Speaker 1: Game technologies are now being used in multiple sectors and so we're seeing sectors like architecture, automotive and medical are now integrating game technologies in different ways and so the opportunities for students to move beyond just entertainment are really exciting.

Speaker 2: This is Horizons. Stories about what's next in the world. Powered by Compass Data Centers.

Speaker 1: My name is Michael Baker. I'm Department Chair for Arts and Entertainment Technologies at the University of Texas in Austin. My journey started really in graduate school so in the 90s I joined a program that was focused on computer graphics which was pretty new back in those days and I became really interested in interactive computer graphics. So in other words, game design and game technology. We didn't really call it that back then but that's pretty much what it was. I was fascinated by working with those types of technologies with the ability to create an interactive experience on a screen with a high frame rate. Again, the stuff that games are made of. We started as a game design program and expanded into live event technologies and immersive media. We have about 400 students. They're all undergraduates and we have a professionally focused curriculum so we're intentionally steering students towards careers in entertainment industries. One of the things that makes our program unique is the combination of game design, so digital technology, screen-based design, interactive design, combined with live event technologies. And so we bring those two things together to create digital and physical experiences and that's what we think of as immersive media. One of the ways that we teach the fundamentals of game design to our students is through play. All humans, when they were young, would naturally play. It's an innate motivation. In fact, many creatures do the same thing. It's one of the ways that we learn about and explore the world. It is also the essence of an interactive experience. And so when our students come into our foundations classes to learn game design, one of the first things we do, we do play exercises. So we work with physical objects. Sometimes they will bring in their own items. Sometimes we provide kits. We basically kind of re-teach students how to just be free and play and explore. Because when they do that, they make discoveries about things. Even if it's a simple set, it could be paper clips and some popsicle sticks and rubber bands, right? And, you know, you can find things to do with those. You can invent challenges if you just let yourself kind of re-engage with those childhood play motivations. You know, we're kind of coaching our kids through, you know, their sort of early experience with sort of excitement and stress and worry. You know, into a place four years later where, you know, they feel like they have the skills. They feel like they have a mental framework to approach change. Something that we do in our curriculum is we try to kind of bring everyone up. So we want our students to feel comfortable experimenting. We want to demystify that sort of myth of failure. You know, it's OK to try something and then if you learn something from it, like that's really the outcome. You know, we'll get to great results later. Students are often a little bit hesitant to jump into some of these new technologies. They might be intimidated on the technical side or they might be fearful or unsure of kind of what these systems are and how they work. So, again, we integrate these things. So we do actually quite a lot with AI right now. We try to frame that type of work as not a replacement necessarily for creative work or for students, but as an assistive tool. We are trying to steer our students into really surfacing the core of their projects and really asking questions about why are they building that thing? Why are they telling that story? Why are they motivated to create that project? Because AI can help them get there faster. Future proofing a curriculum at a university is not the easiest thing to do. So universities are very good at running history courses and kind of doing the thing that they did last year. It requires that we try to see what's coming. So we try to keep our eye on the horizon. And we're always looking for the next disruptive technology or the next opportunity for students. And so something that's really exciting to me about the program that actually drew me to the program in the beginning was the fact that game technologies are now being used in multiple sectors. And so we're seeing sectors like architecture, automotive and medical are now integrating game technologies in different ways. And so the opportunities for students to move beyond just entertainment are really exciting. Some of the industries that we see our students going into that are adjacent to entertainment technologies are architecture field is one. So game designers work in digital experience technology in the architecture space. We also see students working in the medical field as well. So there are some therapeutics and training systems that use augmented and virtual reality. And those are driven by basically by game technology. So we have some students in that space that approach of researching a problem, creating a prototype, testing it and then refining it. That applies in multiple fields. I mean, engineering uses that process to design and engineer bridges and vehicles and mechanical devices. We use it in design focused on users to create user centered experiences. And then on the game side, we use the same process to develop and iterate on game systems. One thing we do is we try to keep our eye on the horizon. So having some sense of where things might go is important. You know, preparing for the future, I think, involves optimism, creativity, openness to change. I mean, these are things that we kind of trick our students into learning in some ways. We often assess them on process versus product, especially in the foundations classes and some of the earlier classes in the program. And that is very intentional. We're trying to kind of build in them a reflex to follow process, pursue results for sure, but follow process kind of first and foremost. And do so in a way that is optimistic and resilient and open. Because that's, you know, that's when discovery happens. That's how great creative projects come together as well. So it's really about bringing all of those things together. Or I think when we bring those things together, when students are able to channel all of that, when they do move out into the future, they're ready for the changes that come. You know, they're able to navigate those new opportunities and find their way through the change that is inevitable. ♪