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Pages
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker; D. Michele Jacobsen
- Date issued
- 2007
- Description
- Games literacy for all
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2006
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2008
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker; J. R. Parker
- Date issued
- 2007
- Description
- There has been significant recent interest in computer games in University and College curricula as a way to teach early computer science, to attract more students into the program, to teach advanced concepts, and to help lend vocational weight to a curriculum. In this article we discuss several ways that games can contribute to an undergraduate CS program, and illustrate specific ways that the use of games has influenced learning, the students, the faculty, and the institution where these courses have been implemented.
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker; J. R. Parker
- Date issued
- 2003
- Description
- Two approaches to teaching Computer Science are compared, using two sets of assignments given to distinct CS102 lecture sections during the same semester. The complexity and effort represented by the solutions is compared using software engineering metrics, giving a measure of the effectiveness of the two assignment sets.
- Type
- conference publication
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Becker, Katrin
- Date issued
- 2006; 2006
- Description
- Conference paper and presentation slides
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker; Melissa Beacham
- Date issued
- 2000
- Description
- In order to design and write effective, robust code using advanced data structures, it is crucial to achieve a thorough understanding of the algorithms used to manipulate these structures. One means of accomplishing the task is to provide students with a graphical, animated system that allows users to observe changes that the structure undergoes while it is being used. One such system has been developed which demonstrates B-Trees. Some preliminary testing is complete and some initial reactions of the students who have tried the system are outlined.
- Type
- conference publication
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker; J. R. Parker
- Date issued
- 2008
- Description
- Before researchers can perform studies using commercial games, they must choose which game or games to study. The manner in which that choice is made and justified is the focus of this paper.
- Type
- book chapter
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 1983
- Description
- All introductory programming students must learn the syntax of the language they are to use. The problems that students have learning syntax are described, and a teaching methodology is suggested. Two types of exercises are explained which will help the students learn syntax, and the reactions of the students who have used them are outlined.
- Type
- conference publication
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- J. R. Parker; Katrin Becker; K. D. Loose
- Date issued
- 2007
- Description
- In the past 3-4 years there has been a significant interest in computer games in University and college curricula, as a way to teach early computer science, to attract more students into the program, and to teach advanced concepts and lend vocational weight to a curriculum. In this article we discuss many ways that games can contribute to an undergraduate CS program, and illustrates specific ways that the use of games has influenced the students, the faculty, and the institution. Our claims are supported by numbers based on actual observation and study. We also show how the inclusion of games can add to research aspects and the reputation of a computer science department.
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2004
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2006
- Description
- An important step towards gaining an understanding of how a particular medium can be used most effectively in education is to study its outstanding examples, regardless of their original purpose. It is assumed that “good” games already embody sound pedagogy in their designs even if that incorporation was not deliberate (Becker, 2006). The work described here will examine commercially and critically successful video games as though they had been designed as learning objects. Through this perspective, it is possible to identify and classify built-in learning objectives and from there to associate the mechanisms and strategies employed to teach them. A significant outcome of this work will...
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2005
- Description
- Through the combined efforts of many dedicated researchers across the globe, the “message” of the value of games for learning is starting to be heard in formal education, but there remains considerable resistance. One way to help overcome this resistance and influence the acceptance and integration of games as educational technology is through the connection of existing game design with scholarly and widely accepted pedagogy. This paper outlines the theories of Robert Gagné, and Howard Gardner to demonstrate how good games, even purely commercial ones, already embody the fundamental elements of these learning and instructional theories. In this way, it can be shown that good games...
- Type
- conference publication
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2006
- Description
- Books, film, television, and indeed every other medium that came before them has been used and sometimes studied as media for the delivery of instruction. Outstanding examples of each medium have been applied to educative purposes with enduring results. Digital games are now also receiving attention in this context. A first step to gaining an understanding for just how a particular medium can be used in education is to study the outstanding examples, regardless of their original purpose. This chapter examines numerous well-known and commercially successful games through the lens of several known and accepted learning theories and styles, using the premise that “good” games already embody...
- Type
- book chapter
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2003
- Description
- Students in first year often begin with dramatically different backgrounds and abilities. In an effort to address the needs of all, varying levels of completion (stages) can be described in the assignment specifications.
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker; J. R. Parker
- Date issued
- 2005
- Description
- The quest for interesting, engaging, yet doable programming assignments is an ongoing one. Authentic, realistic examples have often been drawn from business, and games have often been overlooked as being too narrow in scope. This paper explains why computer games, especially classic arcade games are ideal vehicles for learning to program.
- Type
- conference publication
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2000
- Description
- Most courses taught in Computer Science still use the traditional lecture plus lab format, usually with one or more required texts as reference. While many instructors now also use the web to augment this, many if not most use it simply as a convenient place to put materials they would normally hand out on paper in class. Some keep all their lecture notes and slides on their laptops or on the web and then display them during class as the basis for their lectures. Students do find it useful to have access to lecture notes and many appreciate being able to print out lecture notes before a class so they can follow along during lectures. Since access to computers and skill in their use is...
- Type
- offprint
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2006
- Description
- This presentation is intended to fulfill two goals: 1. To show that many commercial games, the successful ones at least, already implement sound pedagogy when it comes to how they get players to learn the game and how they facilitate gameplay. 2. To encourage critical examination of successful video games, to learn how this has been done, so that we may use that information to build engaging educational games.
- Type
- presentations (communicative events)
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Katrin Becker
- Date issued
- 2003
- Description
- Rubrics are a relatively well understood assessment instrument, although it doesn't appear to be heavily used in CSE. "Learning increases, even in its serendipitous aspects, when learners have a sense of what they are setting out to learn, a statement of explicit standards they must meet, and a way of seeing what they have learned." [Loac86] "Assessment requires [faculty] to articulate... explicit and public statements of criteria of performance. By doing so, faculty refine their own understanding of expected abilities, clarify for their colleagues the basis of their judgment, and enable students to understand what performance is required."
- Type
- posters
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology
- Contributor(s)
- Becker, Katrin
- Date issued
- 2007
- Description
- Presentation given at The Montreal International Game Summit, Serious Games Canada Symposium, November 27-28, 2007.
- Type
- Presentation
- Appears in collection(s)
- Science and Technology