Description of the course
The course covers basic concepts, mathematical foundations, fundamental theory, algorithms, software techniques, hardware and system issues, and application examples of Computer Graphics. The main topics are modeling, rendering, and interaction. Learning is delivered through lectures and through practical hands-on activities that take place in computer labs. The practical activities encourage students to apply their theoretical knowledge to real-life problems. Upon completion of the course students are familiar with basic computer graphics techniques and their application in the field of animation.
Description of participants
The course is compulsory in the 6th semester of the Bachelor in Computer Science program of the formal curriculum of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of Kathmandu University. A total of 59 students enrolled in the course in the 2022 – 2023 academic year.
Description of gamified design thinking activities
Students solved mathematical problems related to Computer Graphics in tutorial classes. The course further included biweekly laboratory work, in which students implemented the algorithms taught in lectures towards solving real-life problems and building games. At the end of the course, students were asked to submit a mini project based, in which they applied theoretical course concepts in Computer Graphics. Students applied design thinking in project work. Examples of projects implemented by students include:
- Terrain generation using Perlin Noise
- Sorting visualization
- Space invader using Pygame® and Pyopengl®
- Visualizing 3D structure of protein with protein data bank file
- Maze game
- Black hole visualization in 2D space
- Rotating cube in 3D space
- Bouncing ball using OpenGL
- Sorting algorithm visualizer
- Stack
- Rotating diamond
- Smart village
- Racing game
- Interactive trigonometric visualization
The students were encouraged to access the physical lab developed through the ICT-INOV project and use the digital learning platform for collaboration. They worked in groups of 2 individuals. The ICT-INOV educational platform provided instructors with flexibility in structuring the learning activities based on well-accepted design thinking steps.
Step 1: Team building.
Students were asked to form groups and to select the topic of their mini project. As the class is comprised of 59 students, each group includes 1 to 2 members. After selecting the team members students were asked to select a team name, an activity related to identity. A total of 30 groups were formed and each of them selected their team’s name.
Step 2: Understanding the problem, developing game plots and scenarios.
Students performed research and brainstormed towards solving the identified problem using a graphical approach. Teams that focused on game design introduced at this stage the game plots. Teams that focused on problem-solving developed a case scenario.
Step 3: Prototyping the obtained concept.
Students implemented their solutions using the programming language and graphical libraries of their choice.
Step 4: Presenting the developed work.
Students presented the result of their work to faculty members.
