Program of Study
Required courses for MA Certificate
(These courses can be taken in any order. We begin with the official university course catalog descriptions, and then discuss the importance of each class in more detail.)
TC 831 Theories of Games and Interaction for Design
(3 credits, fall semester)
Theories of mediated interaction including communication, learning, health, global and local development, and social justice to inform the design of social systems, games, and media products.
TC 841 Understanding Users
(3 credits, fall semester)
Research methods used by design teams for asking and answering questions related to digital media arts and technology--before, during, and after design of creative work. The design goals and the design prototype are tested to guide development and evaluate effectiveness.
TC 830 Foundations of Serious Games
(3 credits, spring semester)
Rationales, principles, processes and pedagogies for serious game design. Applications of serious game genres and simulations. Funding and distribution.
These three courses offer students a perspective on serious game design beyond what is normally taught in a game design program.
TC 830 (the foundations course) provides an in-depth perspective on state of the art of the many flavors of serious games (games for learning, corporate games, games for health, games for social change, news games, and military games). Students learn about and apply the process of game design with a serious twist. The semester long project, which can be completed alone or in a two person team, involves the design of a serious board game on a topic and for an audience the student selects.
TC 831 is the theory course. In TC831 students learn and explore theories from fields such as education, psychology, persuasion, and communication with the goal of understanding WHY particular elements of a serious game might be expected to have a particular desired impact on the player. TC831 enables serious game designers to be informed by academic knowledge, not just instinct, in considering design decisions.
TC841 teaches serious game students design research methods for serious game design. In order to design an effective serious game, it is essential to understand your target players. Borrowing from the field of User Centered Design (UCD), students learn and experience a wide range of design research techniques including focus group interviews, secondary research, ethnographic observation, interviewing and surveys, playtesting, usability testing, constructing and using game metrics, physiological measures, and competitive analysis.
These three courses, in combination, can provide learners with an advanced understanding of key knowledge and skills that are particularly helpful in creating, understanding, and applying serious games.
Note that this certificate does not teach the fine details of programming, art, or digital game design. Our in person MA program includes many courses to advance those kinds of skills. Instead, the certificate focusses on conceptual understanding, perspectives, and skills that are particularly important in the domain of serious games.
MSU graduate students can substitute one of the following MSU courses in place of TC841:
| ADV 823 | Consumer Behavior | 4 credits |
| ASC 823X | Augmentative Communication Systems | 3 credits |
| AL 494 | Learning in Museums | 3 credits |
| CAS 825 | Mass Communication and Public Health | |
| CEP 817 | Learning Technology through Design | 3 credits |
| CSE 841 | Artificial Intelligence | 3 credits |
| COM 821 | Mass Communication Theory and Research | 3 credits |
| JRN 810 | Visual Journalism | 3 credits |
| JRN 824 | Health and Science Writing | 3 credits |
| PSY 803 | Higher Order Cognitive Processes | 3 credits |
| TC 802 | Research Methods in Telecommunication | 3 credits |
| TC 840 | Foundations of Digital Media Arts and Technology | 3 credits |
| WRA 415 | Digital Rhetoric | 3 credits |
