UHCL : New Degree A Game Changer For Video, Tech Students At UHCL

Press release from University of Houston-Clear Lake:

May 19, 2021

To answer the call for qualified people who can create effective learning structures
where students aren't physically present in a classroom, University of Houston-Clear
Lake is offering a Bachelor of Arts in Serious Games and Simulation, beginning in fall 2021.

"Serious games have become a critical training tool in so many work environments,"
said Professor of Psychology Rick Short, who spearheaded the committee to create the new degree program — the university's
first interdisciplinary plan spanning coursework from all four colleges (Business, Education, Human Sciences and Humanities, and Science and Engineering) in the university.

"We needed to add this degree to our list of options because we are an institution
that is focused on teaching and learning," said Short. "Video games and simulations
have become ubiquitous in world culture, and using a tool that has already pervaded
world society to promote learning seems to be a self-evident goal that we need to
explore."

Short said there are more and more calls for simulations and games to support learning.
"This is a developing area, and it's not just our realization," he said. "It's overtaking
American education. The job demand is at the front end of the curve, and it's burgeoning.
That's our prediction, and it's the Texas Workforce Commission's prediction as well."

Assistant Professor of Psychology and Serious Games and Simulation Program Director
Steven Sutherland said that with the pandemic, the world changed so much in the last year, there's
a gap in the workplace.

"We are now dealing with many more work-from-home models. We've seen a big push in
the direction of simulated training programs at all levels, so serious games and simulations
have picked up steam in terms of finding ways to educate," he said. "The old model
is transitioning away, and the way we educate now has shifted to needing more hands-on
experience, which is hard to do in a classroom."

Traditional "trainings" where people sit together in a conference room and talk is
no longer a viable option. "If you have a particular skill that needs to be mastered
when there are severe consequences for mistakes, like in the medical field, how do
you provide an experience where it's safe to fail?" Sutherland said.

"This is the kind of environment in which SGS has become a really important training
tool," he said. "We still need to be educating students in a meaningful way, with
lab-based experiences. Now we're talking about simulations in virtual reality or augmented
reality. The key is bringing experiences into the classroom and making them real."

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sutherland continued, the need for alternative
education models became more acute. "Employers don't need employees in offices, so
as work shifts away from being present in an office, they're looking for ways to fill
that gap," he said. "We need people who can create that training software, either
outsourced or built in house. That creates the potential for new positions in companies
to solve that, or for consulting work for multiple types of companies. As we see how
the world is changing, people who enter the workforce with this degree can fill that
gap."

Sutherland said this degree is unique to others because of its interdisciplinary nature.
"Collaboration is important, but in serious games and simulation, it's more than important
— it's a necessity," he said. "The workplace will change even more. Some people will
become consultants, and in order to promote that, students will need to understand
the business side of this, which could otherwise be lost."

For people building games, he continued, "acquiring coding skills in computer science
and engineering makes sense. And serious games are meant to train people and expect
an educational outcome, so that's why classes in the College of Education make sense.
Games will miss the point if students aren't learning the concepts."

From a human sciences and humanities standpoint, Sutherland said classes in psychology,
art and human factors psychology would blend in well in the SGS coursework. "Art courses,
digital media as it relates to art, and communication courses make students marketable
and desirable hires," he said.

"It's a well-rounded degree plan," he said. "Students receive a good foundation in
all areas, and can be trained up and get sharper skills in any of these categories.
Focusing on SGS creates a specialization, but with these additional skills, students
can go in different directions."

For more information about the Bachelor of Arts in Serious Games and Simulations, go online.

This press release was produced by University of Houston-Clear Lake. The views expressed here are the author’s own.