At CGCO’2022, AppLab researchers will talk about the lab's research lines, especially virtual / augmented / mixed reality projects to facilitate teaching and learning, as well as collaboration opportunities.

The panel, hosted by Dr. Kazem Pouralvar, Faculty Member of the Multimedia Faculty of Tabriz University of Islamic Art, includes Dr. Claudio Aguayo, Senior Digital Innovation Advisor in Te Ara Poutama, the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Development at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), and Ali Taheri, Head of Digital Media Research at AppLab and PhD student in AUT University.

AppLab Description

The AppLab at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) is a cross-disciplinary group of academics, researchers, students, designers and developers exploring new ways of learning and teaching through emerging immersive technologies and new media. We dedicate ourselves to critically exploring and applying effective paradigms, methods and principles for successfully designing and using technology for teaching and learning. We consider the nature of the world we live in as complex, interconnected, unpredictable and ever-changing, where human experience is subjective, ecosomaesthetic, symbolic and felt with the world. We are always exploring and implementing new knowledge, practices, workflows and digital tools, informed by state of the art theory and processes in experimental ways. We are inspired by the arts, the body, the digital, mother nature, ancestral knowledge, science, technology, indigenous philosophy and more coming together in critically creative ways. At the AppLab we seek to improve community wellbeing through learning experiences, providing opportunities for emerging and disruptive paradigms into education-based user experience design and practice. Our focus is on understanding and facilitating systemic, organic and embodied design processes, balancing haptic and sensorial experiences encountered in the real world with digital immersion possible through digital and virtual environments.

We research, design, develop and deliver digital solutions for a range of educational contexts and settings. These include everything between course delivery and academic programme support, discipline-based services across Auckland University of Technology faculties, schools and departments, and working with external national and international partners in research and development projects. We engage with communities, NGOs, schools, institutions and industry partners in interdisciplinary ways to critically develop evidence-based solutions to real-life challenges. We work closely with undergraduate and postgraduate students offering them the chance to work on real-world critical making projects, where they can apply and up-skill their digital capabilities supported by a knowledgeable and experienced design and development team. We believe in assisting others in creating meaningful digital transformation in education as a way to contribute to our changing world.

Claudio Aguayo, Director Research & Development

Dr Claudio Aguayo is a Senior Digital Innovation Advisor at Te Ara Poutama, the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Development at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Claudio draws on three distinct interdisciplinary areas–systems biology, educational technology and cognitive science, to explore how digital tools can be best designed to enhance the human experience in learning environments. Claudio is the Director of R&D for AUT's AppLab, where he leads the exploration and understanding of the design and application of emerging digital technologies for learning in a range of educational settings. Through his work with the AppLab and teaching in the Digital Cultures Programme at Te Ara Poutama, he contributes to providing students, staff and external partners the opportunity to engage in practice-based research and applied critical making in diverse areas, including mixed reality (XR) in education, science education, socio-ecological sustainability, art+science, culturally-responsive practice, indigenous knowledge, and embodied enactive cognition in digital and virtual spaces, among others.

Ali Taheri, Digital Media Expert

Ali is a Digital Media Developer and Research Officer at AUT’s AppLab, and a doctoral candidate exploring immersive experiences and mixed reality embodied design in pursuit of improving the communication of complex data visualisation. Ali’s background is in Digital Media, Filmmaking and Computer Graphics. His primary focus at AppLab is developing virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality experiences specifically designed for teaching, learning and research. Ali also mentors undergraduate and postgraduate students, supports interdisciplinary academic research teams, and looks after the lab’s technological needs.

 

The video of the panle is available here.