Abstract
People are confronted with huge amounts of data each day, and they need to be able to make decisions with these data. I design computational experiences to help people learn how to reason with complex numerical and visual data in order to enhance attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, and performance. I'll present some of my systems in my talk, focusing on aspects that borrow from game and experience design in order to allow people to learn from the playfully engaging with data.
Brief Biography
Brian K Smith is Dean of Continuing Education at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). His research involves the use of computation to support and augment human performance and learning, especially in contexts outside of formal education. At RISD, he is interested in developing new approaches to learning across the lifespan using these and other technologies as well as bringing creativity to the core of educational practices.
Smith was a faculty member at The Pennsylvania State University’s College of Information Sciences and Technology with appointments in Education and Computer Science and Engineering from 2002-2009 and The Media Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1997-2002. He received a FacultyCareer Development Award from the National Science Foundation in 2000 to begin a research agenda around visual learning. He received the Jan Hawkins Award for Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies from the American Education Research Association in 2004. Apple Computer also named him an Apple Distinguished Educator in 2004. He holds aB.S. degree in Computer Science & Engineering from UCLA and a Ph.D. in Learning Sciences from Northwestern University.
