builds community and yet without the constraints of the physical world. This paper presents a collaborative learning ecosystem that resembles a traditional city square where avatars of learners and facilitators wander, commingle, discover, and learn together. Buildings in the city square are learning modules which include typical knowledge units, assessment booths, or custom collaborative sketching studios. Our attempted prototype at realizing this conceptualization demonstrated initial success and we offer recommendations for future work.

Understanding player preference and behavioral tendency in the presence of collaborative opportunities is fundamental to building cooperative video games.1 Such knowledge allows the integration and fine-tuning of features to further engage players. This paper presents an ongoing study that approaches the subject by posing a simple question: when opportunities are provided, would players choose to cooperate? The work analyzes existing well-established cooperative game design patterns and identifies effective attributes of game mechanics that are characterized by the patterns. Small multiplayer games that focused on each of the attributes are built where in each case the players have the options of collaborating or completing the tasks individually. In this way, the effects of each attribute can be analyzed independently to provide insights into players' behavior under specific variations of conditions. While the testing is ongoing, our results will provide directions for future integration of collaborative features in games. Additionally, our approach of identifying implementable attributes based on the principles of cooperative game design patterns serves as a template for systematic approach to building cooperative video games.

Summer coding or programming camps are popular. With sufficient organization, offering these camps at higher education institutions can facilitate outreach objectives including engaging underrepresented groups. However, the challenges involved in organizing and offering a camp are many, including: recruitment of instructors and campers, camp management, finances, and curriculum development. We addressed these challenges by engaging a non-profit summer camp provider, Pacific Science Center (PSC), to handle camp logistics; and offered a new course for students with backgrounds in computer science (CS) or education (ED) to learn to teach Java programming and develop a curriculum appropriate for middle school aged campers. The university students then worked as paid summer camp instructors. Three professors, one each from CS, ED, and the Office of Research, co-planned and co-facilitated the course. Reflecting a hands-on and collaborative learning philosophy of PSC camps, the course grouped students into multidisciplinary teams and challenged the teams to learn by collaboratively developing and practice teaching the content. By the end of the course, we had classroom-ready instructors with technical knowledge in both programming and learning theories and a customized curriculum ready for use. This paper details our project, including results from the summer camps. With all developed materials freely available. Interested institutions can either adapt the curriculum or offer a similar course.

Traveling in a virtual world, while confined in the real world requires a virtual reality locomotion (VRL) method. VRL remains an issue because of three fundamental challenges, sickness, presence, and fatigue. We propose a User-Centric Classification (UCC) of VRL methods based on a method's ability to address these challenges. UCC provides a framework to discuss and compare different VRL methods and to examine performance trade-offs. We designed and implemented a testbed to study several VRL methods, and initial results demonstrated the effectiveness of the UCC framework [1].

This paper presents some early results from an exploration into Augmented Reality (AR) applications where users have access to controllable alternative viewing positions based on a camera mounted unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). These results include a system specification that defines and identifies the requirements of multi-view AR; and a demo application where the user can switch between the traditional first person and third person view. While being an initial step in the investigation, the results do illustrate practical applications for multi-view AR functionality. The paper concludes with a discussion on the next steps for the investigation.

Designed specifically for instructors of university or high school Introductory Java Programming Classes (CS1/2) with no background in videogames or computer graphics, and based on our original casual game designs, this workshop will: (1) lead participants through structured gameplay sessions; (2) analyze how game mechanics contribute to player engagement; (3) map core game logic and mechanics to programming constructs taught in CS1/2 classes (e.g., conditionals, loops); (4) guide participants to develop simplified versions of these games based on our custom APIs and using CS1/2 programming constructs; (5) present sample teaching materials based on the games that are being used in our own classrooms, including: lecture materials, hands-on worksheets, and programming assignments; and (6) discuss our experiences using the materials, including what worked and what to avoid. Our games are innovative twists on popular casual genres (e.g., a Breakout variant using the z-plane, and a Zuma variant with user-movable paths) and we're currently enhancing the educational versions for commercial release. We've developed custom APIs for our games that are readily accessible to new programmers based on the successful Game-Themed CS1/2 project. Participants of this workshop will gain the confidence to build similar games, examine approaches to developing teaching materials based on the games and APIs, and understand the challenges inherent to this approach. Students will have the unique opportunity to play with commercial-quality game demos while using CS1/2 concepts to build games that are fun and appropriate for all ages.

There are many flavors of upper division elective classes that cover subjects related to mobile technologies and application development. However, there is a general lack of publications discussing the philosophy, implementation, and results from these classes. When researching for a new upper division mobile application development elective class, based on our students' needs and state of the mobile technologies, we consulted the extensive online information, and drafted guidelines and desired learning outcomes. In the subsequent years, we implemented two versions of mobile application development classes based on the guidelines and learning outcomes. The first, focused on the development of practical mobile applications while the second studied design issues surrounding modern mobile applications and their development. Both classes are project based where students build mobile applications to demonstrate their understanding, and both classes were well received. This paper describes our efforts and the classes, summarizes the results from the classes, and discusses the merits of implementation vs. design based mobile application development classes.

Teaching Software Engineering (SE) based on “real-world” projects engages students with practical application of software engineering concepts-students develop a deeper interest in the project deliverables while they acquire the skills of critically analyzing the problem and determining the best course of action. It can be challenging to find and maintain a reliable stream of suitable software projects that match learning outcomes, technical scope, and academic calendar of an SE class. On the other hand, a typical university campus has many nonComputer Science (CS) technology classes that require their students to study, understand, and evaluate existing software applications in specific areas. With purposeful coordination, these non-CS technology classes can serve as effective source of real projects for SE classes. This paper describes our experience of collaborating with the Education Program in their Technology in Education course. While we encountered some challenges, our experience has demonstrated that it is indeed mutually beneficial and rewarding for students in both courses. We offer recommendations on choosing non-CS technology classes and logistical guidelines to ensure the success of such collaborations.

Games assignments are increasingly popular in computer science education. This paper advocates and analyzes the inclusion of board, card, and dice games as programming assignments in introductory programming courses (CS1/2). The simple interface and strategy-based play of these types of games complement the immersive multimedia and agility-based play of video games. The implementation of board, card, and dice games typically demands less background knowledge from the instructor and offers fewer opportunities for extraneous work by the students. The paper lists 32 specific games that are suitable for teaching the major topics in CS1/2 and discusses the implementation of some of these games and their successful use as programming projects.

Integration of video games into introductory programming (CS1/2) courses motivates and engages students while contributing to their learning outcomes [17, 1, 2]. However, it is challenging for general faculty members teaching CS1/2 courses, few of whom have computer graphics or games backgrounds, to integrate video games. Game-Themed Instructional (GTI) Modules are designed specifically to encourage general faculty members to teach CS1/2 concepts using interactive, graphical, game-like examples. Six independent and self-contained GTI modules were created as a collection of interactive graphical example programs designed to demonstrate one single programming concept (e.g., conditional statements). This paper discusses the design parameters and implementation of the GTI modules and describes a case study of selectively adopting some of the GTI modules in an existing CS1 class. The results of the study demonstrate that it is possible for a faculty member with no games or graphics background to blend GTI modules into an existing CS1 class with minimum alterations to established course materials. The GTI modules are excellent catalysts, enabling faculty to begin exploring teaching with game-themed materials and helping students to be more engaged in CS1 topics.

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.

No abstract available.

We have designed and implemented game-themed programming assignment modules targeted specifically for adoption in existing introductory programming classes. These assignments are self-contained, so that faculty members with no background in graphics or gaming can selectively pick and choose a subset to combine with their own assignments in existing classes. This paper begins with a survey of previous results. Based on this survey, the paper summarizes the important considerations when designing materials for elective adoption. The paper then describes our design, implementation, and assessment efforts. Our result is a road map that guides faculty members in experimenting with game-themed programming assignments by incrementally adopting/customizing suitable materials for their classes.

Our computer graphics (CG) programming class uses games development as a means to help students understand CG concepts. Many students mistakenly thought this CG class was a games programming class. We present a simple frame-work for discussing games programming classes. Based on the framework, the paper describes our efforts in integrating competencies associated with games programming into our CG programming class. Our results show that the resulting class maintains the integrity of the original CG class while allowing students to develop projects with more interesting games features.

Classical computer graphics textbooks (e.g. [1-4]) introduce the field by covering the details of raster-level algorithms. Many computer graphics educators have long recognized that depending on students’ backgrounds and needs (e.g. major vs non-major) [5,6] alternate approaches may be more appropriate [7-8]. With the recent advances in the field, advent of powerful hardware, and sophisticated APIs, the field of computer graphics has become much larger and richer. As educators, we must make tough decisions about what to include in a one semester/quarter class. This panel presents three distinct approaches to teaching introductory Computer Graphics without covering raster-level algorithms. These approaches are suitable for a wide-range of students with different backgrounds and needs. To ensure neutrality and balanced of viewpoints, the panel also discusses the merits of teaching raster-level algorithms and situations where the classical approach better aligns with and serves students’ needs.

A framework for discussing the motion blur image generation process is formulated. Previous work is studied in the context of this framework. Due to the implicit assumptions on low temporal frequencies in most motion blur algorithms, issues involved in large screen space movements and fast illumination changes in time have not been adequately addressed so far. A new approach that does not make these assumptions is introduced to solve the spatial-temporal geometric and shading aliasing problems separately. Based on newly developed adaptive algorithms in the spatial-temporal domain, an implementation of the new approach is developed to efficiently deliver high-quality motion blurred images in general computer graphics production environments.

Maya is the new 3D software package recently released by Alias I Wavefront for creating state of the art character animation and visual effects. Built on a next generation advanced architecture, Maya delivers high speed interaction and high productivity for its users. In the Fall of 1995, the Rendering Team at Alias/Wavefront started from scratch to design and implement a renderer for the Maya project. This was a very challenging task, requiring the efficient generation of high quality images for a next generation 3D application that was still under development. In addition, we were expected to match or exceed the capabilities of our existing popular rendering products (as well as those from our competitors). In January of 1998, the all new renderer was delivered with Maya 1.0. It includes a comprehensive user interface that is well integrated with the rest of the system, and a batch renderer that is capable of efficiently generating a full spectrum of high quality visual effects. Currently, there are high end computer graphics (CG) productions in progress that are using the Maya Renderer. We concentrate on our batch renderer implementation effort. We describe the philosophy, design decisions, and the tasks we set out to achieve in 1995. We then evaluate the delivered system based on images generated with the renderer.

Abstract An algorithm that allows the use of z‐buffer hardware in assisting area sampling for a ray tracing style renderer is described. The implementation issues involved in discretizing the sampling area and light source area are discussed and solutions are proposed. The effects of the hardware‐assisted ray tracing approach on frame‐buffer systems and image synthesis processes are considered.

A spatial traversal algorithm for ray tracing that combines the memory efficiency of an octree and the traversal speed of a uniform voxel space is described. A new octree representation is proposed and an implementation of the algorithm based on that representation is presented. Performance of the implementation and other spatial structure traversal algorithms are examined.

Abstract In the past few years we have seen the acceptance of standards for both two and three dimensional computer graphics. Also during this time, the workstation community has converged on a common windowing system. This paper discusses the problems encountered in implementing graphics standards such as GKS and PHIGS PLUS within the X Window System environment.