Home Ā» New gaming degree at Cumberlands

New gaming degree at Cumberlands

WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. ā€” A bona fide, 100 percent authentic college degree in developing video games. Aka, a dream come true.

University of the Cumberlands is making that dream a reality for all undergraduate students ready to pursue it. Beginning May 2023, students can pursue an associate’s or bachelorā€™s degree in gaming on campus or online. It is also available as a concentration within a bachelorā€™s degree in IT. The curriculum includes object-oriented programming, game development, interactive/UX design, and video game programming, among other topics.

As video gaming has grown from a fun hobby into a college sport (like Cumberlandsā€™ eSports team, *ahem*) into a well-paying livelihood for gamers around the globe, it follows that this pastime would become a college degree.

What careers can someone with a gaming degree successfully pursue? Since itā€™s a broad career field, there are many aspects of game design and development that skilled graduates can utilize as entry points in the workforce. Coveted careers include video game designer, programmer, video game artist, quality assurance tester, or software developer positions.

Gaming isnā€™t only for killing time, or even for intercollegiate competition. As the course description for Cumberlandsā€™ class ITGS 233, Essentials of Gamification, says, ā€œGaming lessons and theories apply outside of mere entertainment purposesā€¦ Gamification can be leveraged to help solve some of the modern worldā€™s most complex problems surrounding our climate, poverty and hunger, or world peace.ā€ Gaming students will learn how to ā€œbetter organize the selection, design, implementation, and use of technologiesā€ (ITGS 330, Human-Computer Interaction) and will ā€œuse game technologies to apply learning theories to develop games for educational and simulation purposesā€ (ITGS 431, Games for Learning & Simulation).

From planning effective visual organization, optimizing a user interface, and solving complex performance problems, Cumberlandsā€™ gaming program students will learn how to think creatively, work in a team, and find viable solutions to various problems. Upon degree completion, graduates will be equipped for jobs as software developers, programmers, and many other important roles in the gaming and IT industries.

To learn more about this new academic program, visitĀ www.ucumberlands.edu/academics. To apply, visitĀ www.ucumberlands.edu/apply.

Click hereĀ for more Kentucky business news.
Click hereĀ to Advertise.