The Journey to Improve Teaching Computer Graphics: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Computer graphics is often regarded an exciting and enjoyable subject due to it combining technology, art and creativity. The past few years have seen a rapid evolution of the field with novel consumer-level devices (e.g. head-mounted displays) and media (e.g. 3D videos on YouTube) enabling a much wider section of the population to experience and create 3D content. However, teaching computer graphics can be challenging due to it requiring a diverse range of skills such as mathematics, physics, programming, spatial reasoning, problem solving, and art and design. Several researchers have acknowledged this problem and have attempted to make computer graphics teaching easier and more effective. However, so far no consensus seems to exist about the key problems teachers need to overcome and what concepts and methodologies might help with this. In this paper, we address this issue by conducting a systematic literature review identifying reported challenges, methodologies, and approaches for teaching computer graphics. Our research offers practitioners new insight into computer graphics teaching, which we hope will be useful for curriculum design, developing more effective tools and support for struggling students, and suggesting avenues for future research.