Heather Kelley

In the core team-taught ETC Project Course curriculum, modeled on a professional work environment, I draw on my twenty years of industry experience in games, multimedia, and exhibition development to serve as a professional guide and interpersonal mentor to the student teams.

My elective course offerings include Playing with the Senses, Transformational Game Design, Intro to Level Design, and Game Sound. Each of these courses target a unique professional area and contribute substantially to the skills that our graduates are seeking as they begin their careers. For elective courses I have been using Specifications Grading, providing clear expectations of requirements for each assignment, while providing subjective critical feedback in a respectful, caring, non-graded context. I believe Specs Grading allows students at widely varying levels of incoming knowledge to collaborate and contribute despite differences in expertise.

My elective courses also feature numerous visits, lectures, and critiques from local and national entertainment technology professionals, such as game director Harvey Smith. I consider the opportunity to interact with industry professionals to be a key factor in encouraging student engagement throughout my courses, by providing students valuable access to authoritative professional perspectives, as well as genuine encouragement from their future peers and mentors.