This course will present an introduction to creating VR experiences in a browser, exploring the basics of WebVR, a JavaScript API that provides access to a variety of Virtual Reality devices in your browser. The class will feature an overview of A-Frame, and rapid prototyping VR in the browser using A-Frame and other open-source frameworks. In addition, the course will provide an introduction to motion capture and rigging for students to explore motion and movement in XR environments. The class explains the building blocks of the Immersive Web providing support for virtual-reality devices to web apps, enabling developers to create immersive experiences that run on any WebGL-enabled browser. Tools and methods will be discussed through a critical lens that interrogate power structures embedded in these technologies, with readings and discussions that question access, control and representation.

Creative Machine Learning is an elective 3-hr/week combination studio and technical class to offer students a basic understanding of machine learning through creative applications. The class will cover topics such as data collection/processing and machine learning algorithms, with a focus on critical engagement with enterprise, consumer, and experimental AI tools. The class will also introduce a range of current artists leveraging machine learning. By the end of the course, students will have gained an understanding of the possibilities and limitations of machine learning as a tool for creative expression, and will be equipped with the technical and creative skills needed to continue exploring this exciting and rapidly-evolving field. Previous knowledge of code will allow students to do more advanced work, and completion of at least one programming class is recommended.

In this course students are tasked with individually creating a digital game every week to be presented and played in class by their peers. Each week a theme will be presented that games must follow, alternating between structural constraints and thematic ones. Students will build their ability to properly scope and prototype a game, testing ideas that can succeed or fail as prototypes. Creating a game every week also provides the opportunity to hone a creative practice, exploring and fine tuning one's own taste and voice. Through creating a portfolio of prototypes students can engage with their own personal joy and process for creating games in a context separate from structured assignments, and begin to engage with the industry as peers and creative professionals. A foundation in Unity is required.

This course is an introduction to the user experience design process: from research, to interface design, to a testable prototype. Together, we will develop an understanding of general UX design best practices and human psychology that facilitates decision-making, explore the latest functionalities of mobile and web interface design and patterns, and look across a variety of tangible and experiential interfaces for examples. Throughout the course, we take a critical look at what goes into creating the addictiveness of smartphone apps and platforms, and the ethical and moral obligations designers have towards the structures around us.

How do we design interactions, installations, and experiences around the constrains of the new world? How do we create environments that provide refuge and healing during crisis? This class will focus on the fundamentals and advanced techniques of real-time graphics programming, interaction design, networking, midi integration and projection mapping, to create immersive environments that can have technical and social impact for communities in need in a socially distanced era. Students will learn these techniques using a tool called TouchDesigner, which is a node-based visual programming language for real-time interactive multimedia content. It's been used by artists, programmers, creative coders and software designers to create performances, installations, and mixed media works. The course will consider technical skills, methods and aesthetics in the context of case studies that include large scale environments for medical professionals to alleviate stress/burnout, for patients in clinical studies aiding in neuroscience research on brain recovery, and for commercial spaces bringing sanctuary to the urban landscape.