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All about Staffordshire University<br />ABLE – Vasto, Italy. 19th – 21st October 2011 <br />Dr. Bobbie Fletcher<br />Programme Leader<br />Games Technology<br />Nia Wearn<br />Senior Lecturer<br />Games Technology<br />

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Staffordshire University - Location<br />“Established in 1992, Staffordshire University has evolved into one of the country's most dynamic, progressive and forward-thinking learning institutions. Always quick to adapt as student requirements change, we have become renowned for our groundbreaking new courses and first-class learning opportunities.”<br />

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Staffordshire University - Location<br />

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Staffordshire University - Location<br />At Staffordshire University there are 16,000 students make up the University's vibrant cultural mix from the UK and around the world. <br />The University split over 2 campuses – Stoke-on-Trent & Stafford<br />we’re based in Stafford.<br />

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Staffordshire University - Location<br />This is what our campus at Stafford looks like – it’s taken from a game we helped design for the new students to find their way around the university.<br />

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Games Technology– About our courses<br />Games Technology is the largest department in the university.<br />We have 470 students studying a selection of courses – all to do with making Computer Games<br />

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Games Technology– About our courses<br />We teach 3D Modelling, Animation, Games Engines, Motion Capture, Production Skills, Audio Engines, Narratology, Realism, Texturing, Rigging, Legal issues, Games Business, Games Marketing, Flash Games.<br />Students learn technical skills, how to work with industry standard software. <br />We aim to help the student develop skills to encourage them to make a wide variety of games. <br />They work in groups, on their own – but currently we don’t have any distance learning aspects to the course.<br />

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Where our Alumni Work<br />

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Games Technology– Distance Learning<br />In Sept 2012 Games Technology will launch a totally distance learning version of our main flagship award<br />3 Years, 2 Semesters (so the summer off inline with most UK institutions)<br />Block colour are cores – bullet points are options<br />3 Years, 3 Semesters (working through the summer)<br />No options & mix of synchronous and asynchronous communication.<br />

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Games Technology– Distance Learning<br />We have 4 main tools:<br />Blackboard (VLE)<br />Wiki<br />For Some Group work<br />Forum<br />For Posting individual work<br />Sococo<br />(Realtime virtual office)<br />

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Games Technology– And that’s us...<br />Most of our Games Technology students are male, 18 – 21, and they’ve come straight to us from school or college.<br />There isn’t a lot of experience at our institution with running Distance Learning Courses, especially not undergraduate courses.<br />While the UK has a strong tradition of distance learning with the Open University – they concentrate on more traditional subjects.<br />So that’s us, it’s nice to meet you all!<br />