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The pandemic has created immense challenges for countless students and instructors. That鈥檚 a given. At the same time, the switch to all-online teaching also created some unforeseen opportunities.
This fall, the faculty roster for ATLAS included New York City-based creative technologist, David Tracy; extended reality developer David Lobser, also based in New York City; Josh Knowles, a software engineer and interactive artist living in Austin, Texas; and Jeff Branson, a former field engineer with SparkFun Electronics who works on an independent project for NASA and teaches from his home in Middlebury, Vermont.
The common thread between all four is Arielle Hein, the new director of undergraduate programs for ATLAS, who tapped her graduate school connections at NYU鈥檚 Interactive Telecommunications Program when recruiting for the fall.
鈥淚t's been a challenging semester, but virtual teaching has given students access to working professionals at the very top of their fields. It鈥檚 been a silver lining for sure,鈥� says Hein.
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3D in Form: David Tracy, director of creative technology, The L专 at Rockwell Group
David Tracy admits it鈥檚 a 鈥渟trange experience鈥� to teach at a major university that he鈥檚 never visited, with students he'll likely never meet in person. But, he鈥檚 been 鈥減leasantly surprised鈥� at the students鈥� commitment, their engagement with the content, and their adaptability to the current circumstances.
As director of creative technology for the L专 at Rockwell Group, Tracy is often asked to tackle unusual and highly technical projects where aesthetics and design must be seamlessly blended with sophisticated, reliable technology. 鈥淗e鈥檚 working for one of the most respected interdisciplinary design firms in the U.S.,鈥� says Hein. 鈥淔or many of our CTD students, he鈥檚 got a dream job. I鈥檓 so glad some students were able to learn from him and take a look inside his world.鈥�
鈥淭hree-dimensional making and thinking are essential skills for today's creatives, designers, engineers and technologists,鈥� says Tracy, who taught Form during the fall semester. A goal of his class is to develop foundational skills for sketching and communicating with three-dimensional form. Because of limited access to fabrication tools due to the pandemic, the course has almost exclusively focused on 3D-modeling and digital formats for reviewing models; render engines, game engines and virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR).
E.O. Rafelson, a senior studying Creative Technology and Design who took the Form class, says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 especially awesome that in his own work as a creative technologist, David uses many of the techniques and software he was teaching us. I feel like I got an insider鈥檚 scoop on what鈥檚 important and interesting in the field.鈥�
Rafelson says, 鈥淎lthough it鈥檚 unfortunate we might never meet in person, David鈥檚 class was a bright side to how the pandemic affected my education.鈥�
Beyond Game of Thrones鈥擩osh Knowles, software engineer and interactive artist
Josh Knowles is a software engineer and interactive artist whose clients include American singer Jessica Simpson, HBO鈥檚 Game of Thrones and MTV. Working from his home in Austin, Texas, Knowles taught Interface Aesthetics, which focuses on the experiential design of digital interfaces.
He previously taught at New York University and New York鈥檚 School of Visual Arts, but this is his first time teaching online.
Knowles' professional experience includes creating an interactive kiosk design for South by Southwest, and presenting at the Barclay Center in New York City, where visitors were invited to watch scenes from Game of Thrones and vote for their favorite characters.
鈥淚 enjoyed this class immensely,鈥� says Noelle Ireland, a senior majoring in the CTD who took his听 class. 鈥淛osh鈥檚 background in software development and art, along with his expansive industry experience have been an incredible asset to this course. He understands the complex relationship between software and interface design, and he often illustrates how to balance the needs of software engineers and interfaces for user-experience.鈥�
Leaning into the artistic side: David Lobser, animation director
David Lobser has worked in the visual effects industry for more than 10 years and directs animated shorts for advertising. The Introduction to Virtual Reality course he taught this semester draws from his expertise in extended reality (XR) development and 3D animation. During the semester he was commuting between his New York City home and South Denver.
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Lobser鈥檚 experience includes a research and artist residency position at NYU鈥檚 Future Reality Lab, where he created multi-user, shared-space VR experiences.
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Lillie Bahrami, Lobser鈥檚 teaching assistant, says the course has been one of CTD鈥檚 more technically intensive focus electives. 鈥淒avid's multidisciplinary emphasis and his fine arts background sets his course apart,鈥� Bahrami says. 鈥淗e鈥檚 directing the class to lean into the artistic side of VR, without sacrificing technical rigor.鈥� She adds that with his background, he possesses a technical mastery that has been immensely valuable. Lobser is now focusing on therapeutic applications of VR.
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Interacting in Object: Jeff Branson, working on a space grant for NASA
Jeff Branson resides in Middlebury, Vermont, a rural town of 8,000 residents, living what he calls a 鈥淣orman Rockwell lifestyle.鈥� Previously a field engineer with SparkFun Electronics in Boulder, Branson moved to the small town to be closer to his aging parents.
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鈥淚 tell people I time travel,鈥� says Branson. 鈥淏oulder and the tech industry on the Front Range feel like the future, but Middlebury feels like the past, and I get to bounce back and forth between time periods.鈥�
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Every morning, Branson sets up shop in his 鈥渃ockpit,鈥� a bench surrounded by four monitors and covered with digital hardware: Arduinos, Raspberry Pis, a Windows computer, a Mac and a Linux laptop. It鈥檚 where he runs the Object class, in which students learn to integrate sensors, motors and electronics into creative projects. It鈥檚 also where Branson team teaches at the University of Texas and does development work on a space grant project for NASA.
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Branson points to a puppet he made that visually engages deaf students through touch and lights. 鈥淭his is similar to what is taught in the Object class,鈥� Branson said. 鈥淗ow do we build computationally endowed objects so they interact not just with code and hardware, but with the people who encounter them?鈥�
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Emily Moore, a senior majoring in CTD, commented about Branson: 鈥淚 appreciate ATLAS' commitment to lecturers and professors who work in relevant fields; students get a contextual learning experience and begin to understand how these skills might transfer to career opportunities.鈥�
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With a challenging semester over, Hein is also grateful that students derived some value from classes going online. 鈥淚 am grateful that despite the challenging circumstances, students benefited from access to such exceptional practitioners,鈥� she says.
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There鈥檚 good reason to hope that by the start of the next academic year, restrictions will be lifted, with students and teachers returning to the classroom. However, adopting the virtual format over much of the past year has allowed us to tap into creative and professional talent from across the country in ways that ATLAS may be able to take advantage of again in the future.