UW Bothell professor uses XBox to teach students

Students at the UW Bothell will have the opportunity to play XBox for credit this fall. Professor Kelvin Sung, of the Department of Computing and Software Systems at the UW Bothell, has created a way to use an Xbox 360 as a teaching tool to increase his students' desire to come to class and listen.

"I first tried to teach just the algebra, and that didn't work," Sung said. "After some reflection I realized I needed to excite students about wanting to learn."

The idea of using an Xbox came from Sung's experience working in the computer graphics industry. The content of the class does not change, but the methods improve students' attitude toward learning, he said.

When some students complain about the heavy emphasis on games, Sung explains the method behind his madness.

"It's fortunate that we can identify most of the computer graphics in a popular application or game," he said. "In computer graphics, I can point to any popular application, such as PowerPoint, to teach a lesson. I can ask my students 'Have you ever wondered how they do this?'"

Many of Sung's students do work in the video game industry. He speaks to many of the employers that hire his students and in his experience, he said companies do not hire students based on their ability to play these video games.

"[The video game industry is] looking for team players, problem solvers who can dynamically analyze problems," Sung said. "The ability to play games is a plus, but not the first thing an employer will look for."

Sung has taught computer graphics for more than 10 years, four of which were in Singapore. The most interesting job he was assigned took him to Hawaii for the making of the Final Fantasy movie. The directors were interested in having someone for technical knowledge.

"If you look at the concepts behind the games, it's more about the graphics that makes the game appealing, but I don't have much knowledge about the entertainment value," Sung said. "What makes a game fun? I have no idea. I'm not a game person."

Since the beginning of spring quarter, Sung has been working with Michael Panitz, professor of software programming at Cascadia Community College, on a project to enable other professors to introduce Xbox systems in their classrooms.

"We will be developing class material during summer for use in fall and winter quarters," Pantiz said. The goal of the project is to create six video assignments using Xbox that would be easy to incorporate for other professors to the use in their classes. This would also need to be easily accessible to students as well."

At the end of the quarters, both professors will compare how the students in each class learned the fundamental materials.

"We'd definitely like to see this project to come to more UW classes," Pantiz said. "We want to see lots of other people use this kind of technology in their classes. I'm looking forward to engaging the students in an exciting way to teach computer science. We want to be able to provide the students with solid education and fun."

Reach reporter Victoria Lee at news@thedaily.washington.edu.