The Lovable Goofball We Call Gose

Learning Python this semester has been one of the most engaging educational experiences of my life. Somehow, Professor Gose manages to teach Python—a basic programming language—in the most intuitive way. His lessons are less of a lecture and more of an immersive experience. He constantly engages students and tailors his lessons for different learning styles. That's why Introduction to Python is my favorite class.

Even though Gose is a computer science professor teaching a programming class, he always attempts to make the information relevant for every student in the class. He can easy tie Python programming back to cyber security, robotics or business. But it's his pure excitement that got me excited about Python. 

Why should someone learn Python? "It's fully integrated into the scientific community and imperative to AI and IoT," says Gose. 

Professor Gose

Professor Stephen Gose is one hell of a character. His laugh is loud and contagious. If you can't hear him coming, then you can see him coming in his uniform of bright dress shirts and wacky ties. He has been making video games since 1972. He speaks multiple languages. He may or may not have been a spy. 

If you have the opportunity to take one of Professor Gose's classes, do it. Just be forewarned: You will have fun, and you will make mistakes. Gose purposefully makes multiple mistakes during class to test our knowledge and attention spans. When you catch him in the act, you feel this adrenaline rush and morale boost.

Class Structure

Each class project has a main goal that the entire class works together to achieve. Professor Gose also offers "side goals" that we can tackle for bonus points. The points system rewards effort and keeps students engaged. We also keep a weekly journal. The journals help students retain information because they have to explain how and why they did what they did.

We also work on a lot of group projects, including games coded in Ren'Py, Pygame and other game engines built on top of Python.

"We do our homework," Gose states. "But there are also plenty of opportunities for self-guided assignments and fun."

Help on Assignments

Professor Gose helps students solve problems, no matter what their learning style is. His advice typically enables you solve your current problem and simplify or diversify your code. UAT Programming Tutor Kenneth Vorseth also helps out. Kenneth is a passionate programmer who enjoys teaching people Python.

Professor Gose continues to share helpful information and links throughout the week. This excess of content ensures that we understand the subject from different perspectives and helps keep what we learn during class fresh.

One week Gose posted a link to Ren'Py, a visual novel engine that creates stories with user-friendly terms that are easy to memorize. Ren'Py also has the ability to use actual Python code.

I wouldn't have discovered Ren'Py if it wasn't for Professor Gose. I'm currently creating my final project on this engine and have spent the past three weeks grinding out assets and code for my game. My team and I are excited to show Professor Gose what we have created!

Classmates

You might think that most of the people who take a Python class are computer science majors, but you'd be surprised. My friend Andrew is in the class with me, and he studies art! The diverse mix of majors showcases how useful Python is to all professions. Learning any kind of programming language will benefit you in the future.

Everyone in my Intro to Python class is friendly and excited to work together as a team in order to accomplish homework. My friend Darin and I help each other out when we get stuck. We work on homework assignments and take breaks together.

Conclusion 

I never expected to have this much fun in a programming class. I also thought that Intro to Python would be my first and last programing class, but I am going to take other programming classes just because Professor Gose teaches them.