Robert W. Songer

Welcome to my pomp and circumstance academic profile!

I am an Associate Professor specializing in software engineering, web development, and artificial intelligence in Kanazawa, Japan. The most comprehensive list of my academic accomplishments is in my profile on ResearchMap. Haven’t heard of ResearchMap? It’s like ResearchGate, but it’s from Japan. Yes, I have a ResearchGate profile, too, but it remains largely empty aside from the data their bots could scrape up about me.

I currently teach programming and software engineering courses at ICT while working to finish my PhD in Information and Computer Engineering at Kanazawa Institute of Technology. The teaching page has a list of my recent courses and the projects page has information about my research.

featured project

The following project was developed for the Software Engineering Lab course taught in Spring 2022.

Computer Graphics Framework

A software framework for rendering 3D CG with Python

news

Sep 12, 2022	The software framework developed for the 2022 Software Engineering Lab course is now on the projects page! Check out my Computer Graphics Framework here or on GitHub.
Aug 5, 2022	Two new pages have been added: repositories and curriculum vitae. Please contact me via one of the social links below if you are interested in a PDF of my CV.
Jul 20, 2022	I was recently interviewed by an online publication called Gekkan Kosen that shares news about Japanese technical colleges (kosen). The article of my interview is written in Japanese, but you can check it out here.
May 18, 2022	My first featured article has been published in ICT’s professional blog called the Hakusanroku Journal. Check it out here!
May 2, 2022	A research project is now up on the projects page! Check it out here to learn about my first research project using the Python language.

selected publications

ACM

A Playful Affordances Model for Gameful Learning

Songer, Robert W., and Miyata, Kazunori

In Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality 2014

Abs HTML

Games are often cited for their inherent qualities that make them engaging, inspiring, fun and easy to learn. In education, two separate tracks of game-based learning and gamification have sought to activate the benefits of games and game design for the sake of better learning. This paper examines the strengths and weaknesses of games and gamification to propose an approach that focuses not on motivating with rewards and consequences, but instead on providing intrinsic game-like experiences through play. We address the issue of gamifying educational contexts with discussions about gamer motivations, the relationship between games and play, and designs for optimal learning within games. From the theoretical foundations of behavioral psychology, anthropology and game studies, we then conclude with a model for the design and evaluation of playful experiences in systems of learning inspired by game design.