Quick links, including email links, office hours, and lab hours, are all available from the “Instructors” tab above in the course menubar.
What follows is a more detailed introduction to the people delivering this class to you this semester. We are a team, and will be working together to deliver this experience to you.
I am the professor delivering this course. I am also the instructor of record for this course. If you have any significant problems, administrative or technical, please come to me about them.
I am excited to work with you, and guide you through the journey of beginning to code!
Please feel free to leverage my office hours, email, text messages or phone calls to find me. I would love it if each and everyone of you who are in Missoula could come by sometime to introduce yourself. For those of you who are distance learners, please consider sending me an email about yourself, along with something to help me get to know you better, like your own website, or links to your creative work. You are also welcome to set up a Zoom meeting with me and we can get to know one another better that way as well.
I would also like to say that I am first and foremost a teacher, so I will work to respond to your questions and problems as quickly as I can. E-mail is one of the best ways to get a hold of me. I check my e-mail throughout the day so you should hear back from . My office hours are another way to get help from me. They are posted and updated in the “Instructors” tab of this website.
Bio
Michael Cassens is a teacher, a computer scientist, creative technologist, gamer, game developer and mobile application developer. His current practice and research is based on how to become a better instructor, how to use gaming practices and theories to deliver better course content as well as build better and more interesting games for the market place using different games engines and mobile platforms.
Some of his favorite games are: Mario Bros, Clash of Clans, Life is Strange, Syberia, Super Meat Boy, Zelda Breath of the Wild, Bastion, Overwatch, Super Smash Bros, Ms. Pacman, and PubG.
Michael is currently at the University of Montana as an Assistant Professor of Media Arts. In addition to continuing his own research, Michael is teaching courses within the Gaming Advising Track. These courses focus on preparing students to contribute in the gaming industry and beyond.
Prior to the Media Arts Department, Michael taught in the Computer Science Department for approximately 18 years as an Adjunct and Lecturer. He has taught a number of courses including Introduction to Programming, Fundamentals of Computer Science I and II, Data Stuctures, Algorithms, SOftware Science, Database Design, Game and Mobile Application Programming, Advanced Client-Side Web Programming and Advanced Server-Side Web Programming. Michael also started his own consulting company 2002 which he still operates building software for small to medium sized businesses. Michael has a BA in Biology as well as a M.S. Computer Science. Originally from Boulder, Colorado, St. Louis, MO, then, Hamilton, MT, Michael loves being outside with his family as well as mountain biking, snowboarding, hiking, photography, and just being in nature.
For more information please visit his consulting site at silverleaf-consulting.com .