IU Southeast is giving all of the video game players the opportunity to take a course in online gaming.
For the first time in school history IU Southeast is going to offer a course that is based on online gaming. The course will start in October and run until the semester ends in December. It will count as a three credit-hour elective for students who take the course.
With the starting date in October, the class could also be beneficial for some students who might not be excelling in the other classes at the time of midterms and may need to drop a course.
The course is going to be team taught by Institute for Learning and Teaching Excellence faculty member David Rainbolt and Jaime Kauffman, professor of communications and director of Institute for Learning and Teaching Excellence.
Rainbolt said he has worked on creating the course material for the online gaming class for more than a year.
“I am excited and looking forward to teaching this course,” Rainbolt said.
The course is going to lean heavily toward being a discussion class but will also have some lectures and some hands-on experience for the students.
Students will have the chance to play different types of games so they can learn the differences.
Luke Schmoll, general studies senior, said he was shocked such a class was going to be offered at IU Southeast and was unaware online gaming could be taught as a course for college credit.
“This gives students the opportunity to take a course they have interest in,” he said.
“I will be satisfied with this type of course as long as it is teaching more than just how to play Donkey Kong,” he said.
Rainbolt said a student will learn about different types of games, how the games are used and how to take in context and categorize the game in a certain group.
The course mainly covers electronic gaming but will also cover console game systems such as PlayStation and Xbox.
He said the course will touch on gaming with others and how gamers interact with each other. The new fad in gaming is playing online against others on your own game consoles. This will be covered in the course.
The main focus for students will be to understand the games they’re playing and why they like to play them.
For those students who do not have a background in gaming, this class can still be for you. Rainbolt said the class is set up for someone who has no knowledge about video gaming but will also be enjoyable to students who have gaming background.
Rainbolt said a student should leave the course knowing how to critically evaluate any games they may come across and understand why games behave in the ways that they do.
A student in this course will be learning from a teacher that has a great deal of interest and background in gaming who will work to keep them just as interested in gaming as he is.
“I have been a gamer since Doom,” Rainbolt said.
Doom was one of the first popular computer games that came out in computer gaming.
Rainbolt said he and his friends will get together at one of their houses, bring their computers over and play games. He said he mainly plays computer games and plays some of the newer games that are out, like the very popular World of Warcraft game.
How often this class is offered will depend on the demand the class has among students. If students enjoy the class it could lead to the class being offered more regularly. If this class is a success, other courses could be offered in topics regarding gaming.
This class sets up for future courses to add on to what will be taught in the curriculum of this course.
This could lead to a specific topic in gaming being covered in another course.
Rainbolt said he hopes the students enjoy the hard work that was put into creating this class.
Rainbolt, an IUS graduate, has been working at the Institute for Learning and Teaching Excellence for almost 16 years.
By JUSTIN RAY
Staff Writer
jusray@ius.edu