Abstract-This talk begins with brief description of the efforts and results from the “Game-Themed Introductory Programming Project” where the project’s ultimate goal is to empower faculty members that have no background in games or computer graphics with videogame-based materials as part of their general teaching tools. The journey began with a complex role playing game, followed by a naive game engine and simple videogame-like assignments, which led to complete and engaging games with elaborate application programming interface (API), refined by simplification of the API, and concluded with cloud-based solutions for the general accessibility. Continue with the theme of engaging learners, the second half of this talk describes our efforts in understanding how to integrate Natural User Interface (NUI) technologies into the classroom. This work led to the proposed Cross Reality Collaboration Framework (CRCF) in an attempt to provide a unified platform for discussing, comparing, and contrasting collaborative environments where remote participants are equipped with heterogeneous Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technological configurations in various degrees of immersion. Though in an early stage of development, the current iteration of CRCF is capable of analyzing configurations that are based on drastically different technologies (e.g., an AR application vs. a location aware mobile application), comparing them, and revealing insights. An early stage prototype solution addressing an opportunity identified by a CRCF analysis will be presented and potential future directions discussed.
