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Syllabus Description
Game Design-CS480-001
Drexel University
This course examines the critical role of psychology of play and the principles of game design in designing and developing educational games.
Syllabus Content
Instructor: Prof. Frank J. Lee - fjl @ cs.drexel.edu
Teaching Assistant: Yelena Kushleyeva - yk45 @ drexel.edu
Email address for assignment submissions only: GameDesign3 @ yahoo.com
CS 480-001: Game Design Fall 04-05
Text:
-Salen, K and Zimmerman, E. (2003). Rules of Play. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
-Additional handouts will be made available throughout class.
Grading: (Please note that these notes)
• 10% Class Participation
• 15% Journals
• 25% Discussion Questions
• 20% Homework Assignments
• 30% Project
Course Description
The goals of this course are as follows: (a) Understand and appreciate the critical role of
psychology of play and the principles of game design in designing and developing educational
games by reading and investigating current research results in game design, psychology of play,
education, cognitive science, and human-computer interaction. (b) Understand and appreciate the
critical role of an interdisciplinary team in designing educational games by working in a group
composed of students from Computer Science, Media Art and Design, Education, and
Psychology to design an educational game.
Class Participation
Each class will be a mixture of lectures and discussions (hopefully more discussions then
lectures!). However, in order for the discussions to work well, you have to do the readings before
coming to class. Your class participation grade will be based on being prepared, asking good
questions, etc. Both quality and quantity of your participation in class and in group discussions
will be evaluated. Attendance is mandatory.
Journals
Please keep a log/journal of times when you are involved in any activity that was engaging.
Although games are the most obvious examples, there are many others, such as role playing,
playing with kids, story telling, etc. Describe what you were doing and any insights you have as
to why the activity was engaging.
You may also write about any learning experiences you encounter: for instance, if you have
to solve a problem for a class or for work, you could analyze what made that particular problem
difficult or easy; you could speculate what could be changed in the problem formulation to make
it easier; you could discuss how your specific background influenced your ability to solve the
problem.
You will have to write these up and submit them both electronically (in PDF format) and in
print every two weeks. See the schedule for exact submission dates. When appropriate, please
include screen shots, or any other graphical illustrations if they are helpful in illustrating the task.
You will be graded on the depth and breadth of your examples and insights.
Thought Question (1 - question provided, 1-question self-generated)
Each Thursday you will be assigned book chapters or journal articles to read. For each
paper/chapter, you will be given one question to answer, and you will be asked to develop one
thought question on your own; you will need to answer your own question as well. These
thought questions should not be informational or superficial, "what does this acronym stand for,"
but about the issues. For example, do you agree with the conclusions of the paper or the chapter?
Why or why not? What are the implications of the results? I want you to take a stand and express
a viewpoint, expand on some implications, or consider how it affects educational or game
objectives. Each thought question should require at least several sentences. But please don't over
do it. Your complete submission should not exceed two pages. These assignments will be due
exactly one week after they are assigned; they should be submitted both electronically (in PDF
format, sent to GameDesign3 @ yahoo.com) and in print.
Homework Assignments
Homework assignments may include such things as an exercise in methodology, short design
assignments, and critical reviews of papers, etc. These will be somewhat irregular, but probably
between 4-6 across the quarter. Also, I reserve the right to give surprise quizzes!
Content
- Week 1 - Introduction: Game Design and Educational Games
- Week 2 - Cognitive Development: Mathematics
- Week 3 - What Kids Learn in K-7 (Guest Lecturer)
- Journal 1 due on Tuesday - Week 4 - Game Design and Game Play
- Week 5 - Psychology of Learning
- Journal 2 due on Tuesday - Week 6 - Educational Games; Project Group Formation
- Week 7 - Project Proposal
- Journal 3 due on Tuesday - Week 8 - Project Proposal Revision + Presentation
- Week 9 - Project Draft + Presentation
- Week 10 - Project Draft Revision + Presentation
- Journal 4 due on Tuesday - Week 11 - Project Final + Presentation
Project
This will be the highlight of the course. During the second half of the course, students will
work in a group of 5 on an educational game design project. The goal of the project will be to
give students hands-on experience with designing educational games. The complete project is
divided into four phases: Design Proposal, Proposal Revision, Project Draft, and Project Final.
During each phase, each team will be required to do an in-class presentation and submit a written
deliverable. In addition, during each phase, student will be asked to individually submit a peer
review, in which they rate and comment on the performance of the individual members of their
group, including their own. Each student is also asked to write a review of a proposal from
another group during the first and second phase (similar in idea to reviewing a paper or grant)
and to write a postmortem at the end of the project to reflect on what went right with their design
project, what went wrong, and lessons learned.
Submission and Late Policy
All Homeworks, Journals, and Discussion/Thought Questions must be submitted both
electronically (in PDF) and in hard copy. All electronic submissions must be sent to
GameDesign3 @ yahoo.com.
The hard copy must be submitted at the beginning of class on the day it is assigned in order
to receive full credit. As long as the hard copy is submitted on time, you may submit the
electronic copy by noon of that day.
Any assignments that are not submitted in hard copy at the beginning of class will be
considered late. However, they may be submitted electronically between 9:30AM and Midnight
on the due date with 25% penalty, or they may be submitted between Midnight of the due date
and Midnight the day after the due date for 50% penalty. For example, if a homework or journal
is due on Thursday at 9:30AM, then ones that are turned in between 9:30AM - Midnight on
Thursday are penalized 25% and ones that are turned in between Midnight on Thursday -
Midnight on Friday are penalized 50%. Anything later than that will not be accepted.
However, you are given two "late-passes;" you can use each of them to be late for up to 2
days on any one assignment for any reason without penalty.
Academic Integrity:
For the benefit of those who may not have been told before, cheating on quizzes or
examinations (i.e., copying from someone else's examination or work, or from previously
prepared notes, unless the examination is open-book) or plagiarism (i.e., directly copying
someone else's written words and presenting them as if they were your own, taking screen dumps
of the software developed by others and presenting them as if they were your own, etc.) are
violations of both personal and academic integrity. Such violations are punishable with a failing
grade on the work and may also result in a failing grade for the course and disciplinary actions
on the part of the University.
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