EG 2024 - Education Papers

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https://diglib.eg.org/handle/10.2312/3606948

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Browsing EG 2024 - Education Papers by Subject "Applied computing → Education"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Can GPT-4 Trace Rays
    (The Eurographics Association, 2024) Feng, Tony Haoran; Wünsche, Burkhard C.; Denny, Paul; Luxton-Reilly, Andrew; Hooper, Steffan; Sousa Santos, Beatriz; Anderson, Eike
    Ray Tracing is a fundamental concept often taught in introductory Computer Graphics courses, and Ray-Object Intersection questions are frequently used as practice for students, as they leverage various skills essential to learning Ray Tracing or Computer Graphics in general, such as geometry and spatial reasoning. Although these questions are useful in teaching practices, they may take some time and effort to produce, as the production procedure can be quite complex and requires careful verification and review. From the recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence, the possibility of automated or assisted exercise generation has emerged. Such applications are unexplored in Ray Tracing education, and if such applications are viable in this area, then it may significantly improve the productivity and efficiency of Computer Graphics instructors. Additionally, Ray Tracing is quite different to the mostly text-based tasks that LLMs have been observed to perform well on, hence it is unclear whether they can cope with these added complexities of Ray Tracing questions, such as visual processing and 3D geometry. Hence we ran some experiments to evaluate the usefulness of leveraging GPT-4 for assistance when creating exercises related to Ray Tracing, more specifically Ray-Object Intersection questions, and we found that an impressive 67% of its generated questions can be used in assessments verbatim, but only 42% of generated model solutions were correct.
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    Gaming to Learn: A Pilot Case Study on Students Acceptance of Playing Video Games as a Learning Method
    (The Eurographics Association, 2024) Nisiotis, Louis; Sousa Santos, Beatriz; Anderson, Eike
    This paper presents a case study on playing video games as a method to support the delivery of a game development University module, describing the teaching methodology and presenting details on a 'gaming' for learning approach to support the module's learning objectives. It presents the formulation of a theoretical framework to evaluate students acceptance of playing video games as a learning method, and the results of a pilot study using a modified Technology Acceptance Model. The results revealed that gaming as a learning activity was positively perceived by students, finding this method engaging and relevant to their learning curriculum, playful, enjoyable, useful, easy to use, with positive attitudes and behavioural intentions to use. This pilot case study serves as a practical example of implementing video games to support learning, preparing the methodology for further research to understand students acceptance, and the effect on learning outcomes and knowledge acquisition.
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    An Overview of Teaching a Virtual and Augmented Reality Course at Postgraduate Level for Ten Years
    (The Eurographics Association, 2024) Marques, Bernardo; Santos, Beatriz Sousa; Dias, Paulo; Sousa Santos, Beatriz; Anderson, Eike
    In recent years, a multitude of affordable sensors, interaction devices, and displays have entered the market, facilitating the adoption of Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) in various areas of application. However, the development of such applications demands a solid grasp of the field and specific technical proficiency often missing from existing Computer Science and Engineering education programs. This work describes a post-graduate-level course being taught for the last ten years to several Master's Degree programs, aiming to introduce students to the fundamental principles, methods, and tools of VR/AR. The course's main objective is to equip students with the necessary knowledge to comprehend, create, implement, and assess applications using these technologies. This paper provides insights into the course structure, the key topics covered, assessment, as well as the devices, and infrastructure utilized. It also includes a brief overview of various sample practical projects, along the years. Among other reflections, we argue that teaching this course is challenging due to the fast evolution of the field making updating paramount. This maybe alleviated by motivating students to a research oriented approach, encouraging them to bring their own projects and challenges (e.g. related to their Master dissertations). Finally, future perspectives are outlined.
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    A Research Methodology Course in a Game Development Curriculum
    (The Eurographics Association, 2024) Hu, Yan; Sundstedt, Veronica; Goswami, Prashant; Sousa Santos, Beatriz; Anderson, Eike
    Research methodology courses can often be considered part of a computer science curriculum. These basic or advanced-level courses are taught in terms of traditional research methods. This paper presents and discusses a research methodology course curriculum for students studying programs focusing on digital game development (more specifically, focusing on game engineering). Our research methodology course prepares students for their upcoming thesis by encouraging a research-oriented approach. This is done by exploring new research areas in game engineering as a basis for research analysis and by applying research methods practically in a smaller project. This paper presents the course structure, assignments, and lessons learned. Together with existing literature, it demonstrates important aspects to consider in teaching and learning game research methodologies. The course evaluation found that the students appreciated the interactive lectures, close staff supervision, and detailed feedback on the scientific writing process.