Playing with Digital Media: Enlivening Computer Graphics Teaching

Are there better ways of getting a student to learn? Getting students to play at learning can encourage comprehension by engaging their attention. Rather than having students'fascination with video games and entertainment limited to competing against learning, we can direct this interest towards learning computer graphics. We hypothesize that topics having a recreational component increase the learning curve for digital media instruction. To test this, we have offered design media projects with a playful element as a counterpart to more step-by-step descriptive exercises. Four kinds of problems, increasing in difficulty, are discussed in the context of computer aided architectural design education: 1) geometry play, 2) kit of parts, 3) dreams from childhood and 4) transformations. The problems engage the students in different ways: through playing with form, by capturing their imagination and by encouraging interaction. Each type of problem exercises specific design skills while providing practice with geometric modelling and rendering. The problems are sequenced from most constrained to most free, providing achievable milestones with focused objectives. Compared to descriptive assignments and more serious architectural problems, these design-oriented exercises invite experimentation by lowering risk, and neutralize stylistic questions by taking design out of the traditional architectural context. Used in conjunction with the modelling of case studies, they engage a wide range of students by addressing different kinds of issues. From examining the results of the student work, we conclude that play as a theme encourages greater degree of participation and comprehension