Students learn programming through building games

By Amanda Phipps
phippsa@mytjnow.com

Students in computer science professor James McKim’s DIFD 141 class learn programming in a new way: by building their own version of ‘Hangman.’ Game-based learning has been on the rise in higher education, including at Winthrop. Screen Shot by Sarah Auvil • auvils@mytjnow.comGames are not just for fun.

While many people may think of games as just a form of entertainment, games are incorporated into classes at Winthrop to help students gain programming skills.

Computer science professor James McKim takes a different approach to teaching computer science  to freshmen; he uses games.

The freshmen-level CSCI 151 course includes an assignment that allows students to build a group of characters to interact with, McKim said. Though this assignment does not reach the level of a full game, it allows students to gain a better understanding of how a program can be expanded and how much work goes into programming large software systems, he said.

McKim said the assignment meets the requirements of the course while including an entertainment aspect.

“(It is the) wow factor,” he said. “Learning should be fun.”

In his other course, DIFD 141, McKim assigns students the task of building their own version of Hangman, complete with choices and categories. The students are given creative license for the look and categories of the game, he said.

McKim said the class looked at Hangman games that already exist and worked to build better ones. 

Sophomore digital information design major Jesse Dotson, who took DIFD 141, said the class focused on using the Hangman game to teach the web design and development requirements for the course.

“This idea was great because it allowed us to have the idea of, here is our project, now let’s work toward this goal,” he said. “I definitely had a great learning experience in DIFD 141.The game concept helps, and I think it should be used in the future.”

The 2011 Horizon Report points to game-based learning as one of the top six technology trends of 2011 that affect higher education, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. The Chronicle predicted that the use of game-based learning will be more prominent in the next couple of years.

Games support collaboration, problem-solving and communication among higher education students, according to the 2011 Horizon Report.

While Winthrop students have focused on learning concepts through developing games, McKim said he started incorporating game-based learning into his classes a while ago. He said he wanted students to do a project in their programming courses.

“(I wanted them to) build something they want to show someone else,” he said.

While students in McKim’s courses learn basic programming skills through building games, students in Xusheng Wang’s CSCI 444 class takes game-based learning a step farther, by developing a 3D, fully functional game.

Wang said his students learn how to develop a game throughout the course. He said the students use game-building tools that already exist and learn how to create 3D objects and incorporate them into a game.

By building the game themselves, Wang said the students learn how to put their resources together to create a game.

Wang said the class teaches students how to use their programming skills for real-life applications. He said students respond better to this type of learning versus strictly learning how to write code. 

“[The course] is different than other programming classes,” he said. “It enhances [the students’] interest [because] they can play it.”