Interactive Design Tools for the Maker Movement Abstract My group's research in Human-Computer Interaction focuses on design, prototyping and implementation tools for the era of ubiquitous embedded computing and digital fabrication. We focus especially on supporting the growing ranks of amateur designers and engineers in the Maker Movement. Over the past decade, a resurgence in interest how the artifacts in our world are designed, engineered and fabricated has led to new approaches for teaching art and engineering; new methods for creating artifacts for personal use; and new models for launching hardware products. The Maker Movement is enabled by a confluence of new technologies like digital fabrication and a sharing ethos built around online tutorials and open source design files. A crucial missing building block are appropriate design tools that enable Makers to translate their intent into appropriate machine instructions - whether code or 3D prints. Makers’ expertise and work practices differ significantly from those of professional engineers - a reality that design tools have to reflect. I will present research that enables Makers and designers to rapidly prototype, fabricate and program interactive products. Making headway in this area involves working in both hardware and software. Our group creates new physical fabrication hardware such as augmented power tools and custom CNC machines; new design software to make existing digital fabrication tools more useful; software platforms for the type of connected IoT devices many Makers are creating; and debugging tools for working at the intersection of hardware and software. We also create expertise sharing tools that lower the cost and increase the quality of online tutorials and videos through which knowledge is disseminated in this community. Our work on these tools is motivated by the daily experience of teaching and building in the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation - a 24,000 sq ft space for 21st-century design education that opened in 2015. I will give an overview of institute activities and projects, and how they inform our research agenda. ------------------------ Designing Bespoke Interactive Devices Abstract My group's research in Human-Computer Interaction focuses on design, prototyping and implementation tools for the era of post-personal computing. As computation diffuses into an ever larger array of everyday objects, we investigate how new algorithms, applications and design principles can support the creation of novel user interfaces. Our work on these tools is motivated by our daily experience of teaching and building in the CITRIS Invention Lab - a space for 21st century product design and engineering education with courses at the intersection of Design, EECS, Mechanical Engineering, and New Media. I will give an overview of lab activities and projects, and how they inform our ongoing research agenda. I'll then present research that enables designers and developers to rapidly prototype and later robustly implement post-desktop interfaces. Making headway in this area involves working in both hardware and software. For example, my group is developing authoring tools that leverage digital fabrication processes to construct functioning prototypes of physically embodied user interfaces in a matter of hours. Our work on input architectures supports developers that have to write robust gesture recognition code for devices that use such sensors. ------------------------------ Scaling Active Learning Activities for Students with Algorithmic Feedback and Peer Discussions Students benefit from learning activities that engage them actively such as problem solving exercises, peer discussions, or writing tasks - an approach known as active learning in the Learning Sciences. Our research investigates how to scale active learning activities to thousands of students in large blended courses and MOOCs. I will present recent work in the NSF ExCAPE program on automatic generation of feedback for Computer Science education. Our systems present conceptual hints on how to improve incorrect answers based on program synthesis techniques. I will also describe a complementary research thread in which we have introduced synchronous and asynchronous methods for MOOC students to interact with each other, such as real-time chat and peer learning discussions. ------------------------------ Bio Bjoern Hartmann is an Associate Professor in EECS at UC Berkeley, where he also serves as the faculty director of the new Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation. His in human-computer interaction has received numerous Best Paper Awards, a Sloan Fellowship, an Okawa Research Award and an NSF CAREER Award. He received both the Diane S. McEntyre Award and the Jim and Donna Gray Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. He completed his PhD in Computer Science at Stanford University in 2009, and received degrees in Digital Media Design, Communication, and Computer and Information Science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002. Before academia, he had a previous career as the owner of an independent record label and as a traveling DJ. For more information visit http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bjoern Photo: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bjoern/images/portrait-11-2014.jpg Bjoern Hartmann is an Associate Professor in EECS at UC Berkeley. He is the faculty director of the new Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation. He previously co-founded the CITRIS Invention Lab and also co-directs the Berkeley Institute of Design and the CITRIS Connected Communities initiative. His research has received numerous Best Paper Awards at top Human-Computer Interaction conferences, a Sloan Fellowship, an Okawa Research Award and an NSF CAREER Award. He received Berkeley's Diane S. McEntyre Award for Excellence in Teaching. He completed his PhD in Computer Science at Stanford University in 2009, and received degrees in Digital Media Design, Communication, and Computer and Information Science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002.