National University is launching “virtual apprenticeships through mobile gaming” which will teach wireless network and radio design, and digital entertainment to students by having them design and implement games using engineering and digital entertainment principles, Dr. Howard Evans announced today.
The program is part of a Hewlett Packard (HP) Technology for Teaching Leadership Grant received by the National University School of Engineering and Technology (SOET) in 2008.
The 2008 grant was a follow-up to previous HP grant awarded to the University in 2007. National was one of only 10 universities worldwide selected to receive a Leadership Grant.
The virtual apprenticeships will enable students to gain real-world experience in wireless communications and digital entertainment design by designing, implementing and playing games that teach, reinforce, and apply the required curriculum.
HP tablets running student- and faculty-designed games and game modules will provide a powerful new platform for enhancing creativity and amplifying student and curricular ideas.
The tablets will be upgraded with video processing capability and appropriate software to transform students’ digital inked sketches and technical drawings into design documents which can then be transformed into technical specifications, from which game elements and rules and procedures of the playable game can be established.
Game rules will be based on principles of mathematics, physics and engineering, including the dynamics of wave propagation, binary logic, and the architecture of wireless systems.
Consequently, student focus will change from learning theory to practical application of theory, as students design games and then play them against each other over a wireless network in the classroom.
