Capstone courses give students the opportunity to put their skills to the test by letting them work with local organizations to solve real-world problems. The two-quarter Informatics 191 A and B Senior Design Project course in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) presents a win-win situation, as hands-on learning for the students can result in practical solutions for the sponsoring company. For a few students and companies, however, the benefits extend even beyond impressive portfolios and innovative prototypes.
Monthly Archives: June 2019
NPR: “The Brighter Side Of Screen Time” (Mimi Ito mentioned)
The family that plays video games together stays together. When parents become digital mentors, children can learn empathy and resilience and prepare for careers. From NPR’s Life Kit, Here are four ways to harness the advantages of screen time.
Read the full article at NPR.
CNN: “Slack is ruining my life and I love it” (Gloria Mark quoted)
June 20, 2019
“It’s expected that there will be more of an immediate answer because you are expected to be on Slack all the time,” said Gloria Mark, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, who studies technology use in the workplace and has too many Slack groups of her own. “With emails, people can turn it off. They can batch their emails where they just look at it two or three times a day. Because of the social component with Slack, it’s harder to do that.”
Read the full story at CNN.
UCI Sweeps IEEE GameSIG 2019
June 12, 2019
UCI’s Team Stealth Bomb took the top prize for its game “Overthrone” at IEEE GameSIG 2019, the Intercollegiate Computer Game Showcase of the IEEE special interest group in computer games. The win should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the showcase — UCI has walked away with the trophy five years in a row. What was new this year was UCI’s complete sweep, winning all three top spots as well as the award for Game Design.
EdSurge: “It’s Game Over for the Institute of Play. But Its Legacy Lives On.” (Katie Salen Tekinbaş quoted)
June 10, 2019
In an email sent last week, the New York-based nonprofit announced plans to close operations at the end of this summer. It wrote: “after long and careful consideration the Institute of Play’s board and executive staff have come to the difficult decision to wind down the organization.”
The news came as a surprise to educational game developers and researchers, many of whom credit the Institute of Play for supporting and growing the game-based learning industry.
Read the full story at EdSurge.
The Journal: “Institute of Play Closing Down, Handing Work over to UC Irvine”
June 8, 2019
Institute of Play, a nonprofit in New York City that pioneered and promoted the use of gaming principles for learning, has decided to shutter operations, effective by the end of summer. The organization said it would hand over its learning assets to the Connected Learning Lab at the University of California, Irvine.
Read the full story at The Journal.