Spring 2011 379 Essays

CSCI 379 like all LSIC 379 courses, is designated as Writing Intensive. UNCA requirements state that "Writing Intensive courses must require a minimum of 15 pages of writing, in no fewer than three assignments".

Some essays will be accompanied by a brief class prosentation.

Essay 1 -- Due 1 February

Write a one-page essay decribing your experience using computers, with particular emphasis on your experience using or even building virtual worlds and describe what you would like to study in this course.

Essay 2 -- Due 22 February

Write an essay, about three pages in length, about a "dream job". You have some choices here. You can pick someone with a dream job, such as those featured in IEEE Spectrum or you can select an occupation or you can just write about a childhood life plan.

Essay 3 -- Due 17 March

Write a two page essay that describes the process/joy/sorrow/pain/enlightenment of completing Homework 2.

Essay 4 -- Due 14 April

Write a four-page essay about your design of a house for Homework 3. Say a bit about your design process and of any difficulties you encountered in implementing your design.

Essay 5 -- Due 28 April

This semester we've used a couple of programs, Blender and SketchUp, to "design" 3-D virtual worlds. We've also written programs in Scratch to present 2-D virtual worlds. Additionally, we've experimented with a few other programs, Alice, Sculptris, Gimp, and even Zork.

As your final essay, which also serves as a final exam, write an essay that contrasts the power and frustration of using these software packages. As a special twist, consider how children construct virtual worlds with clay, glue, paper, wood, sand, dolls, action figures, stuffed animals, trains, etc. Do these programs inspire the same joy, creativity, or frustation as crafts and toys?