This page is devoted to the programming projects that I’ve been involved with in the past. My undergraduate degree is in computer science, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have some amazing experiences in that field. However, I recognize that I am slowly moving away from computer science and focusing on human computer interaction design. Rather than ignore my computer science background completely, I’ve decided to dedicate this one page to the big projects I’ve been a part of because I believe that they can still speak to my character and who I am as an interaction designer.
1. CurricVis
Concept
CurricVis is a curriculum visualization application designed to assist students in making curricular decisions. Rather than study and memorize a course catalog to be able to find the most appropriate path to graduation, students can use CurricVis to help them find those patterns that are often hidden in overly-complex, text-based curriculum descriptions.
My Contributions
I worked on CurricVis in a variety of ways during over three years of my undergraduate career. The original concept belongs to Dr. Paul Gestwicki, who recruited me early on in its development. I assisted in the design and development of the current version of the software, and my honors thesis for the Honors College of Ball State University was a usability analysis of the software we designed. I tested the program with thirty-two students and presented the results at SIGCSE2010, Ball State’s Student Symposium, and was accepted to the VisWeek2010 conference.
Documents
CurricVis poster accepted for VisWeek2010
CurricVis poster presented at SIGCSE2010
2. SpiritQuest
SpritiQuest was a study on the effects of character design on the development of virtual worlds. Nicole Irvin, the Arts and Animation major of our team, designed the character and storyline of the game for which Andrew Haddad and I built the virtual world. We developed it using the JavaMonkey 3D game engine. I was responsible for building the terrain and the particle effects. We presented the results of this independent study at Ball State’s student symposium.
3. VSAT
The ViziSwap Authoring Tool (VSAT) is a program that was designed and built by Dr. Paul Gestwicki, Andrew Haddad, Daniel Lakes, and I. We were hired by the Institute for Digital Entertainment and Education (IDEE) to create a tool that would act as the front end for ViziSwap, a tool developed by Jessica Seaton for the same company. At the time, ViziSwap was only usable by those who could code in XML, but the target group for the application was educators. VSAT is a tool that allowed for projects to be built for ViziSwap in an environment that did not require XML training.
Unfortunately, I am currently unable to provide images of this project.
4. Victorious Testing Solutions
Victorious Testing Solutions (VTS) is a testing application designed and built by Sam Garrett, Gunnar Hoffman, Bryan O’Conner, Jordan Turpen, and myself for our computer science capstone class at Ball State University. The program has since become the back-bone for the company FrogBaby LLC. It is testing application designed to allow students to take semi-proctored tests from their own webcam-enabled devices.
Unfortunately, I am currently unable to provide images of this project.
Team Mates
Paul Gestwicki – CurricVis, VSAT, SpiritQuest
Andrew Haddad – CurricVis, VSAT, SpiritQuest
Daniel Lakes – VSAT
Nicole Irvin – SpiritQuest
Sam Garrett – Victorious Testing Solutions
Gunnar Hoffman – Victorious Testing Solutions
Bryan O’Conner – Victorious Testing Solutions
Jordan Turpen – Victorious Testing Solutions