Summer Computer Camps some padding stuff and words needed

Learn how to create your own 3D video game in this hands-on computer camp! You'll enjoy learning the fundamentals of computer programing by building your own computer game using a computer language called Alice.


  • Level: Beginner to intermediate
  • Students: Girls and boys entering grades 6-8 (or previous 2D Video Game course)
  • Date: July 10 - July 14, 9:00am - 12:00pm *** still a little tentative ***
  • Drop off time: 8:45 - 9:00am
  • Pick up time: 12:00 - 12:15pm
  • Class Location: Serra 134, USD Campus
  • Drop off / Pick up Location: Parking Lot in Front of Loma Hall (Map)
  • Course Fee: $220
  • Frequently Asked Questions

Registration Options

Register your child for this summer camp using one of these 3 options:
  • Online
  • by Email: please include
    • Student Name
    • Student Age
    • Student's School
    • Parent or Guardian Name
    • Phone number
  • or by Phone at 619-335-5378.
After registering, please complete and mail to

University of San Diego
Department of Mathematics
Summer Computing Camps
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego CA 92110.

Course Description

Learn how to create your own 3D video game in this hands-on computer camp!

In this computer workshop, you will be introduced to the fundamentals of computer programming using Alice, a fun computer programming language that was developed to help people learn to program. Alice has many pre-built characters and worlds so that you can get a jump start into designing the action of your game, and it is adaptable enough that you can create your own worlds for game play as well.

During these 5 half-day sessions, yo'll learn the basics of video game creation in Alice by creating and adapting several short games. These exercises will help you to feel comfortable with the Alice interface, and will introduce you to the programming structures that you will need to use to build your own game. They will also give you a good idea of the amazing things that are possible with this wonderful environment, and stimulate your imagination for your own game! Then you'll design and program your own one-of-a-kind game with the help and support of your instructor and teaching assistants.

At the end of the week, you'll have a great game that you can share with your friends, you'll be able to write your own games and animation programs at home or school, and you'll be ready to take more advanced classes in computer programming where you will learn to do even more.

What is Alice?

Alice is a free 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story or creating an interactive game. It was developed at Carnegie Mellon that runs on Windows and Mac computers. It has a simple interactive interface that lets students write programs by dragging and dropping graphic blocks to create or change the logic of the program. These blocks perform the same operations that commands do in professional object oriented languages like C++, Java, or Python. Programmers can define variables, use loops to repeat operations, create functions, respond to input from a mouse and more. Visit Alice for more info.

Course Goals and Learner Outcomes

The primary audience for this workshop is composed of young people who are new programmers. The goal of this course is to provide a foundation in computer science by letting the students work on programs that interest them. By participating in this workshop, students will improve their ability to think logically and express their ideas precisely. They will also learn that programming can be fun and that they have the ability to become computer scientists or software engineers.

While learning to program using Alice, students will develop an understanding of many of the essential principles of computer programing including how to

By participating in this workshop, students will improve their ability to think logically and express their ideas precisely. They will also learn that programming can be fun and that they have the ability to become computer scientists or software engineers.

How the Class Will Be Taught

This course is taught in the classroom and computer laboratory, employing lectures and demonstrations, in-class exercises, student participation, individual explorations, and class activities leading to a final project. Every day, students will be introduced to new computer science and game creation topics through structured exercises in Alice.

Our Other Computer Camps

We are offering 2 other camps this summer, where your child can learn to create 3D animations and program LEGO robots, or learn 2D animation using Scratch. Please visit our main page for details: USD's Summer Computer Camps

About the Instructor

Dr Hoffoss has been teaching both mathematics and computer science courses to eager students from middle school through university since 1993, when she was a graduate student at UCSB. Since her PhD in 1997, she has taught at Colorado College, Rice University, and teaches now as a tenured professor at University of San Diego. USD is a great fit for her interests and talents because of its strong commitment to high quality teaching, and she has received many teaching awards from both faculty and students.

Hoffoss was a Summer Faculty Fellow at NASA JPL, where she worked on computing problems involving optimizing the scheduling of communication between the Mars rovers, Mars orbiters, and the 3 Deep Space Network communication stations on Earth, and also at Bell Communications Research, where she helped develop a new object oriented, deductive database computer language called LAURE.

Since 2011 she has taught several summer computing camps for middle school kids, and enjoys introducing young minds to the excitement of creative problem solving, logical thinking and computer programming using the instant feedback of computer animation and LEGO robot control.