Institutions

App Lab

App Lab is a branch of Auckland University of Technology that uses new technology and media to create experimental apps that improve pedagogy and learning.

Design

Chile & Aotearoa New Zealand

Find out more or follow:

App Lab website

Auckland University of Technology (AUT) set up App Lab in 2017. App Lab aims to get the best possible learning outcomes for students, by researching and using emerging technologies and media to design and develop experimental learning apps that transform pedagogy.

App Lab has been involved in several projects involving Chilean organisations. The MESH360 Project is working with Chilean company Embodied to examine how virtual reality (VR) could be used to improve paramedicine education. App Lab is also running the Mountain Safety Education Virtual Reality Project, which is applying mountaineering data from Chile and New Zealand to VR technology, to improve learning and decision making in high-risk situations. App Lab also contributed to developing a mixed-reality app called Sumergiéndonos en el Mar de Chile (submerging ourselves in the Chilean sea), which uses storytelling, games, virtual reality and augmented reality to teach students and communities in coastal areas of Chile about sustainable fishing.

App Labb is staffed by creative and digitally capable staff and students from AUT. Its directors are Professor Pare Keiha (Pro Vice Chancellor of Māori Advancement), Dr Claudio Aguayo (a senior researcher in the Centre for Learning and Teaching), Dr Andrew Denton (Associate Head of the School of Art and Design) and Hohepa Spooner (Director of Operations).

Claudio works closely with other researchers, including Dr Ronnie Videla-Reyes (Universidad Santo Tomás – Innova Steam Lab, Chile) and Dr Tomas Veloz (Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Centrum Leo Apostel). The three share a common research interest in how digital innovation and creative media can be used in education. They have worked together on several academic projects, presentations, and grant applications and papers.

App Lab has over 30 national and international partners. In Chile, it has worked with Universidad de Concepción Centro de Investigación Oceanográfica and Centro de Formación y Recursos Didácticos, Instituto de Filosofía y Ciencias de la Complejidad, Universidad Católica de Chile and Universidad de Concepción.