Designing a Novel Educational Game for Teaching C# Programming

Matthew Hinds, Nilufar Baghaei, Pedrito Ragon, Jonathon Lambert, Tharindu Rajakaruna, Travers Houghton, Simon Dacey, John Casey

2017

Abstract

Learning to code can be a daunting experience for a lot of students. RunJumpCode is a novel 2D platformer video game, designed and developed in Unity, to teach players the fundamental concepts of C# programming. The game enhances the player’s programming knowledge by providing a fun range of challenges and puzzles to solve. We promoted the interaction of programming through a ‘Code Box’, allowing players to enter lines of predefined code that modifies in-game objects. This tool is essential in completing the challenges and puzzles we designed. To allow alterations of its properties, we made further manipulation of each object possible, which would give the player creative freedom to complete each level. Quizzes and journals were utilized to assess and collate their learnt material for future reference. In addition, we created a mobile application to track each player’s statistics throughout the game and compare their progress with other users. The results of a pilot study showed that users enjoyed playing the game and found it valuable for enhancing their programming knowledge.

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Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Hinds M., Baghaei N., Ragon P., Lambert J., Rajakaruna T., Houghton T., Dacey S. and Casey J. (2017). Designing a Novel Educational Game for Teaching C# Programming . In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU, ISBN 978-989-758-240-0, pages 81-86. DOI: 10.5220/0006242000810086


in Bibtex Style

@conference{csedu17,
author={Matthew Hinds and Nilufar Baghaei and Pedrito Ragon and Jonathon Lambert and Tharindu Rajakaruna and Travers Houghton and Simon Dacey and John Casey},
title={Designing a Novel Educational Game for Teaching C# Programming},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU,},
year={2017},
pages={81-86},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0006242000810086},
isbn={978-989-758-240-0},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU,
TI - Designing a Novel Educational Game for Teaching C# Programming
SN - 978-989-758-240-0
AU - Hinds M.
AU - Baghaei N.
AU - Ragon P.
AU - Lambert J.
AU - Rajakaruna T.
AU - Houghton T.
AU - Dacey S.
AU - Casey J.
PY - 2017
SP - 81
EP - 86
DO - 10.5220/0006242000810086