Bellevue University
Undergraduate Courses and Graduate Courses, Bellevue University, College of Sciences and Technology, 2018
At Bellevue University, I have been involved with Data Science, Game Design, Graphic Design, and Business Analytics. As current director of the Data Science program, I have sought to create a program that fosters human-centric, critical and curious thinkers who are capable of telling unique, easy to understand stories. This program is domain agnostic but students are free to use data from their respective fields as needed.
| Data Science | ||
|---|---|---|
| Intro to Data Science | Introduction to Programming | Doing Data Science |
Intro to Data Science
Catalog Description: This course introduces the possibilities, history, and ethics surrounding Data Science. Basics of data science are explored, including vocabulary, programming languages, big data frameworks, visualization, and statistics. Prior programming experience is not needed for this course.
Introduction to Programming
Catalog Description: This course introduces the Python programming language as a tool to clean, slice, and build tools to analyze an existing dataset. Basic principles of programming are explored as well as techniques for configuring a computer for data science work.
Doing Data Science
Catalog Description: In the final course of the Data Science program, students will conduct several data science projects from origin-to-presentation. Students will gather data, then prepare, clean, analyze, and present their analysis to an audience or a client in their chosen domain.
This game studies program was created to reflect the usual course path of a Fine Arts program. Much of the course load reflected studio exploration and personal development over in-depth, socratic-style instruction. As an instructor, I inherited this program when it was sunset and had to teach out its existing enrollment. Recently, I have begun to re-calibrate much of this program by starting with a game programming course using the fantasy console PICO-8.
| Game Studies and Design | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction to Game Design | Interactive Narrative Design | Introduction to 3D Design | Intermediate Portfolio Development | Introduction to Game Programming | Advanced Digital Design |
| Introduction to Game Development | Animation | Beginning Portfolio Development | User-Experience and User-Interface Design | Level Design | Advanced Portfolio Design / Internship |
| Introduction to 2D Design | Interactive Sound Design | Intermediate Digital Design | Serious Games and Critical Play | Getting Started with Video Game Development |
Introduction to Game Design
Catalog Description: Introduction to Game Design explores the practice and form of Games Design. Topics include introduction to interaction design, history of game theory, introduction to methodologies of rule-based systems, collaborative production work-flows, meaningful play and introduction to interactive narrative design.
Introduction to Game Development
Catalog Description: This course further explores the development and practice of Game Design and how it applies to interactive art. Topics include introduction to interactive narrative design, the basics of video game programming and computer-mediated interactive systems, collision management, version control, interface design and exporting.
Introduction to 2D Design
Catalog Description: Digital 2D Design provides beginning through intermediate concepts and practice in digital 2D design. Topics covered include fundamentals of digital color theory, digital imaging, selection tools, layering, digital painting tools, and photo retouching. Students will incorporate basic design principles in their texture designs and compositions.
Interactive Narrative Design
Catalog Description: This course examines the role of narrative in interaction design. Course topics include electronic narrative, including principles and techniques of segmentation, navigation, juxtaposition, encyclopedic storylines, and multiple points of view, approaches to non-linear narrative design.
Animation
Catalog Description: This course investigates the fundamental principles of digital animation. This course will survey the historical development of the animated film and develop basic skills in pre-production, digital modeling, simulated movement, perception and the basics of digital animation. Additional topics covered include the relationships among; anatomy, motion, weight, and timing through a combination of individual and group projects.
Interactive Sound Design
Catalog Description: GAME 311 provides an in-depth study of sound effect design and development within interactive contexts. Topics covered include the history of sound in games, the development of MIDI, audio production process, and approaches to nonlinear sound design in games through a combination of individual and group projects.
Introduction to 3D Design
Catalog Description: This course provides an introduction to the fundamental concepts of 3-dimensional design for digital contexts. Topics covered include fundamentals of volume, space, proportion, weight, mass, digital modeling tools, extrusion, meshes, polygon modeling and curves.
Beginning Portfolio Development
Catalog Description: This course covers designing an industry quality portfolio and cultivating and maintaining an industry network. The portfolio started in this course will be built upon in subsequent courses and will be used in internship applications.
Intermediate Digital Design
Catalog Description: This course further examines the principles of 2D and 3D visual design for games. It places an emphasis on using digital tools to produce concept art and pre- and post-production materials for portfolios and personal projects. Students will explore the processes of asset, interface and environment design.
Intermediate Portfolio Development
Catalog Description: This course covers refining the professional-grade portfolio started in Beginning Portfolio Deelopment. Topics covered include occupational social-networking, industry-profiles, visibility and presentation.
User-Experience and User-Interface Design
Catalog Description: This course provides an in-depth study of game interactivity, including the psychology of user interaction and methods for designing and developing effective interfaces. Combining their previous knowledge of game design and digital imaging with the concepts in this class, students will create portfolio-quality interface designs.
Serious Games and Critical Play
Catalog Description: This course in Serious Games and Critical Play examines games and play as used for political, aesthetic and social purposes. Topics covered include the history and contemporary practice of games as performative objects, subversive play, and games for change.
Introduction to Game Programming
Catalog Description: This course explores structured programming in game development. Course topics include languages, programming techniques, algorithms, game testing, game logic, real-time 3D rendering, asset control, and pipeline management. Students will program and complete several games.
Level Design
Catalog Description: This course explores the layout and content design of analog and digital interactive spaces. Students will complete a combination of exercises, individual and collaborative projects that address the creation of interactive spaces as emotional feedback systems, reward systems, narrative systems and others.
Advanced Digital Design
Catalog Description: This course is an advanced examination of the mastery of 2D and 3D visual design for games. It places an emphasis on using digital tools to produce visual asset art and pre- and post-production materials for portfolios and personal projects. Topics covered include the demonstration of mastery in asset, interface and environment design.
Advanced Portfolio Design
Catalog Description: This course covers further refining the professional-grade portfolio started in Beginning Portfolio Development in preparation for the final course in the program. Topics covered include jobs-research, interview strategies and presentations
Getting Started with Video Game Development
Catalog Description: This course introduces video game development to video game fans with no programming experience. Through cheap, easy to learn tools, we will tackle the essence of video game development from prototype to post mortem. By the end of this course, you will have a game you, your friends, and your family can play.
I worked as an adjunct for this program. Each course was created around a slow path through graphic design concepts leading up to user-experience and re-design of a charity or concept of their choice. This program was an eye-opener as it was some of the first content I was asked to teach that introduced students the basics of HTML, CSS, JQuery, and the skills needed to manipulate files on servers meant to access for webpages.
| Graphic Design | ||
|---|---|---|
| Design Basics | User-Experience and Graphic Design | Webpage Design |
| Fundamentals of Web Design | Webpage Development |
Design Basics
Catalog Description: This course analyzes fundamental elements and principles of design necessary to solve graphic design problems. Topics including grids, hierarchy, contrast, balance, and color will be applied to print- and web-based projects. Problem solving and critical thinking skills will be further developed.
Fundamentals of Web Design
Catalog Description: This course examines the fundamentals specific to web design. Topics will include web standards, design problems, accessibility/usability, and current web topics. Projects will be based on research and presentations rather than technical applications thus providing students with the needed information to continue with web design classes in the program.
User Experience and Graphic Design
Catalog Description: This course provides and in-depth study of interactivity, including the elements of user experience and methods for designing and developing effective interactive interfaces. The fundamentals of design as related to interactivity and user experience will also be covered.
Web Page Design
Catalog Description: This course covers the specific design needs and issues found in web design, such as color, contrast, placement and navigation.
Website Development
Catalog Description: This course covers the skills and project-based experience needed for entry into web design and development careers.
One of the most fantastic moments at Bellevue University came through this program. I was asked to take over this program’s direction after the Game Studies program was complete. This program was created by someone who left the university quickly after it was finished being developed. As a new program director, I am looking forward to re-doing this program once Data Science is complete.
| Business Analytics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Introduction to Business Analytics | Base SAS Programming | Data Warehousing and Mining Applications |
| Introduction to SAS | Enterprise Data and,Information Management |
Introduction to Business Analytics
Catalog Description: This course introduces an analytical toolset to address modern, data-intensive business problems. The course provides an overview of the key concepts, applications, processes and techniques relevant to business analytics. The course makes use of SAS Enterprise Miner to illustrate the use of business analytics methodologies to enhance business decision-making.
Base SAS Programming
Catalog Description: This course is designed as the entry point to learning SAS programming, analytics programming concepts and environments. It provides the tools necessary to write SAS programs to perform data management, analysis, and reporting. The objective of this course is to provide the skills necessary to create and document data sets, manage and reshape data, write simple reports, and compute basic statistics on data set variables. Hands-on exercises designed to facilitate understanding of all the topics are included. The course also provides the basis for more advanced work in data analytics and advanced programming techniques for data management. This course aligns with the SAS Base Programming certification concepts.
Enterprise Data and Information Management
Catalog Description: This course offers an in-depth exploration of all the major topics in the field of data and information management from an applied perspective. The course is designed to provide not only a strong theoretical foundation, but also the technical skills required in analyzing, designing, implementing, managing, and utilizing information repositories. Topics covered include relational database model, data modeling, logical and physical database design, structured query language (SQL) implementation, procedures and triggers, data integration and quality, data warehouses and database administration. This course explores data and information management related issues in the context of business organizations; therefore, strategic roles that data and information play in business operations, customer relationship management, business decision-making, and strategy development are also discussed.
Data Warehousing and Mining Applications
Catalog Description: As business organizations collect more and more data as a byproduct of their operations, decision-makers are beginning to proactively and systematically analyze these data to improve decision quality. This course focuses on the two key processes of business analytics: data warehousing and data mining. The course provides an in-depth discussion on the modeling, design and implementation of data warehouses and other relevant techniques for addressing big data issues in organizations today. Data mining is the process that uses a variety of data analysis tools to discover patterns and relationships in data that may be used to make proactive, knowledge-driven decisions. The course provides an in-depth discussion on various techniques of data mining including predictive modeling, pattern recognition, prescriptive analytics, and text mining. Both the theoretical and practical aspects of data warehousing and mining are discussed in this course.