Team-Based Pedagogy for Object-Oriented Game Design

Educators Paper
Thursday, 9 August
1:30 - 2 pm
Room 8

Computer science teachers often struggle with design programming assignments that both introduce students to object-oriented design and provide meaningful opportunities for students to develop object-oriented programming skills. As a result, teachers seek creative alternatives for educating the next generation of computer scientists.

Using the context of game design, this project identified a team-based pedagogical strategy to help students understand object-oriented design principles. Team-based pedagogy includes a well-defined rubric, application-focused team programming assignments, software development tools, and built-in incentives for individual and team learning. The project extended Microsoft's Flight Simulator X-game platform as a software development tool for team programming assignments that reinforce object-oriented game design. It also developed team-based learning tools that promote social interactions as part of the learning process.

This presentation summarizes the results and proposes a method for evaluating team-based pedagogy applicable to computer programming courses that influence positive learning outcomes for students.

Presenters

Yolanda Rankin
Northwestern University
Yrankin (at) northwestern.edu

Tom Lechner
Northwestern University

Bruce Gooch
University of Victoria