Tangible Embodied Child-Computer Interaction Lab
Director Dr. Alissa N. Antle School of Interactive Arts and Technology Simon Fraser University
About TECI

At TECI we conduct design-oriented research and train the next generation of researchers to design, build and evaluate technical innovations that improve, augment, and support children’s cognitive and emotional development.
Primary Research Foci: Design research, tangible interaction, embodied interaction, child-computer interaction
Application Areas: Literacy, social-emotional learning, mindfulness, sustainability education, social justice, aboriginal heritage

Current Projects




People

Dr. Antle is a tenured Professor in the School of Interactive Arts + Technology at Simon Fraser University, Canada. Dr. Antle holds the highest honour for a Canadian scholar through her induction as a member of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, which acknowledges her as one of Canada’s intellectual leaders. Dr. Antle’s impact extends to the international community through her recognition as a leader in ethical child-centered technology research.
News & Events
Come Join Our Lab in Fall 2021! At TECI you will work directly with Prof. Antle and be part of a ...
Jun 16

Come Join Our Lab in Fall 2021! At TECI you will work directly with Prof. Antle and be part of a 100+ student cohort in our interdisciplinary graduate program @siatsfu . You will work on innovative design research projects in the area of child-computer interaction. We ideate, design, build and run lab and field studies with new forms of interactive systems that support children’s learning and development. We’re currently working on mobile interventions for socio-emotional learning, parent-child story-telling, smart toys and other super cool projects!
Funding: All positions are fully funded at Canadian Tri-council levels and involve research and teaching assistantships.
TECI Lab Summary: At TECI we conduct award-winning design-oriented research. We are training the next generation of researchers to design, build and evaluate technical innovations that improve, augment, and support children’s learning and development. We are currently focusing on the design, development and evaluation of tangible and embodied user interfaces, mobile augmented reality, biowearables and brain-computer interfaces. .
.
.
.
.
#tecilab #childcomputerinteraction #technologyresearch #teciishiring #research #MSc #MA #PostDoc #graduatestudent #graduatestudentlife #werehiring #academiclife #humancomputerinteraction #tangibleinteraction #embodiedinteraction #interfacedesign #augmentedreality #braininterfaces #wearables #tech #siatspotlight #simonfraseru #simonfraseruniversity #canadianresearch #canadianuniversities
Congratulations to Dr. Victor Cheung, @alissaantle , Shubhra Sarker, Dr. Min Fan, Jianyu Fan, and ...
May 21

Congratulations to Dr. Victor Cheung, @alissaantle , Shubhra Sarker, Dr. Min Fan, Jianyu Fan, and @pass_phil for the acceptance of their paper “Techniques for Augmented-Tangibles on Mobile Devices for Early Childhood Learning” at the Interaction Design and Children 2020 conference. Remember to check out the paper once the @acm proceedings go online.
The authors present requirements and techniques for creating a hybrid tangible-augmented reality enabling technology platform that enables the development of early education applications that use readily available learning materials such as physical letters. The computer-vision and machine-learning technique is demonstrated in a tangible-augmented reality reading application. Digital color overlays are registered to physical letters and depict how letter placement impacts letter/word sounds.
___________________
#tecilab #tecipublications #VictorCheung #AlissaAntle #ShubhraSarker #MinFan #JianyuFan #PhilippePasquier #AugmentedReality #tangibleinteraction #children #childcomputerinteraction #phonologicalawareness #Englishlanguagelearning #school #languagelearning #technologyforchildren #learning #IDC2020 #Earlychildhoodlearning #tablets #educationalmobileapps #simonfraseru #siatspotlight #simonfraseruniversity
Congratulations to Dr. Min Fan and @alissaantle on the acceptance of their paper “An English ...
May 20

Congratulations to Dr. Min Fan and @alissaantle on the acceptance of their paper “An English Language Learning Study with Rural Chinese Children Using an Augmented Reality App” to the Interaction Design and Children 2020 conference. Remember to check out the paper once the @theofficialacm IDC 2020 proceedings go online.
The AR PhonoBlocks app uses dynamic color cues and 3D physical letters to support learning the alphabetic principles of English. In the paper the authors present an exploratory study investigating how Chinese children from a rural socio-economic status school used the app to learn the alphabetic principle of English.
_________________________________
#tecilab #tecipublications #AlissaAntle #MinFan #AugmentedReality #children #childcomputerinteraction #phonologicalawareness #Englishlanguagelearning #developingcountry #school #languagelearning #technologyforchildren #learning #IDC2020 #simonfraseru #siatspotlight #simonfraseruniversity #phonoblocks
Congratulations to our very own Elgin for the successful virtual defense of her thesis ...
Apr 21

Congratulations to our very own Elgin for the successful virtual defense of her thesis “Co-Designing Neurofeedback Game Audio with Children”.
Description: Many children struggle with mental health challenges such as anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Neurofeedback games, like Mind-Full, use portable brain-computer interfaces to help children cope by developing self-regulation skills. These games work by receiving electroencephalographic (EEG) input and relaying that information to users. In theory, feedback may be visual, auditory, tactile, or some combination. In practice, most games are visual. As users gain focus, the game visuals respond on-screen in real time. The reliance on visual feedback can create difficulties in the field—schools are often noisy and filled with distractions, and some children are uncomfortable sitting in silence with adults. Incorporating sound into neurofeedback games could improve usability and, potentially, outcomes. However, there is a basic problem–adult researchers cannot assume to know what sounds might appeal to young users. This prompts important questions: How can children contribute to the co-design of sounds for a neurofeedback system? What sounds do children think would be suitable for each game? In this thesis, Elgin looked to children to guide the development and evaluation of sounds for neurofeedback games. She reports findings from a co-design study to create sounds for Mind-Full. She worked with 16 children as design partners over five sessions at a school in Vancouver, Canada. Her thesis presents results from each session, discusses limitations, and reviews theoretical implications. In this work she finds that children can participate in the co-design of sound via ideation, clarification and elaboration of ideas, and evaluation of sounds. The contributions of this work are a set of practical guidelines for co-design with children, an enhanced version of Mind-Full Wind that includes children’s sound ideas (wind, bird, and stone sounds), and recommendations which may be helpful for future researchers and designers interested in running co-design studies related to sound.
______________________
Update on Registration for IDC 2020 workshop:
To be held June 18, 2020, time TBD
* ...
Apr 20

Update on Registration for IDC 2020 workshop:
To be held June 18, 2020, time TBD
* Participants can register only for the workshop without having to register for the conference. Fee: $ 50 * Student registration in the conference is lowered to $100. This fee includes workshop attendance under the condition that students have an accepted submission to the workshop.
Join @alissaantle and her co-organizers at the @theofficialacm Interaction Design and Children (IDC) 2020 conference for an ONLINE workshop on “Emergent, Situated and Prospective Ethics for Child-Computer Interaction Research”. The organizing committee will select submissions based on the quality and diversity of the contribution. The organizers have PUSHED THE SUBMISSION DATE BACK to May 10, 2020. Please send submissions and/or questions to Dr. Alissa Antle (aantle AT sfu DOT ca). Acceptance notifications will be delivered on May 12, 2020 and a camera ready version must be provided to the organizers by May 15, 2020.
What do I submit?
Participants are invited to submit a 2 page position paper in the SIGCHI Extended Abstracts format. Papers should take the form of a mini-case study related to author experiences with workshop focus, themes and goals. Our themes provide inspiration for authors to think past longstanding ethical issues and to consider emergent and unique aspects of ethics in HCI for children.
Where can I learn more?
Learn more about the workshop at: http://antle.iat.sfu.ca/idc-2020-workshop/
For more on registration and to stay up-to-date about the IDC 2020 conference as we all navigate the unknowns of the Corona Virus/Covid 19, please see: https://idc.acm.org/2020/ >>>>
#idc2020 #acm #acmidc2020 #idcworkshop #humancomputerinteraction #HCI #childcomputerinteraction #designingforchildren #techforchildren #techresearch #tecilabontheroad #tecilab #alissaantle #christopherfrauenberger #jerryalanfails #simonfraserU #monicalandoni #marinajirotka #nalintutiyaphuengprasert #helenawebb #sfugram #siatspotlight #tecilabontheroad #tecilab
How are you all fairing? Getting research done? Staying connected? We mostly use Slack and Google ...
Apr 6

How are you all fairing? Getting research done? Staying connected? We mostly use Slack and Google Hangouts to keep the lab connected. Luckily right now everyone in our lab is healthy and we are all able check in on each other in our weekly lab meeting. Stay safe out there and don’t be too hard on yourself... for so many of us our stress and work loads have been amplified by this crisis! #tecilab #research #labmeeting #sfugram #siatspotlight #simonfraseru #humancomputerinteraction #childcomputerinteraction #covid_19 #workingfromhome #socialdistancing #kidsatwork
Join @alissaantle and her co-organizers at the @theofficialacm Interaction Design and Children (IDC)...
Mar 22

Join @alissaantle and her co-organizers at the @theofficialacm Interaction Design and Children (IDC) 2020 conference in London for a full day workshop on “Emergent, Situated and Prospective Ethics for Child-Computer Interaction Research”. Participants are invited to submit a 2 page position paper in the SIGCHI Extended Abstracts format. Papers should take the form of a mini-case study related to author experiences with workshop focus, themes and goals. Our themes provide inspiration for authors to think past longstanding ethical issues and to consider emergent and unique aspects of ethics in HCI for children. We welcome the suggestion of new themes in the position papers. We strongly urge workshop applicants to explicitly state their cultural and philosophical stance in their position paper.
The organizing committee will select submissions based on the quality and diversity of the contribution. Please send your submission by April 13, 2020 to Dr. Alissa Antle (aantle AT sfu DOT ca). Learn more about the workshop at: http://antle.iat.sfu.ca/idc-2020-workshop/
One author from each accepted paper must register for the workshop and the conference. For more on registration and to stay up-to-date about the IDC 2020 conference (as we all navigate the unknowns of the Corona Virus/Covid 19), please see: https://idc.acm.org/2020/
Organizers:
Alissa N. Antle, Simon Fraser U.
Christopher Frauenberger, TU Wein
Monica Landoni, USI Lugano
Jerry Alan Fails, Bosie State U.
Marina Jirotka, University of Oxford
Nalin Tutiyaphuengprasert, Darunsikkhalai School for Innovative Learning
Helena Webb, University of Oxford >>>>
#idc2020 #acm #acmidc2020 #idcworkshop #humancomputerinteraction #HCI #childcomputerinteraction #designingforchildren #techforchildren #techresearch #tecilabontheroad #tecilab #alissaantle #christopherfrauenberger #jerryalanfails #simonfraserU #monicalandoni #marinajirotka #nalintutiyaphuengprasert #helenawebb #sfugram #siatspotlight #tecilabontheroad #tecilab
Cancelled due to Coronavirus/COVID 19. Join us in Hawaii for CHI 2020, where our very own ...
Feb 27

Cancelled due to Coronavirus/COVID 19. Join us in Hawaii for CHI 2020, where our very own @alissaantle will help facilitate discussion on the future of child-computer interaction research during an @acm_chi 2020 Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting.
During the SIG, Alissa and her co-organizers invite newcomers, as well as experienced researchers and practitioners in child-computer interaction, to engage in the discussion centered around 5 main themes:
Theme 1: Divergence, Interdisciplinarity and Reach
Theme 2: Theory, Rigor and Complexity
Theme 3: Impact Within and Beyond Academe
Theme 4: Emerging Areas of Research
Theme 5: Technology, Values and Ethics
Organizers include:
Alissa Antle
Simon Fraser University
Juan Pablo Hourcade
University of Iowa
Paulo Bilkstein
Columbia University
Jerry Alan Fails
Boise State University
Franca Garzotto
Politecnico di Milano
Ole Sejer Iversen
Aarhus University
Panos Markopoulos
Eindhoven University of Technology
Glenda Revelle
University of Arkansas.
>>>>
#chi2020#humancomputerinteraction #HCI #childcomputerinteraction #designingforchildren #techforchildren #childrensresearch #techresearch #tecilabontheroad #tecilab #alissaantle #juanpablohourcade #paulobilkstein #jerryalanfails #panosmarkopoulos #glendarevelle #simonfraserU
#universityofiowa #columbiauniversity #boisestate #politecnicodimilano #aarhusuni #eindhovenuniversityoftechnology #universityofarkansas
Step 1: remove vent cover from air vent.
Step 2: blow up balloons in colors of choice.
...
Feb 20

Step 1: remove vent cover from air vent.
Step 2: blow up balloons in colors of choice.
Step3: put balloons over air vent.
Step 4: enjoy the moment of distraction from work you should be doing 😬😂🤣.
.
.
.
.
#tecilab #phdlife #graduateschool #researchershavingfun #balloonsarelife #graduatestudentlife #workandplay #snapshotofsiat #sfugram #simonfraseru #sfusurrey #hci #humancomputerinteraction