Возможности движения WorldSkills для формирования нового образовательного стандарта в подготовке студентов ИТ-направлений

In our previous studies [6] we discussed the possibilities of educational approaches focused on the quality improvement of practical training of higher school graduates in information technologies within the new competence oriented educational standards and establishment of digital economy. The contradictions between the labor market expectations, graduate abilities and university and college education technologies as well the contradictions between the first year students’ motivation and the complex curriculum of the IT program. A possible solution was proposed via application of project learning and video games development. Advantages and disadvantages of the approaches were discussed and recommendation how to apply the method were given.. issues of choosing the main programming language, development tools and some ways and methods of teaching computer games design were also discussed.

Beside the significant impact on the student training quality teaching video game development is valuable per se as it can facilitate development and increase of the electronic entertainment industry in Russia and multimedia projects with virtual and augmented reality.

This relatively young industry has vast prospects and is poorly represented in Russia. Nevertheless, it could be a powerful driver to develop high tech sector of the national economy.

Virtual reality was first mentioned only thirty years ago and even now the first fruit, obtained via this technology, are available [5]. Numerous implementers are actively producing the devices to transfer from this world to the virtual one.

Already now there are many developed hardware and software packages for virtual training of drivers, pilots and hazardous production workers. Modern technologies provide safe training with minimal resources [2; 3].

Methods of applying virtual and augmented reality to architecture and civil engineering, medicine and operating drones and robots are actively developed today [4]. But the technology is far from the peak which is not even forecast but the scientific community.

We are but on the threshold of the new era in technical progress that will change the world more than mobile communication did in its time.

Therefore, a most important task of education is to train the staff for this industry, who will be able to create and develop their own projects. Yet, there is no the program and even a profile or subject focused on this vector in our country and its higher education.

The situation is to be altered as soon as possible to form the new subjects, training programs and educational standards while at the same time start retaining of teachers and training of students.

The task seems huge ad impossible, but we believe there is a solution.

In 2012 Russia joined the international WorldSkills movement. It is an international non-commercial association aimed at improving the status and standards of professional training and qualifications worldwide, popularization of blue-collar jobs via international competitions. WorldSkills championships are widely promoted and are carried out on a large scale actually as high as sports Olympics.

WorldSkills specifics is fast and effective renovation of professional competences in the standards. This effect is provided through a special format of the competitions.

WorldSkills championship creates a competition task for each competence with optimal reference to a particular job and requiring practical work within several modules. The task is carried out within a strict time limit and is assessed by a qualified team of judges on the basis of a hundred of criteria in the framework of a system providing maximum credibility. Judges are teachers and/or practicing professionals who communicate to form a professional expert community within the country.

After each large-scale event the experts, who judge the participants’ works, are to assemble and jointly decide how the selected criteria correspond to the actual possibilities and requirements of the production and business in the given competence.

The expert community does the necessary amendments in the competition task and

Possibilities of WorldSkills movement for the formation of a new educational standard in the training of students in information technologies

assessment criteria, and the members of the community disseminate and introduce the jointly developed package of documents in the educational environment. Thus, the most topical professional standard in the competence is formed to be used by the trainers who prepare the contestants for the future championships.

Such model of updating professional standards with minimal bureaucracy can and must be implemented in the professional higher education in this country.

We decided to offer the union of “Young Professionals of Russia” “WorldSkills Russia” (WSR) a new professional competence “Development of video games and multimedia attachments”. Proposing this we followed the task listed below:

• 1)    official identification and singling out a particular job “Developer of video games and multimedia attachments”;

• 2)    popularization in the society and with the young people information technologies in general and programming in particular;

• 3)    formation of comprehensive professional standard “Developer of video games and multimedia attachments”;

• 4)    promotion of this standard in education (creation of special subjects, profiles and new educational programs);

• 5)    development of high tech ITT industry in this country;

• 6)    training of highly qualified staff.

The work on creating and developing this competence is impeded by the fact that there is no such standard even at the global level in WorldSkills International.

At the moment the competence is at the early stage of development: there is the first version of the competition task, approximate assessment criteria and the expert community is forming. The work resulted in presenting the professional competence “Developer of video games and multimedia attachments” at the finals of the National championship WorldSkills Russia in Krasnodar in May, 2017. There is a long way to go for the competence to develop in all aspects but the start has been taken.

Unity was chosen as a platform of development, development framework is Microsoft Visual Studio and programming language is Microsoft Visual C#.

The factors that influenced the choice of Unity are:

• 1.    Convenient and simple development framework (IDE) combines script editor, game objects editor, animation editor and much more.

• 2.    Possibilities of ‘scripting’ unlike Unreal Engine (UDK), where you can only write in the embedded language, in Unity two widely known JavaScript and C# are accessible and the scripts are compiled in the native code.

• 3.    Possibility of using C# in the development is already a major advantage because the language is very powerful, simple and convenient.

• 4.    Cross-platform: table ОС Windows, Linux, MacOS; mobile iOS, Android; console Nindendo Switch, PS4 and XBox One, as well as web-plug-in, that makes it possible to start games in the attachment and in browser are supported.

• 5.    Fairly modern graphics: there is complex lighting, embedded shade editor, a set of post-processing effects, SSAO, support of virtual and augmented reality and many more, i.e. there is a complete set of tools for creating high class modern projects.

• 6.    Physics engine – there is everything required.

• 7.    Productivity and scalability is at a very good level.

• 8.    Huge Asset Store includes a wide scope of game resources to create project prototype without an expensive designer.

• 9.    Flexible licensing policy (free version for education purposes).

Table 1. Main modules of the competition task

Day	Module	Work time	Task time
1	Task 1. (7 h.) Development of multimedia attachment Module A: Development of scene, objects and user interface. Module B: Programming the main interaction mechanics and experiment logic. Module C: Forming the whole model of the attachment, providing the achievement of all anticipated intermediate and final results.	09:00-13:00 14:00-17:00	4 hours 3 hours
2	Task 2 (7h.) Development of computer game Module D: Building game scene, creating objects, preparing animations. Module E: Programming the game mechanics (interactions, logic, strategies). Module F: Developing user interface, adjustment, code refactoring, balancing the game process.	09:00-13:00 14:00-17:00	4 hours 3 hours
3	Task 2 (4 h.) Presentation of the project (computer game) Module G: Creating the presentation slides, preparing for the defense procedure. Module H: Presentation and defense of the project.	09:00-12:00 12:00-13:00	3 hours 1 hour

The first section is development of multimedia attachment for educational purposes (interactive virtual experiment) in accordance with the provided technical task. The allocated period is one day (7 hours). The competitors are provided with all necessary graphical, technical description and charts.

The main stages of this work are:

• 1)    developing the scene, interactive and static objects representing the main elements of the task;

  Table 2. Assessment scheme 1

  
  

Criterion

Module A

Development of scene, objects and user interface.

I. Assessment of using Unity tools

The project features laws of Physics

Rigidbody2d is used

Triger2d is used

Collider is used prefab is used to create game objects

• 2)    developing user interface and programming the interactions between the scene objects;

• 3)    programming the mechanics and logic of user behavior during the task implementation stages;

• 4)    forming the whole model of the attachment, providing the achievement of all anticipated intermediate and final results.

Table 2 shows the main assessment criteria of the first day results.

II. Assessment of game objects

There are points or other ways to calculate gamer progress

Possibilities of WorldSkills movement for the formation of a new educational standard in the training of students in information technologies

There are sounds

Several animations are used for each game object

Interaction of game objects is realized

• III.    Assessment of user interface

Menu bar is realized

Basic interface elements are realized

Data sheet is realized

Module B

Programming the main interaction mechanics and experiment logic.

• I.    Code assessment

• 1)    Readability

Code is readable and easy to comprehend

Code is well constructed

Module architecture

Well targeted file structure of the project

• 2)    Documenting

There are comments

Comments are understandable

There are XML comments

More important and complex methods are documented

Naming variables and classes is logical and transparent

• 3)    OOD

There is a connected system of classes

OOD succession

Event driven class architecture approach is used

There are authentic interfaces in the code

Interfaces are used to decrease code cohesion

Effort is made to decrease code cohesion

• 4)    Other

Error conditions are processed

Reaction to user non-standard actions is included

Employment and storage of intermediate results is included

Module C

Forming the whole model of the attachment, providing the achievement of all anticipated intermediate and final results

• I.    Assessment of the whole attachment model

All required functions of the technical task are realized

User can pass all stages and achieve reliable result

There are no critical bugs impeding the achievement the main attachment purpose

There not any bugs

S.S. Chebotaryov

The criteria are to assess the main aspects of the competence: Unity tool using skills – creating objects, scene building, Physics adjustment and projecting the user interface, programming skills, object focused projecting and code forming as well the quality of technical task implementation.

The second part of the competition is development of video game. The competitors are presented a game type, technical description (design document) and a set of graphic resources. The task is carried out during the second day (7 hours). The main stages of the work are:

• 1)    game scene building, creating objects;

• 2)    preparing animations;

• 3)    game mechanics programming: interactions between game objects, user interactions with game elements;

4)    developing logic and strategy algorithms; 5)    developing the user interface to provide the necessary functions for the game to interact with the project; 6)    testing and adjustment of the game, code refactoring;	7) balancing the game process. Game genre, technical description, set of graphical resources and assessment criteria are agreed by the experts and approved by the chief expert one day before the competition. Table 3 shows the main assessment criteria of the second results.
Table 3. Assessment scheme 2
Criterion
Module D Building game scene, creating objects, preparing animations
I.      Assessment of Unity tools using
There is realization of Physics laws in the product
Rigidbody2d is used
Triger2d is used
Collider is used
Collision of bodies is used
Self-written shader is used
Graphics is scaled for different screen resolutions
Data storage as Player.pref is used
Progress bar is used in long loading
prefab is used to create game objects
Timer is used in the gameе
Timer does not stop when focus is lost
Material is used
Animator is used
Transitions between animations are used
Smooth animation change
Layers are used
Non-used objects are removed from the scene dynamically
FPS does not fall below 30
Components to work with audio are used
Particle system is used
II.    Assessment of game objects
There is point system or other method to calculate gamer progress
Game map is realized (level)
Map/level editor is realized
System of levels is realized
System of transitions between levels/maps is realized
System of bonuses is realized
Several animations are used for each game object
Interaction between game objects is realized
Module E Programming the game mechanics (interactions, logic, strategies).
I.     Assessment of code
1) Code readability
Code is readable and easy to comprehend
Code is well structured
Module architecture
Well targeted file structure of the project

Possibilities of WorldSkills movement for the formation of a new educational standard in the training of students in information technologies

S.S. Chebotaryov

2) Data structures and algorithms Standard data structures ArrayList, List, Stack, Queue are used Advanced data structures LinkedList, Dictionary, HashSet are used Developed hierarchical data structures are used (different trees) Development of way searching algorithms Development of decision making system based on modes Game objects controlled by artificial intelligence elements are realized 3) Code documentation There are comments Comments are understandable There are XML-comments More important and complex methods are documented Naming the variables and classes is logical and transparent 4) Using OOD There is a connected system of classes OOD succession is used Event controlled approach is used in class architecture There are developed interfaces in the code Interfaces to decrease code cohesion are used Effort is made to decrease code cohesion 5) Other Error conditions are processed Reaction to user non-standard actions is included Employment and storage of intermediate results is included Module F Developing user interface, adjustment, code refactoring, balancing the game process I.      Assessment of user interface Menu bar is realized Attachment settings menu is realized Storage and loading of the game process is realized In-game interface elements are realized Record table is realized Points and bonuses are visualized II.     Assessment of final result All required functions of the technical description are realized Control is fairly convenient Level passing seems possible and fairly comfortable There is principle possibility to pass all game levels There are no critical bugs that make main game purpose unachievable There are not any bugs III. Assessment of developer creativity Original author’s vision of the set task is realized Original game mechanics are realized Thus, during the first and second day object focused projecting and programming, the competitors are to demonstrate their knowledge in effective algorithm deprofessional skills of working with Unity velopment, basic game mechanics, user platform tools, Microsoft Visual Studio interfaces, game objects and animations environment, programming skill with development skills, physics adjustment and observing the standards and principles of interactions between the user and game objects, development of algorithms of way finding artificial intelligence (AI) elements as well as building game levels and many more.

The third day is for preparing and presenting the developed game.

Table 4 shows the criteria of assessment during the third day.

Table 4. Assessment scheme 3

Criterion

• I.    Assessment of presentation

General design: text is easily readable, color, background correspond to the text and graphical images

There are no spelling and punctuation mistakes

Presentation is structure, presentation logic is clear

Presentation has slides that clearly explain the work of the complex algorithms and/or data structures used in the project

Module H

Presentation and defense of the project

• I.    Assessment of the report

Report is logical and clear

Professional terms are used properly

Questions of the jury members are answered with confidence and good argumentation

In project demonstration focus is made on the most important aspects

On the third day the competitors demonstrate the skills of business communication, project presentation, cultured speaking and professional terminology everybody is to have today.

Thanks to participation in WorldSkills championships, expert community development, advertisement and promotion of the competence we believe that the competition task and assessment criteria will change quickly to answer the expectations of the industry.

We hope to see the final result of these processes as the formed comprehensive professional standard “Developer of video games and multimedia attachments”, promotion of this standard to the area of education (appearance of special subjects, profiles and new training programs) and development of high tech IT industry in this country.