The School of Computer Science and Engineering collaborated with George Mason University to offer two master classes as part of their summer field trip from July 19 – July 30, which was generously funded by the Quintin Hogg Trust.
The master classes were offered as part of the Mason Game & Technology Academy’s Virtual Game & AI Academy, which covered a variety of computing subjects, from learning machine learning and artificial intelligence with python to games programming and design using Unity. Both classes were a mix of live streamed interactive learning experiences combined with team and or virtual classroom research, design, and creation time, as well as support sessions. Throughout the courses, students also benefitted from attending live guest lectures from esteemed game developers and AI pioneers.
The summer school aimed to engage computing students who have a passion for either software engineering or the game design industry in exciting virtual workshops. The event was locally coordinated by Markos Mentzelopoulos, Course Leader for the Computer Games Development BSc Honours, Dr Artie Basukoski, Course Leader for the Computer Science BSc Honours, and Dr Salma Chahed, Course Leader for the Data Science and Analytics BSc Honours. The event welcomed a cohort of first year and foundation students from all related computer science and engineering courses at Westminster.
The master classes were taught by Rob Dieterich, and Jacob Enfield. Rob is a 10-year veteran of the games industry, the majority of his career being at iNiS Corporation in Tokyo, Japan, while Jacob has worked professionally as a game programmer and game developer creating his own series of games to promote learning of mathematics.
Talking about the summer school, Rob said: “Working with the Westminster students was a highly enjoyable and stimulating experience. There is something quite special about seeing how quickly a diverse group of people from different countries can come together over a shared passion for games and game development. I found it exhilarating to create a new game from scratch in front of the students and I hope they gained useful game design insights as we worked through various challenges in our projects.”
Jacob added: “It was a pleasure guiding students through the course who are already committed to growing their expertise in the field of data science. In a field that is changing quickly, data scientists must continue to stay current on emerging technologies and ultimately expand their toolset for solving complex problems. This course introduced some of those technologies and I believe students not only took away useful technical skills from the experience, but also the ability to recognize when AI and Machine Learning might be effectively utilized.”
Markos Mentzelopoulos said: “This event was a great opportunity to engage our students in an immersive virtual experience and foster new partnerships with other institutions. There was an amazing range of speakers from the industry and academia that provided support to all students and there is lots of communication between staff to improve the summer school further for next year and expand it with competitions and group project simulations. The event helped our current students enhance their electronic portfolios and improve their knowledge on specific topics, prepare them for the coming year and increase their employability.”
Find out more about Computer Science and Engineering courses at the University of Westminster.
Related articles
