CRASH COURSE OR COURSE CRASH: Gaming, VR and a Pedagogical Approach - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

CRASH COURSE OR COURSE CRASH: Gaming, VR and a Pedagogical Approach Dr. Brent Chamberlain Landscape Architecture & Regional and Community Planning Kansas State University DLA Conference 2015 June 6, 2015

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT • Geospatially-focused course • Graduate and undergraduate Mix • Little GIS knowledge, none for City Engine and Unity

QUESTION How might I augment existing curriculum to grow spatial thinking, improve spatial design, and solidify fundamental landscape planning concepts (using new and fun techniques)?

TASK(S) Develop our City Develop a City • City of Manhattan, KS • Using a design process • Implement CityEngine • Learning about data needs “wireframe” • Real-time interaction & • Aggieville representation feedback • Unity Migration

METHODS simcity • Game-based pedagogy (with no game training) • Team-based • Objectives: budget, approval rating, population size, creativity • Unlimited funds • Trial edition (4 hour limit)

WATER RESOURCES (IRON ORE) AIR POLLUTION WIND POTENTIAL EDUCATION FIRE RISK

RESULTS simcity

Mix residential, Isolated industrial (down wind); Transit-oriented development, Rapid transit on loop, to: maximize happiness

METHODS cityengine Develop our City • City of Manhattan, KS • Implement City Engine “wireframe” • Aggieville representation • Unity Migration

RESULTS cityengine • Completed development of GIS dataset • Infastructure representation • CityEngine wireframe and Unity Integration

DISCUSSION simcity • Excellent learning opportunity • Need to (slightly) modify game conditions How enjoyable was the experience working with SimCity in class? ( 4.8, +0.4 of 5.0 ) How useful was the SimCity exercise for understanding the use of geospatial information for decision making and/or suitability analyses ( 4.4, +0.6 of 5.0 )

DISCUSSION cityengine How enjoyable was the experience working with CityEngine in class ( 3.5, +1.1 of 5 )? Would you have like to spend more time working with CityEngine ( 4.1, +0.9 or 5.0 )?

CONCLUSION • Continued use of SimCity • Excellent tool for data-informed design • CityEngine integration requires course overhaul • Useful tool for visualization • Students are interested, but lose attention quickly • Requires new set of tutorials and training • A qualitative improvement in spatial thinking, design, and understanding of fundamental landscape planning concepts.

Dr. Brent Chamberlain Landscape Architecture & Regional and Community Planning Kansas State University http://brentchamberlain.org DLA Conference 2015 June 6, 2015